How many pounds of spent grain do you produce every year? How do you dispose of it?

[dinnerstick]

city apartment dweller, i feed as much as i can to my wormery, they Love it, and i disappointingly dump a lot in the trash. still trying to find some local gardens with compost piles (just saw a hop trellis at a nearby allotment...). i am looking into the feasibility of using some as a substrate to grow oyster or nameko mushrooms, everything i have read so far says they would need to be heavily diluted out with sawdust, straw, wood chips, etc. i am thinking shredded lhbs boxes and spent grain 50/50? might try it, might not

 

[Beer_Eugenics]

I use it to fill in the holes that my dog digs. 200+ pounds a year, we seem to be at a tie.

 

[COLObrewer]

. . . . . . My chickens don't seem to care too much for the spent grains. I wonder why?

Thats wierd, I wonder why as well, our chickens devour them.

I use them for chickens, cows, bread, garden, lawn, you name it, . . . . .but mostly chickens is where I get the biggest bang for the saved buck.

 

[schittbreff]

I use it to fill in the holes that my dog digs. 200+ pounds a year, we seem to be at a tie.

me too. my grill ashes go in the holes too. dog is kicking my ass.

 

[brewbucket]

I have used one of those spent grain bread recipes from this forum many times. Unfortunately we don't need as much bread as beer

 

[passedpawn]

Gets dumped in the woods behind my house. Little sour for a day or two, but I've been doing that for years without issue.

 

[MedicMang]

I worked at a pizza shop where the owner makes bread for the farmers market. I give it all to him for free pizza. Cant beat it. Look for an artisan baker.

 

[Mer-man]

I am going to get some chickens when I move to the countryside.
Any excess will go into the compost.

The mulch idea is interesting.

 

[kh54s10]

170# +. I put mine in compost. A very little amount has been used in bread. I see stories of animals eating it up. Not in my case. I have never seen anything in it except weeks later - worms. Not even a paw print around it.

I put some under my bird feeders once. There are usually birds down there eating dropped seed. When the spent grains were there the birds would not go after the dropped seeds.

 

[mongoose33]

A friend of mine has chickens, and he says they love my spent grain. I'll get back eggs in the future, and he's going to start growing hops--so I imagine a nice exchange will be occurring.

 

[m00ps]

crap...i did the math and im probably a bit over 1000lbs of grain.

Ive started giving mine to a local farm for composting. They come and pick it up every other week or so. I'll also usually leave them a few beers with it and in return I get a fresh box of whatever veggies they got in season.

Ive tried making dog biscuits and giving them out at the brewery near me, but its too much extra time I could be spending doing brewing chores

 

[PADave]

I dump mine in the tree line at the edge of the yard.

 

[weatherman]

About 200 lbs per year. My city has a green bin pickup (organic recycling) which converts it to compost.

 

[Calder]

Mine mostly go in the compost, except in mid Winter as it is too cold to compost.

I put some under my bird feeders once. There are usually birds down there eating dropped seed. When the spent grains were there the birds would not go after the dropped seeds.

The birds ate the spent grains then?

 

[hawaiibrewer]

My 200 lb/year goes to my compost pile but a neighbor recently showed interest in using some for baking. The local brew pub indeed uses some of their spent grain in their pizza dough so I may look around for a local commercial bakery that wants it.

 

[BowAholic]

maybe 350 pounds a year are fed to my happy cattle...

 

[bboyeruga]

I bag it, freeze it and my girlfriend has worked it into her horse's diet.

 

[passedpawn]

Here in florida we have sinkholes. Sometimes they swallow houses and people, but they're great for dumping your grains. Best keep an eye on Fido though.

What I really want is a subduction fault that would pull my trash, grains, nuclear materials to the earth's mantle and return it to it's elements, but Florida isn't know for plate tectonics. That's one of the natural resources that the west has.

In all seriousness, I dump mine in the woods behind my house.

 

[Devon]

I dump mine in the garden, around the bases of our fruit trees, hop plants etc. Basically compost it.

I've made a few batches of dog cookies as well.

 

[dwrusso]

Sometimes I'll use it in bread, but that accounts for a tiny amount of the grains. For the past couple years I've been giving them to a friend to feed to his chickens, they gobble it right up.

 

[brewbama]

In 2015 I produced 219 lbs of spent grain. I used to dump it in the tree line for deer but lately I've been taking it down to a lady who raises chickens. She brings eggs on occasion but that's not why I do it. I just want the grain to be put to good use.

 

[CGVT]

Compost bin.

 

[kh54s10]

Mine mostly go in the compost, except in mid Winter as it is too cold to compost.



The birds ate the spent grains then?

No they never went near the spent grains........ They wouldn't even eat the seeds that fell on top.

 

[thenugsmoustache]

I probably produce around 300lbs a year. It has become brew day tradition to make up a batch of dog treats. The grain that's left I dump in the upper part of my yard. I've seen deer and various birds munching on it.

 

[MaryB]

So far composting, I may have to find a local chicken grower and see if I can trade for eggs. Otherwise maybe the neighbors across the street with horses...

 

[Jaybird]

I have a green belt behind the house now with about 20+ turkeys that come and go. I toss it out there (not in piles as it will rot) and they come eat it.

This year I am only at about 70# or so. But I am ramping up now that I am all settled in to the new brewery.

I like the Craigslist barter for eggs thing! What a killer idea!

Cheers
Jay

 

[Oginme]

In the last year, I produced 180 lbs of spent grains. I recycle them through a machine which converts them into delicious milk...

 

[beernutz]

The 250 or so pounds I produce go into my composting bins but I think its high acidity runs off the red wigglers so all I end up with are white potworms. I have tried adding chalk to raise the pH but that so far has not helped.

 

[thunderwagn]

I've produced roughly 110 lbs of grains in 2016 so far. Most of my grains are fed to our chickens. Sometimes the goats when we feel like giving them a little treat. Spent grains are like cRacK to our animals!

 

[urg8rb8]

Roughly 50lbs went into the lake in the back. The fish eat it up very quickly.