What do you do with your spent grains.....

Feed them to the chickens of course..



Copper Ale, Kit by Midwest
OG - 1.058

Makes great chicken and hog feed, fattens them suckers right up.

Someone posted this link to brookland brew shop site that gives recipes & tells how to dry spent grains to store for later use. I'm gunna try it soon; http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/category/spentgrainchef/
There's a recipe for chicken too...

I do the same thing, except that I outsource mine, as I don't have any chickens. I found a lady on Craigslist who takes my grains and exchanges 'em for fresh eggs.

Good thought that.^^ I can think of a local or two that might like them...

My hens absolutely love the grains, but since I brew infrequently and do mostly extracts, they get them as a rare treat. Luckily they did just get some of the grains I used on my St. Paul Porter! It went over really well!

:rockin:

Sorry to resurrect an old thread...

I did my second all-grain this past weekend, and hated the idea of tossing the 13-plus pounds of spent grain. I posted an ad in the "Free" section of Craigslist, stating that it's just grain and some water.

Almost immediately, I get an email from some guy, exclaiming--in all caps--to never used spent grain as feed, because "the alcohol is toxic to chickens." I replied, informing him that there is no alcohol in it, that alcohol is produced later in the process by fermentation, etc., etc. He wrote back, this time with some lame, strawman argument about the possibility of aflatoxins in the grain, and that he would "never give something like that to his chickens..."

There's just way to reason with some people.

I did find a taker, who picked up the grains. But maybe next time I'll just give them to the neighbors who compost.

I found a recipe in a Zymurgy article for some dog treats, have made a few batches and the dogs absolutely love them. Makes em a little gassy, but now they just smell like stale beer.

MaxStout said:

Sorry to resurrect an old thread...

I did my second all-grain this past weekend, and hated the idea of tossing the 13-plus pounds of spent grain. I posted an ad in the "Free" section of Craigslist, stating that it's just grain and some water.

Almost immediately, I get an email from some guy, exclaiming--in all caps--to never used spent grain as feed, because "the alcohol is toxic to chickens." I replied, informing him that there is no alcohol in it, that alcohol is produced later in the process by fermentation, etc., etc. He wrote back, this time with some lame, strawman argument about the possibility of aflatoxins in the grain, and that he would "never give something like that to his chickens..."

There's just way to reason with some people.

I did find a taker, who picked up the grains. But maybe next time I'll just give them to the neighbors who compost.

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I guess it would depend on quickly it is fed to the chickens. I've certainly had the grains in my trash start to ferment.

I'm going to bed,bath,& beyond tomorrow for one of those lil coffee grinder like things used to grind seeds,herbs, dried peppers,etc. I need it to grind my dried spent grains into flour. I'm using it in some spent grain pretzel buns for pit bbq'd burgers.

Bread. I bake a lot of bread. There's a great recipe in the Food Paring section of HBT. It can be a meal utno itself; everyone seems to love it.

I found a local guy on craigslist, he picks it up to feed his pig, and he gives me veggies from his garden in exchange. Very casual relationship, no expectation of amount of veggies.

I started sprinkling them in a thin layer in the garden. The plants seem to love it. I was surprised at how fast they degraded and mixed into the soil, all I see from the last sprinkling a month ago is a few husk pieces.

If you are a fisherman its a perfect medium to raise fly larvea for bait.

Evan_L said:

I started sprinkling them in a thin layer in the garden. The plants seem to love it. I was surprised at how fast they degraded and mixed into the soil, all I see from the last sprinkling a month ago is a few husk pieces.

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Does it still stink that way? The last batch got dumped in the yard debris bin (I had nowhere else to stick them) and I regret that move. The bin stinks like crazy right now.

I reserve a cup or two to mix into my sourdough bread. The rest go to the chickens. Typical 10-13lb grain bill is gone in a day or two by 7 chickens... They DEVOUR it.

AgentHubcap said:

Does it still stink that way? The last batch got dumped in the yard debris bin (I had nowhere else to stick them) and I regret that move. The bin stinks like crazy right now.

Click to expand...

Nope. Well, if i'm in there getting dirty like weeding I do notice a sweetish smell on my hands after, but not strong and not offensive.

We had to go out runnin to the library yesterday,& she needed a new crock pot,since the old one's liner broke in pieces. Thing was ancient anyway. So we went to Walmart to look,& I picked up this $39 Mr Coffee grinder (non blade type,real grinder) with 18 different grind settings. I'll be using it to grind my dried spent grains into flour for recipes. I'm going to make a dozen spent grain pretzel buns from the Brooklyn brewery's Spen Grain Chef. I'll be doubling the recipe to get 12 of them. They seem to be made a lot like water bagels. Should be darn good.
http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/recipe-spent-grain-pretzel-rolls/ The "water" bath is actually a mixture of water & beer (HB,of course!). With 1/4 cup baking soda in at least a 2G pot to account for the soda foaming up like a wicked hot break.
Here's the 2X recipe I came up with from their site;
*Spent Grain Pretzel Burger Rolls*
2C warm water (about 110F)
2 packets dry yeast
5C flour
2TBSP sugar
1C spent grain flour
4 tsp kosher salt,more for sprinkling
*This part is exactly per recipe,as it's for the boil-
5C water
1C beer
1/4C baking soda
****1) In stand mixer,add the warm water,sprinkle dry yeast on top. Let stand 5 minutes.
2) Combine flours,sugar & salt.
3) Using dough hook attachment,dump in flour mixture & mix on LOW until dough comes together. Increase speed to medium & mix until dough is elastic & smooth. About 6 more minutes.
4) Remove dough from mixer,form into a ball & place in oiled bowl. Turn once to coat. Rise 30 minutes covered with damp towel.
5) Turn dough out onto floured surface & kneed 1 minute. Divide dough into 12 equal parts & roll into balls,making sure they're rolled smooth with no creases,as these will come apart later. Place on lightly oiled sheet. Score top of each roll & cover with damp towel. Let rise 2nd time,about 20 minutes.
6) Pre-heat oven to 425F. Bring water & beer to boil in a large pot,at least 2 gallon size. It'll foam up with baking soda addition.
7) When rolls have risen,add baking soda to the boil. Adding it before it boils will help with less foam up. Stir it in,& boil rolls using slotted spoon 2 minutes per side.
8) as they get done boiling,transfer them to oiled sheet,scored side up. Sprinkle with kosher salt & bake 12 minutes,or till done & browned.