Spent Grain: Slight Sour Smell?

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davidg410

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Brewed up a batch yesterday. Took some of the spent grains, put them in a thin layer on some baking sheets and slid them into the oven on low to dry them out over night. I woke up and they were still slightly damp and had slight sour smell to them. Has anyone experienced this before?

I'm wondering if possibly i created an incubator for mold. :confused:
 
It's lacto. I learned that it takes a mere 2-3 hours for lacto to take hold and sour the mash post vorlauf. Your drying conditions must not have dryed fast enough ahead of the bacteria.
 
I have a buddy that I trade spent grains for fresh eggs. He let a batch sit around for a week or so then picked em up and put em in his car. They spilled. He came by about a week later, knocked on my door and said "come out here-take a whiff!" I had no idea what had happened but that might have been the foulest thing I have ever smelled...and I used to be a plumber!

Said the chickens loved them!
 
How long til they're unsafe for chickens to eat?

Chickens and barnyard animals can eat it regardless.
I give probably 1500# a month to a lady who feeds her chickens, pigs and goats with it and it smells like hell when I load the 33 gallon trash cans in her truck.
 
Nightshade said:
Chickens and barnyard animals can eat it regardless.
I give probably 1500# a month to a lady who feeds her chickens, pigs and goats with it and it smells like hell when I load the 33 gallon trash cans in her truck.

How did you set that up, Nightshade? Did you already know the woman? Put a notice on Craigslist? I'd really like to do something productive w/ my spent grain rather than bag & toss it!
 
It also works pretty good as a mulch; I mulch my gardens in the beginning of the season, after that it goes into the compost pile.
 
I dry my spent grains on cookie sheets with low sides at 200F. It takes a few hours,but they come out dry & clean/malty smelling. I also turn them over every hour or so so they dry evenly.
 
I recently mixed a 10 gallon batch worth of grain with a bunch of coffee grounds my wife picked up from starbucks. That mix went into the garden and I was surprised that it didn't stink at all. The mix even sat around for 12 hours or so in the garage before I spread it out. The plants seem to like it (or, at least, not hate it).
 
The coffee grounds probably helped it. In the winter i would dump my spent grains in a corner of my backyard. Didn't notice anything until I did it this spring. Sweet jesus almighty it smelled like something died and was rotting. Didnt take long to start stinking either and lasted for weeks. Learned my lesson there.
 
I did the same as above and left spent grain in the mash tun over night. HOLY HELL!!!!! I honestly almost fell over. Felt like someone punch my square in the nose! BLECH! I scrubbed and soaked the crap out of my tun, but couldn't bring myself to use it again(cooler, and I have many).

I have since started dumping the grains IMMEDIATELY after I am done with them!
 
It does make great compost/mulch but you really have to spread it thin if you want to avoid the stench, even then it can take your breath away. Who am I to argue taste, the garden veggies love it no matter how bad it stinks.
 
I usually give my 4 chickens half of my spent grain, use a little for dog treats, and put the rest in our compost. I haven't had any smell sour but i had a rat go bonkers eating out of the compost. Now I secure my compost.
 
My city has a recycling/compost program, and every household has a big (the size of a garbage can) green bin with locking lid to store our compost. I scoop my spent grains from my mash tun into this bin during the boil. I often wonder what the garbage man thinks of it, but so far, no nasty notes on our bins after garbage day. :)
 
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