Garbage Disposal

Anyone have any cons to disposing of spent grains in a garbage disposal?

I don't have a septic.
I don't have a yard, so I can't use it for fertilizer.

I bet it'll still clog your drains. Just throw it away in its own garbage bag with a knot at the top.

what if ya let it drain out as much as ya could then "dry" it out in the oven set as low as you can get it then use it as bird feed?

I wouldn't want to risk having to use the snake or call the plumber. Just chuck it. Does your town seperate the garbage into different bins? (Black for garbage, green for yard clippings etc.?) My spent grain goes in with the grass and other yard debris.

any farms nearby? Give it to a farmer to feed to pigs, etc...

I was trying to avoid throwing it out...no need to make the trash mans job more difficult by adding 30 pounds of wet grain to my deposit.

Do spent grains make good fertilizer for growing hops? I have a couple of planters with some ground cover in them. I was thinking about tearing them out and maybe planting a rizome or two. Not a complete solution, but at least I am getting some additional use out of them.

As far as the birds, I don't feel like dealing with the poop. I live in a townhouse with a community association, so I can't hang stuff off the community trees.

I'll probably wind up pitching it.

I've been dumping my spent grain down the drain using the garbage disposal for the last five batches, slowly chucking some grain into it while the water is on full blast. I haven't had any issues (yet).

Spend grain makes excellent fertilizer.


After it passes through the birds.

There you go. Use it as Mulch!

Flush it. Those pipes are bigger and won't get clogged. Just put as much as you think your toilet can hold and flush away.

I could probably do that. The toilet I have is one of those type that keeps water in the tank under pressure and uses the pressure to flush the waste away. Kinda loud though.

I have flushed material more dense than spent grain down it.

I throw mine outside and the birds eat it up in a couple of days.

I have problems disposing of my spent grains as the local bears love it and go crazy for the stuff. I found that out by mistake. I don't want them breaking down my doors on brew days to get to the spent grains. Therefore I give it away to gardener friends of mine for their compost piles. Stuff will make a compost pile smoke!

I would not recommend flushing it down your toilet unless you like paying the plumber. Don't forget, that stuff can expand and pounds of insoluable grain in a septic line...Ugly, ugly situation. Just throw it in the woods. The deer love it.

treehouse said:

I would not recommend flushing it down your toilet unless you like paying the plumber. Don't forget, that stuff can expand and pounds of insoluable grain in a septic line...

Click to expand...

I'm with you (except that it probably won't expand much more than it already has). Keep this stuff out of your plumbing!

I've never put grains down the garbage disposal. Mine clogs very easy with potato peals so I'm afraid the grains won't go down either. You won't need that much grain for your pots so you will have to throw some of it in the trash. Dry it out like someone suggested and iit won't be a problem.