Spent grain dog treats and hops

I just brewed a batch of beer yesterday and made some dog treats. I didnt think about it at the time but my mash paddle had been in contact with hops during during my previous brew. It was rinsed but i was wondering if i should dump the dog treats???

 

No you will be fine. My dogs love the treats I make them from the spent grains.

 

Fun! I've done those before. What ingredients did you use? I think mine were spent grain, peanut butter, flour and some egg?

 

4 c spent grain
2 c flour
2 c peanut butter
2 eggs

 

Is that baked in the oven? At what temp and for how long? Any grains you should avoid that may upset the dog? I say this as a cautious owner of a chocolate lab... who drank a quart of motor oil last week without a problem, ha.

 

OP: you'll be fine. do not throw out the treats.

as for the recipe, zmad2000's numbers are great. i find i have to tweak the amount of flour based on how dry the grain is. i start with less flour, add everything else, and then add flour as needed until i get the right consistency. it's an art, not a science :rockin:

bake at low temp for a long time. essentially you're trying to dry out the treats, typically takes me at least 2 or 3 hours. some people report baking for a lot longer, like 5-7 hours. essentially leave 'em in there until the treats are hard.

protip: score (cut) the treats into small pieces before baking. use an old knife or pizza wheel to cut a fine horizontal and diagonal pattern. this will create "fault lines" in the treats and it'll make breaking them up a lot easier once they're baked and hardened.

i haven't come across any types of grains that upset my dog. she loves 'em all, from tripel leftovers (all pilsen) to stout grains (lots of dark malts). her only complaint is that i don't give her enough of them!

 

Awesome.

 

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dogs eat poop and all sorts of garbage... do we really think they'll care about 2-row vs. black patent?

FYI the mother of all spent grains dog treat threads: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/spent-grain-make-your-best-friend-cookies-87097/

she who makes me bake her treats:

 

I used a similar recipe but with half the peanut butter. They seemed to turn out well. However, the recipe I had suggested 1"balls. They took FOREVER to dry out. Seriously, it was about 12 hours at 250 in the oven. Next time I will up the flour until they are easier to work with. Mine were the consistency of kids glue and sawdust. Barely got it off my hands.

I doubt the grains matter. Use whatever you have and the dog will thank you.

Just make sure to avoid hops. Apparently they are toxic to dogs. Seems easy to avoid (I've never had hops in contact with grains), but I have also heard about hop additions during the mash, so I guess to each their own.

 

Yeah. Next batch will have much more flour and they will be thinner. I also like the idea of score lines. I will completely cover the pan and break them out later instead of painstakingly making 1" balls.

 

balls? sounds like a pain.

roll/spread them out until they are a big thin cookie that covers the entire cookie-sheet from edge to edge. easier to bake, scoring makes them easy to break up. let cool and prepare for a whole lotta puppy love.

 

You say sad, but I think he looks content. Haha

 

I doubt that the mash paddle would transfer whatever is poisonous in hops to the cookies, but I have no first hand experience. If you feel uncomfortable, better to throw them out than to risk it.

 

Huge pain. And yes, the rest is what I will do next time. My problem was that it was too wet, so it was incredibly sticky and took forever in the oven. I'll follow your guidelines next time as well as adding flour until they are a better consistency.

On the plus side, I gave each dog one tonight and they were pretty excited about it. (Granted, food doesn't need to be great to excite a lab...)

 

Awesome! Brewing first batch of all grain tomorrow. This will be an added treat for my 100 lb Boxer...he would eat a bowling ball if I gave it to him.

 

Made dog treats for the first time today. Easy and the dogs (3) love 'em. I've eaten a few myself. Froze four cups of spent hops for later, too.

 

Has anybody tried adding bacon grease to these? SWMBOs suggestion, gonna try it but concerned about shelf life implications.

 

I would be concerned about the shelf life stability and health benefit of bacon grease...why risk it.

Just curious - Can you use a spent grain bill that has rice hulls in it? I tossed my last batch not knowing if rice hulls would be a good thing. However, she loved the dog biscuits from the previous batch.

 

Awesome thread glad I came across it. I assume that grains used for steeping are still ok to make treats with..??

 

Yep...

Dogs go crazy for them. Think about it. Spent grains are pretty sweet, flour and eggs bind it all together, and who does not like peanut butter.

My dogs go crazy for them.....

I actually eat a few when they are baking, before they get too hard.

I am thinking about a recipe for human treats, a little more sweet, like some honey, some nuts, and dried cherries, should make a good bar.

 

I can't wait to do my next batch the dogs will love them. Again so glad I caught this thread ....bad ass..!!!!

 

Well I made a batch with about 3tbsp bacon grease instead of the same volume of peanut butter (used 1 cup less 3tbsp peanut butter). In the spirit of using leftovers that would otherwise go to waste I also added about a cup of leftover oatmeal that was sitting on the counter. Out of the oven I can say for sure they are tasty!

Tomorrow I'll get the dogs to do a triangle test

 

Great idea on the dog treats out of grain. However I can tell you what not to do with left over grain--this happened two weeks ago and I still am hearing about it from the wife.

I make up my hoegaarden clone, 10.5 lbs of grain total. At the end I the brew day I scoop it out of the cooler and decide to take it outside and give it to the squirrels. We live in an older neighborhood and we have a lot of squirrels, plus the neighbor has a squirrel feeder on there tree full of corn, it is not uncommon for us to have 10 of them in the backyard. Anyways I take the grain out and put it on the ground next to the feeder tree the neighbors use and go about my business. I finish cleaning and get ready for work (night shift) and not thinking I let the dog out before the wife gets home (lab bull terrier mix weighing in at 93lbs). No barking so I left him out, figuring he was chasing squirrels. Turns out he was busy eating all 10lbs of grain. I went to work not knowing he had done that. My phone rang at approx 4am with a very unhappy individual on the other end of the phone. Apparently the dog threw up/projectile vomit out of and all over his kennel and proceeded to bark until she got up to see what was wrong. I came home to the dog kennel and blanket on the porch, covered in vomit and a 93lb pooch laying on my side of the bed.

 

I know this isn't beer related or even dog treat related (entirely). I also know there are lots of dogs that will eat themselves sick.

But is there a greedier breed of dog than a lab? No wonder they are so trainable. They'll do ANYTHING for another bite. Or in this case, 10.5 lbs...

 

I'm planning on making some treats for my two labs after my next brew.

I didn't notice how long to cook them and at what temp. Any input would be appreciated.

 

When I did it, the recipe said 250 for 8 hours. You are drying more than cooking. I suggest adding flour until they are pretty dry so it doesn't take as long.

You want them as dry as possible to inhibit the growth of bacteria or mold. Any residual moisture will be a bad thing.

 

8 hours is way too long. i typically bake/dry mine for 2 or 3 hours. and the temp doesn't really matter. often we'll be baking other things (bread, cake, etc) and the dog treats hang out on the bottom shelf of the oven at whatever temp the bread/cake/etc needs to be at.

they might not be as greedy, but Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever must be the most insatiable dog ever. ours has two modes: sleeping, and looking/scrounging/begging/etc for food. you'd swear we never feed the thing. she'll start hunting for more food the instant she's finished a huge meal. also very trainable because of this, as long as she doesn't spazz out and get all frenetic at the thought of more food. i once dumped my spent grains on the garden and planned to till them in... you guessed it, she ate them all in the time it took me to get my boots and shovel. no throwing up but cleaning up after her for the next 24 hours was... unique.

my dog is awesome/the biggest pain in the ass. and i make her treats.

 

The recipe I had was a wetter, stickier mess and that is what it said. And I can confirm, that is what it took. So like I said, if they are wet and sticky, add flour to reduce your baking time. Otherwise you will end up like me (which is, in general, a bad thing).

 

So true!