Brewing waste - spent grains and hops

Firstly, I DID do a search for "what to do with spent grains" and got thousands of irrelevant threads...

Now onward to my question.

I recently have brewed a few 10 gallon batches. The time to brew IS a little bit longer, and the waste products are in larger volumes. typically 15-20 pounds of spent grain and quite a bit of hop material. I've been putting a garbage bag into a "5 gallon" pail and scooping mash tun spent grains into it, then dumping the spent hops (I use hop bags & on occasion hop-back). Then I dump whatever Hot break has been left behind, and this is really a whole lot of fairly heavy waste. I certainly do not trust the garbage bag, and tied off the bag, dumped over the pail into another bag and carefully put in my garbage barrel.

There must be a better way. Before someone says compost, there is NO WAY i'd get away with that in my community with the amount of compost I would generate just with brewing. What I want is a way to throw it away.
I recently got a "homer pail" at home depot. without digging up the receipt, I think it was less than $5 including the lid. I might just conside taking this to the curb as is and let em dump it right into the garbage truck - though I suspect that I am going to end up with many missing pails over the years.
( and by the way, except for the color and the lack of graduations on these "homer pails" they look remarkably like primary fermenters!! Anyone know if these could be safely used for brewing?)

Any suggestions on how to dispose of my spent grains? I don't want to bake, I don't want to put them in the back of my car and spill them tring to take them to the horse farm, I want to throw them out in a way that makes it easy on the waste management folks and me.

Thanks!

TD

I just always put a heavy duty trash bag over my mash Tim and invert it, spilling the grains in to the bag. I then hose what's left in to the years. This tales all of a few minutes and I've never come close to breaking a bag. Works for me.

mrduna01 said:

I just always put a heavy duty trash bag over my mash Tim and invert it, spilling the grains in to the bag. I then hose what's left in to the years. This tales all of a few minutes and I've never come close to breaking a bag. Works for me.

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Drunk. Post edited for typos below lol.

I just always put a heavy duty trash bag over my mash tun and invert it, spilling the grains in to the bag. I then hose what's left in to the yard. This takes all of a few minutes and I've never come close to breaking a bag. Works for me.

Garbage can. Or dump in the woods. Anyone name trickydick should be able to get rid of their spent grain.

Do they have cows or chicklens in FL? Someone with those would be happy to take your spent grains, they might even pick them up.

I live in one of those "golf course" communities - we don't have any woods. If I wandered out on the course at night in the golf cart to dump my grains and there was an ANT infestation I'd be in deep doo doo. I'm sort of the black sheep already!

I used to invert the tun into trash bag and rinse the remains into the hedge line along my driveway. Now, that I've gone to 10 gallons, it simply too much to invert the mash tun. I did a pale ale today with 22 pounds of grain, and 6 oz of hops plus a quart+ of hot break. I'm also worried about rinsing too much into the yard for fear of ants.
What kind of garbage bags are best for this? You also doing 10 G? For 5 G that system works well.

Thanks! Jealous I'm not drunk posting! LMAO!

We got this petting zoo nearby - I could ask if they are interested....


TD

A regular kitchen trash bag (higher quality ones) work just fine. I used to dump in yard until the Rats showed up.

TrickyDick said:

I live in one of those "golf course" communities - we don't have any woods. If I wandered out on the course at night in the golf cart to dump my grains and there was an ANT infestation I'd be in deep doo doo. I'm sort of the black sheep already!

I used to invert the tun into trash bag and rinse the remains into the hedge line along my driveway. Now, that I've gone to 10 gallons, it simply too much to invert the mash tun. I did a pale ale today with 22 pounds of grain, and 6 oz of hops plus a quart+ of hot break. I'm also worried about rinsing too much into the yard for fear of ants.
What kind of garbage bags are best for this? You also doing 10 G? For 5 G that system works well.

Thanks! Jealous I'm not drunk posting! LMAO!

We got this petting zoo nearby - I could ask if they are interested....

TD

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I just use the heavy duty Hefty bags. I do 5 gallons but I don't think they would break doing 10 gallons as I have made bigger beers not far from the weight of spent grains your talking about. Ironically I live in a golf course as well.... Right on the side of the 18th hole in fact. I had some ants attack my grains that I washed in to the yard once but since I have made sure to spray them down real good and rinse the residual sugar from them before dumping and haven't had that issue since.

Do u have a small garden? I dump mine in my garden and around my hop plants...
You wouldnt even be allowed to get a rain barrel type thing and put them in?

TrickyDick said:

I live in one of those "golf course" communities - we don't have any woods. If I wandered out on the course at night in the golf cart to dump my grains and there was an ANT infestation I'd be in deep doo doo. I'm sort of the black sheep already!

I used to invert the tun into trash bag and rinse the remains into the hedge line along my driveway. Now, that I've gone to 10 gallons, it simply too much to invert the mash tun. I did a pale ale today with 22 pounds of grain, and 6 oz of hops plus a quart+ of hot break. I'm also worried about rinsing too much into the yard for fear of ants.
What kind of garbage bags are best for this? You also doing 10 G? For 5 G that system works well.

Thanks! Jealous I'm not drunk posting! LMAO!

We got this petting zoo nearby - I could ask if they are interested....


TD

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That's what ya get for moving into a community w/rules!

spread in a thin layer over your lawn. it's great for the grass. just sling it like chicken feed. it will settle to below visibility, and grass loves the extra nutrients.

Get a hen, they will love the grain and you get free eggs for breakfast. Not to mention, i bet the hen would find all kinds of goodies to dig up on the fairways.:rockin:

Burn it in fire pit?

check craigslist. we have someone who always post an ad to pick up spent grains.

Start a worm farm in your back yard (if you have one). Then take up fishing.

My grandfather had a badass worm farm under a very large bird feeder.

WARNING: If you are single and have aspirations of ever winning the admiration of the opposite sex, worm farming is probably not a good idea.

Found a local pig farmer that's been appreciative in pickup of the grains. Usually between one full 5 gal bucket worth, and more often than not, half of a second bucket, and occasionally with some wort as well.

Tomorrow brewing a mash-hopped beer. Was wondering if this would be pig-friendly? Anybody know? I do know hops are deadly to dogs, but no idea about pigs. Its 2 oz hops into 33 pounds of grain.

Thanks!

Now if I can just negotiate a trade for some bacon.....

TD

No clue on the hops for the pigs but you reminded me of a story I heard on the Green Flash Brewery tour.
They used to give their grain to a local farm and the cows would smell the trucks coming and get super excited.. Turns out the spent grain was fermenting the leftover sugars while it was waiting to get there and the cows were catching a buzz from it.

I have a small compost bin - maybe 18inches square by 30 inches tall. I put most of the kitchen scraps in there, along with most brewing waste - I save some each time to bake bread with - and I end up with good dirt to plant in and spread over the garden.

Dry some of it out and grind into flour makes some bad ass dough.

aStoutObserver said:

No clue on the hops for the pigs but you reminded me of a story I heard on the Green Flash Brewery tour.
They used to give their grain to a local farm and the cows would smell the trucks coming and get super excited.. Turns out the spent grain was fermenting the leftover sugars while it was waiting to get there and the cows were catching a buzz from it.

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The goats go nuts for the yeast and trub left in the bottom of the fermenters. I'm pretty sure the residual alcohol is part of the reason.

Grain goes in the composter, very little is dried for baking. Spent hops go down the drain because we have dogs and they might raid the composter.

My Chickens LOVE them. What they don't eat goes into compost pile.

Would spent grain be safe for pheasants? My in-laws raise pheasants and I would love to make good use of my waste. What about leaving them in the woods to attract deer and stuff, to increase my chances to bag one when hunting?

I live in FL in a golf course community. There are no good places to dump and no real wildlife to speak of. the pig farmer has been great. His name is Mike. Thanks Mike! I'd love to see the reaction when he gives the piggies the spent grains. it is often a few days before he picks it up and for sure there must be some fermentation going on....

I'll warn him of the hopped mash and that the pigs may or may not eat it. I can't imagine they wouldn't eat the hell out of 33 pounds (dry weight) of spent grains even if it did have 2 measly ounces of hops mixed in....

TD

I moved to a neighbor who has a farm, a simple solution.
No more spent grains problem.

TrickyDick said:

I live in FL in a golf course community. There are no good places to dump and no real wildlife to speak of. the pig farmer has been great. His name is Mike. Thanks Mike! I'd love to see the reaction when he gives the piggies the spent grains. it is often a few days before he picks it up and for sure there must be some fermentation going on....

I'll warn him of the hopped mash and that the pigs may or may not eat it. I can't imagine they wouldn't eat the hell out of 33 pounds (dry weight) of spent grains even if it did have 2 measly ounces of hops mixed in....

TD

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Man, 1 day later and that spent grain isn't worth being near. What do you keep it in while waiting for the farmer?

exploding homer buckets, it sounds like.

I did the DFH tour and they have spent grains literally by the truckload. Local corn farmers spread it on the fields as fertilizer.

I have read forum posts of some brewers that bake dog treats, assuming there are no hops in the grains.

I have used some to make beer bread. Adjust the recipie to use half all purpose flour and half spent grains. Great if you are using the same grain bill as the beer you are baking with.

Be aware, the grains spoil and begin to stink VERY quickly. I usually dispose of grains the same day I brew. If you're baking with them, I'd plan to bake the same day as well.

But, unfortunately, most goes in a plastic bag at the curb. Go to the local hardware store and get contractor cleanup bags. A bit more expensive, but a lot less trouble than cleaning up spent grains from a split bag. I usually take a short piece of copper wire to close the top, and also prevent crows from pecking through the bag.

Homer buckets is correct, though I've never had one explode... Yet...

Got 4 of them waiting for pickup now!!

TD

I just dump mine around the back yard around plants, i have a fairly small back yard but have no issues finding places to use it.

When there's room i dump it in our composter.

Consensus after scouring web is that is safe for pigs and permissible to mix in the hops with spent grains as long as it's under 3% whatever that means. I only have two oz calypso hops into 33 pounds malt. Seems also that this is what the large pro brewers are doing anyway

TD

Another good use I've found for them is using spent grains as mulch for my garden. Not only is it great mulch but it also contributes nutrients to the soil. Try it out!

If your backyard is yours to do what you want, dig a hole and bury the grains. They'll compost underground just fine
EDIT- I usually do large beers, end up with 30+ Pounds of wet grain, glad I can compost it. Important to turn it quickly in the summer. Composting grain STINKS

Compost and chicken feed. I heard of someone making granola bars with it. I was going to look into that. I mixed some with a bit of first runnings in a cereal bowl. Was delicious. Hate to see it wasted, but if all else fails just load it into trash bags. Keep the weight manageable by pressing the water out of it the best you can and separating into multiple bags.

I keep reading that spent grain smells absolutely horrible after a day or more. Ok, it smells a little but horrendous? I live in central south Texas and it can sit in the garage for 2 or 3 days sometimes before a friend picks it up and even then it's not so bad to me or SWMBO. Now a rattlesnake killed and not immediately cleaned but hung over a fence in summer heat smells bad after a couple hours.

BrewForMe said:

Get a hen, they will love the grain and you get free eggs for breakfast. Not to mention, i bet the hen would find all kinds of goodies to dig up on the fairways.:rockin:

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I've got about 20 chickens...amazing how fast they can make spent grain disappear.

You live on a golf course and they don't have a recycle yard? What do they do with the clippings?

TrickyDick said:

( and by the way, except for the color and the lack of graduations on these "homer pails" they look remarkably like primary fermenters!! Anyone know if these could be safely used for brewing?)

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Those Homer buckets are not food-grade plastic, don't put your precious wort in them! They're just good ole cheap buckets and that's it



Regarding spent grains, I sometimes give to the neighbors chickens, sometimes throw it on the garden. Also have curbside compost service with my trash & recycling so if I'm really in a pinch I can throw it in there.

Occasionally I'll make the dog biscuits, they barely use a small fraction of how much barley-waste there is but the doggies LOVE IT. It's not my recipe originally. It is 4 cups spent grain, 2 cups flour, 1 cup peanut butter, 2 eggs. Mix all ingredients thoroughly, pack into tight shapes and push down to flatten. Bake 1/2 hour at 350F to solidify them, then loosen them from the sheet/pan/whatever and bake for 3-4 hours at 225 (until they are crazy dry like dogfood).

Oh any if you are into cooking, I found this awesome blog last year, LOTS of really good spent grain recipes

The Spent Grain Chef

jotakah said:

Oh any if you are into cooking, I found this awesome blog last year, LOTS of really good spent grain recipes

The Spent Grain Chef

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I've been looking for something like this. Thanks!