Bird Feeder Using Spent Grains?

Now that I started all grain brewing, the wife and I are looking for ways to use the spent grains. We found the dog treat thread and already set some spent grain aside from my first all grain batch for our Yellow Lab. The rest will just go into our compost pile for the garden.

But we found a "recipe" for bird feeders that called for a 1:1 ratio of all natural peanut butter and "seeds or corn meal". Do you cats think that we could substitute some or all of the seeds and corn meal with spent grains? I know wild birds can be subject to digestive problems with human "help", and we don't want to hurt our little avian friends.

I searched the forums and didn't find anything. So if this has ben asked before, maybe a quick link to a different thread would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

Gary

I don't know how it would work, but it doesn't seem like a bad idea to me at all.

I'm subscribed to see what others think as well. May be a good way to discard lots of grain and keep the dog from ****ting granola bars!

You could even mix it with melted lard or crisco to make suet bars. Just make sure the fat is cooled,but still liquid. Here's a link for human foods using spent grains; http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/category/spentgrainchef/

Sounds like a great idea. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this thread. My only thought on it though, would be are we leaving enough nutritional value in the grains when we are done with them? Never thought of it for Dog treats because it's just a treat, but I wouldn't want to fill the birds up with stuff that isn't giving them enough energy. I supposed the peanut butter would be that nutritional additive though.

This would be great if it's a go though.

I really like making spent grain bread to eat...its pretty darn good (although really doesnt use up much spent grain, unless you eat a ton of bread)

As far as the bird feed goes you would need to dry it somehow. You are going to use a lot of energy drying it in the oven, dehydrator, etc. Spent grain molds really quickly if left soggy!

conneryis007 said:

I really like making spent grain bread to eat...its pretty darn good (although really doesnt use up much spent grain, unless you eat a ton of bread)

As far as the bird feed goes you would need to dry it somehow. You are going to use a lot of energy drying it in the oven, dehydrator, etc. Spent grain molds really quickly if left soggy!

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With warmer weather coming up in the midwest, I'd probably just be spreading it out on a tarp in the back yard to dry in the sun. If it gets eaten by critters during that process, all the better then.

But yeah, drying the stuff in the oven would probably counteract most of the environmental niceness you are trying to do.

There's a recipe in the link for drying it in the oven. I wanna try the spent grain pretzel buns. After you dry the grains for storage,you measure out the amount called for in the bun recipe & grind it into flour in a food processor. I also find it takes quite a bit of sparging to rinse all the goodies out. According to what they say on the page,I think I'm right.

conneryis007 said:

I really like making spent grain bread to eat...its pretty darn good (although really doesnt use up much spent grain, unless you eat a ton of bread)

As far as the bird feed goes you would need to dry it somehow. You are going to use a lot of energy drying it in the oven, dehydrator, etc. Spent grain molds really quickly if left soggy!

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do you have that bread recipe

unionrdr said:

You could even mix it with melted lard or crisco to make suet bars. Just make sure the fat is cooled,but still liquid. Here's a link for human foods using spent grains; http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/category/spentgrainchef/

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I clicked the link and thank you so much! The very last recipe at the bottom of the page is the "how to dry spent grains". Also some of the recipes are great!

It was mentioned earlier about the nutritional value of spent grains for the birds. I am going to get a hold of the WA State Dept of Wildlife and see what one of their biologists say about it.

Gary

That'd be interesting to find out what they know. I saw a video on youtube today where they showed them using it for cow feed. The spent grains from breweries is mixed with corn & hay. All sort of chopped & dumped in long troughs. They say it makes them gain weight fast right before processing.

unionrdr said:

That'd be interesting to find out what they know. I saw a video on youtube today where they showed them using it for cow feed. The spent grains from breweries is mixed with corn & hay. All sort of chopped & dumped in long troughs. They say it makes them gain weight fast right before processing.

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The more I think about it, the more I think, how often did birds have access to malted barley? I'm guessing (without knowing obviously) that the little bit we leave, is probably better than just plain unmalted barley. Weather it's actually good for the birds is probably another story.

I just sent an email to the WA State Dept of Wildlife. I'll probably get an answer on Monday. I will post their answer here.

Gary

The answer I got back from the WA State Dept of Wildlife was useless. Which is pretty much par for the course with that entity. So I sent another email to a place called Wild Birds Unlimited. They specialize in feeding and attracting wild birds. So I'll post back with the answer I get from them.

Gary

I don't see how anything of use will be left in spent grains. Wouldn't just be filler?

Even after I sparge them,they still have some sweet malty smell. So I do think there's some good left in them. At least as a treat...

That's what I want to find out for sure. If it's of no use to the birds... it's a no-go.

Gary

I'm going to use the recipes in the link I posted in reply #3 to bake with. The spent grain pretzel buns sounded good for pit bbq'd burgers! Just gotta dry them out in the oven first.

Wet or damp spent grains will ferment quickly and exponentially faster at higher temps. Take that into consideration with your feeder design and how long the grains stay in there.

Personally I like them slightly fermented before I make bread with them. Leave them at room temperature for a day or less to taste. Or 2 weeks in a plastic bag in the fridge.

I use 4 cups of damp spent grains with 2 cups (or a bit more) of white bread flour. The dough remains very moist and sticky so you can't knead it by hand. Use the Kitchenaid all the way. After rising it needs to be poured into tins. It's among the best breads I've ever had.

Most of my spent grain gets dumped in the garden. In the summer I put it between the rows and smooth it out to help keep the weeds down. I have not noticed lots of birds hanging out in the garden. They may feed a little bit on it, but based on what I have seen, the birds don't seem terribly thrilled by it.

My guess is that there are 3 main components: sugar, protein, and roughage. We try to get the sugar out, for brewing, but what about the protein?

The protein that is there is in the chit - which is the tiny bit of shoot that was produced during the malting process. If you look at the grain post mash, they look kinda like little pale yellow maggots

Yeah,if you open up a seed or kernal,it's the lil baby plant in the center. That's the germ,or protein part.

unionrdr said:

Yeah,if you open up a seed or kernal,it's the lil baby plant in the center. That's the germ,or protein part.

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Also the part that is "high" in oil. Lots of damage to these, or oversparging can lead to extraction of these. The problem with this is not head retention, but staling due to oxidation of the lipids from them over time.

Makes for good cattle and pig feed though

So I got an email back from Wild Birds Unlimited today. Lo and behold... the guy that got back to me is a home brewer too! How cool is that? So he understands about wort production using grains. Ahh... the power of home brewing!

Here is my email to them:

Hello.

I am a home beer brewer here in WA State, and have what are called "spent grains" that are a by-product from the brewing process. They are primarily malted barleys, and malted wheats. They are crushed, and then "soaked" in hot water to release all of the sugars for the brewing process. My question is, can I make a bird food by mixing a 1:1 ratio of dried spent grains and all natural peanut butter? We dry the grains prior to use, because if we mix them in wet, they will start to ferment again. We also bake with our dried spent grains, wich includes making dog treats for our Yellow Lab. I want to make sure that the grains will be a nutritional benefit to the birds and not just fill their gut with little to no value to the birds. The peanut butter would be a good source of protein. Any information that you could provide would be deeply appreciated.

The birds we mostly get to our feeders are Goldfinches, Purple Finches, Cassin’s Finches, House Finches, Nuthatches, Wrens, Juncos, Black Capped Chickadees, Towhees, 3 different species of woodpeckers, and Stellar Jays.

Thank You!

Gary Strassburg
Oak Harbor, WA
(360) 320-2472

Here is his reply to me:

Gary,

thank you for inquiring with the Wild Birds Unlimited Franchise Support Center.

I too am a home beer brewer; so, I have some knowledge of what you are asking. I appreciate that you are considering the nutrition for the birds. Their metabolism and nutrition requirements are a bit different compared to people and dogs. This is an intriguing question.

The first thing to consider, if you offered the spent brew grains to the birds would there be any nutritional value? The process of making the wort draws out the soluble fiber and soluble nutrients. What would be left in the grains are the insoluble nutrients and fiber. That may not be enough nutrition for the birds on its own. Birds at feeders are only supplementing their daily diet; however, like you mentioned, it should not be empty calories.
The second thing to consider is which birds would eat the grains. Grains used in brewing are mostly what could be considered cereal grains. Cereal grains are most often used as a filler in bird food blends because of the visual colors and textures they provide for people. They are not usually attractive to birds other than doves and quail. Only a few of the grains used in brewing are attractive to other ground-feeding birds that visit our backyards. These include the sparrows, towhees, juncos and doves. Mixing the the dried grains with peanut butter or suet and offering it spread on something and hung in a tree or off a pole system could be interesting; however, the brew grains are not that attractive to most of the birds that feed at these elevated levels like the ones you mentioned visiting your feeders. The peanut butter would be the most attractive part.

If nothing else, it could be interesting to try offering of the dried spent grain in a ground feeder or tray feeder like a loose seed (not mixed with peanut butter) and see what birds check it out.

I hope my musings help you determine a course of action.

Happy Bird Feeding!

Brian Cunningham
Product & Hobby Education Manager

Wild Birds Unlimited, Inc.
11711 N. College Ave. #146
Carmel, IN 46032
317.571.7100 ext. 139
[email protected]
www.wbu.com


So I think I will experiment with dried grains in a small trough feeder on the ground and see what birds feed on it.

Gary

I don't have a definitive answer for you, but among homebrewers that raise chickens, I've seen many references to feeding them spent grain. (Also, many commercial breweries sell it to farmers, but I think it mainly goes to cattle.) Based on that alone (and I know that they're a different species than flying birds), I wouldn't think it would be an issue.

GASoline71, May be a good idea to remove your phone number from your post. Internet and all... Good information though. I will inquire of my bird fanatic coworker today and let you all know if he contributes anything helpful.