What to do with the grains after brewing?
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rewster451
Well-Known Member
Compost I guess. The cat that hangs out here used to try to eat them, but not anymore. Might even make a good mulch if you let it dry out.
ian
Well-Known Member
Like rewster said, I compost mine.
There is NO food left in it. Unless ypu want to add it to bread to make plain flour into "Whole Grain", throw it out/ compost/ dry and burn it. Or put it in a pillow case, tie a knot, run it through the clothes dryer, then use it for 'organic' packing? hmmm, I buy Rice hulls to use in Rye beer, mabey I'll make my own?..lessee, I use 1 1/2 pounds, at .59, I'd save .90 each batch.....
Genghis77
Well-Known Member
My dog will eat it. Seems a good mulch in the flower beds.
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wild
Well-Known Member
I have three different options for my spent grains. A very good friend of mine has horses and I bribe them with the grain so they'll leave my beer alone. Also I make:
Spent Grain Bread
When you make all grain beer save the grain. Use sandwich size zip lock bags. Fill up 3 or 4 bags. Then freeze them until you bake bread.
2 cup Spent Grain (Use a coffee grinder or food processor and grind them up)
4 cup Bread Flour
1 cup Wheat Flour
1½ tsp. Salt
¼ cup Sugar
½ Stick Butter
1 ea. Egg (Beaten)
2 cup Warm Water
1 tbsp. Olive Oil
½ cup warm water with 2¼ tsp. Bread yeast
Mix together and knead with 1 more cup of flour.
Let rise and flatten down divide into 2 or 4 pc. Depends on how big you want your bread loafs or roll little balls to make rolls. Freeze the rest and take out when you want more bread. Let it rise again and bake. Bake at 350°F for 35 min. for loafs or 10-12 min. for rolls. Use corn meal on cookie sheet so loaf does not stick to pan. 1 tsp. Olive Oil to brush the top of the bread when it comes out of the oven.
Or for the dogs I make:
Pizza-n-Beer dog bones
2 cup Wet Spent Grain
½ cup Pizza/Pasta Sauce
4 ea. Cloves of Garlic, crushed
1 ea. Egg
2 cup Any combination of whole wheat, corn, barley, soy, or regular flour
Mix into a firm dough (I had to add a bit more flour to get it firm). Roll out on a greased cookie sheet to about ¼ - ⅛" thick. Cut into wedges, or strips, or (if you're really creative) bones. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. Turn off heat, and leave in the oven over night to get hard.
I just hate wasting all the good stuff.
Wild
Spent Grain Bread
When you make all grain beer save the grain. Use sandwich size zip lock bags. Fill up 3 or 4 bags. Then freeze them until you bake bread.
2 cup Spent Grain (Use a coffee grinder or food processor and grind them up)
4 cup Bread Flour
1 cup Wheat Flour
1½ tsp. Salt
¼ cup Sugar
½ Stick Butter
1 ea. Egg (Beaten)
2 cup Warm Water
1 tbsp. Olive Oil
½ cup warm water with 2¼ tsp. Bread yeast
Mix together and knead with 1 more cup of flour.
Let rise and flatten down divide into 2 or 4 pc. Depends on how big you want your bread loafs or roll little balls to make rolls. Freeze the rest and take out when you want more bread. Let it rise again and bake. Bake at 350°F for 35 min. for loafs or 10-12 min. for rolls. Use corn meal on cookie sheet so loaf does not stick to pan. 1 tsp. Olive Oil to brush the top of the bread when it comes out of the oven.
Or for the dogs I make:
Pizza-n-Beer dog bones
2 cup Wet Spent Grain
½ cup Pizza/Pasta Sauce
4 ea. Cloves of Garlic, crushed
1 ea. Egg
2 cup Any combination of whole wheat, corn, barley, soy, or regular flour
Mix into a firm dough (I had to add a bit more flour to get it firm). Roll out on a greased cookie sheet to about ¼ - ⅛" thick. Cut into wedges, or strips, or (if you're really creative) bones. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. Turn off heat, and leave in the oven over night to get hard.
I just hate wasting all the good stuff.
Wild
I have a friend with horses. Does the grain have to be dried first? Right now it's in 6 gallon buckets freezing outside.
andre the giant
Well-Known Member
I currently dump mine in the drainage ditch that runs behind the house. When the first rain comes along, bye bye spend grains. I'll bet the neighbors down stream think someone is seeding their lawn with wheat or something...
You don't need to dry the grains before the horses eat it, just break it up. Golden Valley Brewery's owners have a "natural" beef farm and the beefs eat the grain, trub and hops. The menu claims the grain is high in protein, but it's really the yeast.
Good stuff, if you have more than one stomach.
Good stuff, if you have more than one stomach.
david_42 said:
I'm glad you were talking about the spent grains, not MY beer....
Yup, the trub should be excellent for the critters. I'll bet the micros flush it down the drain, but if a guy fattening up a pig could pick it up for slop....course, the pig might get lots of gas...
DeRoux's Broux
Well-Known Member
casebrew said:
this what i do with mine:
wild
Well-Known Member
I don't really dry the grain per se'. I just spread it out on some newspaper on the driveway while I'm finishing my brew session. When I'm done, I just roll it up and dump it into a bag. This is just to reduce mold until the horses finish it all off.Denny's Brew said:
Wild
Kaiser
Well-Known Member
wild said:
It's called Treberbrot in Germany. Here are some pictures http://www.pier32.de/p32/bier/treberbrot.htm
The translation of the recipe:
250g spent grain
500g wheat flour
40g fresh bakers yeast (though the author says no dry-yeast, you should
be able to use instant dry yeast)
40g slivered almonds
2 tsp salt
I haven't tried it myself but heard a lot about it. I just wonder if the husks will be soft enough. But I definitely will have to try it one day.
DeRoux's Broux
Well-Known Member
Kai said:
cool! thanks for the research and recipe. gonna try this one for sure....
Radarbrew
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I toss it out back for the squirrels. They go crazy for it. Spend all day chattering up in the pines behind the garage. Then they make perfect targets. The little brewery down the road in Fox gives it all to a pig farmer. Helps fatten them up. I tries a bit of it for chewing on once. Won't do that again.
Kaiser
Well-Known Member
I was always wondering, if it is actually possible to make a beer bread using beer yeast.
The only problem is that beer yeast is slower than bakers yeast and it does not feed on starches. The latter would have to be addressed by making a mash with some ground 2 row (I would even go as far as removing the husks) and some wheat flour. This doesn't have to be a complete mashing since it only needs to provide enough sugars for the yeast to leaven the dough. As for yeast, just take some of the slurry from the primary.
With my limited brewing and baking knowledge I think it souled work
Just noticed, that with the use of spent grains, you don't even have to do the mashing I mentioned above. The spent grains should have enough sugars for the yeast to leaven the dough.
The only problem is that beer yeast is slower than bakers yeast and it does not feed on starches. The latter would have to be addressed by making a mash with some ground 2 row (I would even go as far as removing the husks) and some wheat flour. This doesn't have to be a complete mashing since it only needs to provide enough sugars for the yeast to leaven the dough. As for yeast, just take some of the slurry from the primary.
With my limited brewing and baking knowledge I think it souled work
Just noticed, that with the use of spent grains, you don't even have to do the mashing I mentioned above. The spent grains should have enough sugars for the yeast to leaven the dough.
Buy a miniature cow and keep it in the back yard. Name it BBQ, Burger or Ribs, so the kids don't think it's a pet.
david_42 said:
Looks like "Supper" to me. Hey kids, Supper will be ready in 6 months. Or "Veal"? That name woould explain why it lives in the shed.
;D
Here Supper, here Supper.
JacktheKnife
Well-Known Member
I also give the spent grain to my horses,
They love it.
J. Knife
They love it.
J. Knife
wild
Well-Known Member
Kaiser
Well-Known Member
Well, I did it. Last weekend was brew day (Hofbraeuhaus Berchtesgadener Hell clone) and I baked a Treberbrot (spent grain bread) from the grains I steeped for the recipe:
It came out better than expected. The husks, which I though would bother me, are barely noticeable at all. The whole bread has a very rustic taste to it. I enjoyed it with some Winter Bock home brew.
Here is the recipe:
125g spent grains
250g bread flour
155ml (=g) warm water
1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 tsp salt
mix the ingredients together and kneed well for about 10min. I had it in the KitchenAid mixer for 10min at level 2.
Let rest (proof) for about an hour or until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 400F
Place on floured work space and flatten using our knuckles. This will even out the bubbles and remove the overly large ones. Fold over onto itself 4 times and let sit covered for 10 min.
Shape a loaf and let proof for another 30 min.
With a sharp knife, or a razor blade, cut shallow slits into the top of the loaf.
Now place in the oven. This works best on a pizza stone. While in the oven spray the sides of the oven with water every 5 min for the first 25min. This will develop steam which helps the crust formation. Bake until golden brown.
You may also want to watch the "Mr Strangeloaf" episode of Good Eats to get an introduction to the techniques used in bread baking.
This kind of bread is best enjoyed as open faced sandwiches spread with butter and topped with cold cuts (ham, cheese, hard salami, liverwust) and a brew of your choice.
It came out better than expected. The husks, which I though would bother me, are barely noticeable at all. The whole bread has a very rustic taste to it. I enjoyed it with some Winter Bock home brew.
Here is the recipe:
125g spent grains
250g bread flour
155ml (=g) warm water
1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 tsp salt
mix the ingredients together and kneed well for about 10min. I had it in the KitchenAid mixer for 10min at level 2.
Let rest (proof) for about an hour or until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 400F
Place on floured work space and flatten using our knuckles. This will even out the bubbles and remove the overly large ones. Fold over onto itself 4 times and let sit covered for 10 min.
Shape a loaf and let proof for another 30 min.
With a sharp knife, or a razor blade, cut shallow slits into the top of the loaf.
Now place in the oven. This works best on a pizza stone. While in the oven spray the sides of the oven with water every 5 min for the first 25min. This will develop steam which helps the crust formation. Bake until golden brown.
You may also want to watch the "Mr Strangeloaf" episode of Good Eats to get an introduction to the techniques used in bread baking.
This kind of bread is best enjoyed as open faced sandwiches spread with butter and topped with cold cuts (ham, cheese, hard salami, liverwust) and a brew of your choice.
McCall St. Brewer
Well-Known Member
Hmmm. I've just been dumping mine in the vegatable garden until now, but I now I think I need to check out the spent grain bread. Looks delicious.
Looks good.
I'll have a go.
Next time I want to make ber all I have to ask SWMBO is "Do you want me to bake some bread"
I'll have a go.
Next time I want to make ber all I have to ask SWMBO is "Do you want me to bake some bread"
DeRoux's Broux
Well-Known Member
man, that looks tasty. gonna make some from my alt grain next week. thanks!!!
Genghis77
Well-Known Member
Had some small mouse get into my brewing supplies. It was into a bag of whole Cascades hops and a bag of 2 row barley. Both 1 pound bags. Be killing it with set traps next time it visits. Next thing it wouldbe drinking my brew to wash it down.
That's why I keep my makings in the keggerator's freezer. You would NOT believe the number of critters in my yard, garage, barn, etc. I have to store all of my gear upside-down, as well. Nothing worse than going out to the brewery for a pint and stepping on a lizard in your bare feet. Except having a weasel run over your foot while enjoying an evenings brew on the porch, tiny little needle-like claws and all.
Genghis77
Well-Known Member
If the traps fail, I'll put my three ferrets to work hunting them down. Could be worse though. I do get bears and raccoons and they can really do damage, even in refrigerators etc.
JRoche00
Member
Be careful with using the spent grain as mulch... my friend does that at his apartment complex and has successfully killed all the shrubbery...
