Brewers Spent Grain

[sjuguy]

Anybody with connections to small, medium, large breweries?

What do breweries generally do with their spent grain? I've read that many sell/give to local farmers for feed. Larger operations (BMC) have large scale programs, even ethanol production at the Coors brewery in Golden, CO.

Seems like there is an an opportunity to provide a service to craft and regional breweries to "dispose" of their spent grain. A single provider might be able to provide some economies of scale and then engage in more profitable activity such as what Coors does with the spent grain.

We've been reaching out to local breweries here in Minneapolis (Fulton, Surly, Summit) to get an idea of what they do with the grain, and if a disposal service even makes sense for them.

Any thoughts from the masses?

 

[Niilo]

I work for a brewery in Chicago and we don't have a program. I know all the breweries here including G.I. all do the same with our grain. Waste Management. I think it's horrible. The farmers won't come to the city to get the grains. We even offered compensation for their trip and nobody will come. So all the grains go straight to the dump site. I occasionally take some for bread or whatever. It is very expensive to have WM come twice a week to empty 10 dumpsters full of grain.

 

[JimTheHick]

That stinks but I understand a farmer not wanting to drive their equipment into Chicago. $4/gal diesel gets expensive pretty fast too.

It really does seem like such a waste.

 

[BetterSense]

I give my spent grain to neighbors and coworkers that have chickens. When I was a kid, my grandpa used to buy "mash feed" for his chickens, and I bet it was spent grain, although I never knew that at the time.

 

[sjuguy]

THis makes me think there is a market, especially if disposal can be provided more efficiently than companies like WM. Solving the shipping costs sounds like it's the key here.

 

[Hammy71]

I've been to the Stoudts brewery in PA. The mulch in the landscaping is all spent grains. I know it's not all they produce, probably just a fraction, but neat none the less.

 

[GodsStepBrother]

A local brewery I brewed at puts there spent grain into big bins and a cow farmer comes and picks them up.

 

[Revvy]

I did some digging- New Belgian gives theirs to a local cattle farmer, which made sense, since the have a lot of sustainability iniatives going for them.

Interesting enough (and sorry bmc haters) the breweries that have made great strides in disposing of their grain are AHB and Miller- Great article here....Beer for Bessie. (good article on the issues with breweries and spent grain, especially it's short shelf live.

Evidently Anheurser Busch has been dealing with "recycling" of stuff including grain since 1889 according to this article.

The problem as most of us know is that lactobasilus takes hold of spent grain pretty quickly, and then most folks shy away from it (as do most animals, I almost got killed trying to give some lacto infected grain to some Llamas and I can assure you that Llama spit ain't fun.)

This article talks about how most of the spent grain given away needs to be dried first, and the machine most of them use.

If you're looking at possibly getting into handling this, I applaud you- do a google search though, I just found all this info from googling "New Belgian spent grain" and "Anheiser Busch Spent grain" there's some great info out there.

 

[xdalisx]

The brewery that I have brewed at gives theirs to a local rancher. He comes by with his pickup on brew day or the day after. it's only a 7bbl system so not a ton of grain.

 

[terrapinj]

great info on what stone does to reuse their grain to maintain their beautiful gardens

http://blog.stonebrew.com/?tag=spent-grain

 

[sjuguy]

Good stuff. Yeah the wet grain almost has to be dried unless it is used immediately for feed. Probably a reason nobody has been successful collecting the stuff for local breweries and reselling it as a business.

 

[nebben]

Anybody with connections to small, medium, large breweries?

What do breweries generally do with their spent grain? I've read that many sell/give to local farmers for feed. Larger operations (BMC) have large scale programs, even ethanol production at the Coors brewery in Golden, CO.

Seems like there is an an opportunity to provide a service to craft and regional breweries to "dispose" of their spent grain. A single provider might be able to provide some economies of scale and then engage in more profitable activity such as what Coors does with the spent grain.

We've been reaching out to local breweries here in Minneapolis (Fulton, Surly, Summit) to get an idea of what they do with the grain, and if a disposal service even makes sense for them.

Any thoughts from the masses?

I've thought about getting some from local microbreweries to make dog cookies on a slightly larger scale, then sell them for big money at the local farmer's market.

Haven't done it yet, as I don't have the oven capacity for it

 

[BlackJaqueJanaviac]

I would think the problem with re-using spent grain is the logistics. Getting it from the brewery to the point of use is one problem in the bigger cities. And the fact that it is warm and moist poses a problem that it will quickly rot.

Our city operates a compost pile in which all the residents may dump their yard waste and brush. The city stockpiles it and turns it on occasion with a big end-loader. The residents then can come and pick up as much of the composted materials as they wish.

Our soil is really sandy so the free compost is great for gardens.

I can't believe that this is the only city that does such. And a ton or two of spent grains would be great for the compost I would imagine.

I just dump my spent grains in the garden.

 

[Revvy]

I would think the problem with re-using spent grain is the logistics. Getting it from the brewery to the point of use is one problem in the bigger cities. And the fact that it is warm and moist poses a problem that it will quickly rot.

That's why I mentioned in my post that many breweries dry them first.

This article talks about how most of the spent grain given away needs to be dried first, and the machine most of them use.

 

[GodsStepBrother]

That's why I mentioned in my post that many breweries dry them first.

I do not know if that’s the case for all farmers. I remember asking the farmer if his cows liked the spent grains a lot, because once he would call him he would rush over to pick it up right away. He said they adored it, especially after he would leave it half a day in the sun. The cows, he explain liked it to ferment a little bit before grubbing on it.

His cows like it wet and stinky.

 

[Revvy]

I do not know if that’s the case for all farmers. I remember asking the farmer if his cows liked the spent grains a lot, because once he would call him he would rush over to pick it up right away. He said they adored it, especially after he would leave it half a day in the sun. The cows, he explain liked it to ferment a little bit before grubbing on it.

His cows like it wet and stinky.

I guess when you have 3 stomachs you can be less discriminating that Llamas, eh?

Maybe they get drunk from it, like yellowjackets do with rotting apples and pears on the ground?

 

[GodsStepBrother]

I guess when you have 3 stomachs you can be less discriminating that Llamas, eh?

Maybe they get drunk from it, like yellowjackets do with rotting apples and pears on the ground?

The farmer said they would just calm down and sleep well that night. Though I don’t know how true that is, it must take a lot of alcohol to get something like a cow drunk.

3 RIS down the pipe and I am still good to go, I guess I have hippo in my blood line.

 

[Cape Brewing]

i am getting ready to "go pro" with two partners on a very small scale "hobby brewery" (meaning no one is quitting their day jobs) and we already have a farmer who jumped at the chance to grab some free spent grain for his cattle and pigs.

Drying is a PITA. I make spent-grain dog treats all the time from my own homebrew spent grain and getting that stuff to dry out is a nightmare. You gotta leave it in the oven on 275 for about a freakin' day it seems.

 

[DrHops]

I've been making the dog treats for over a year with my spent grain. I recently bought a food dehydrator and can dry out the treats in a little over two hours. The best part is that I don't have to use any baking trays or heat up the oven.

 

[Cape Brewing]

pure.... GENIUS!!!


THAT sir... is a good idea.

 

[BlackJaqueJanaviac]

Revy,

I saw your post about drying the grain to preserve it. As long as the drying is "free" it's a worthwhile endeavor. However, I imagine that drying takes heat and space. Waste heat could be used if there such a thing handy. Space could be a precious commodity in larger cities. A big ol' heap of grain just ain't gonna dry fast.