In trouble for composting spent grain?

[Pilgarlic]

I compost everything I can and have a very successful compost bin. But I do NOT put my spent grains in there. Any "green" materials (like spent grains, perhaps counterintuitively), in the presence of moisture and lacking aeration, will rot and stink. Few things smell as bad as spent grains when they are allowed to do this. This isn't composting (aerobic), it's rotting (lots of anaerobics). It's really hard to keep spent grains from doing this in the compost pile, and I don't want those nasties in my compost. The stuff works great, though, when spread evenly on the lawn and raked in. Five to ten minutes and it's done.

 

[cklages]

I compost everything I can and have a very successful compost bin. But I do NOT put my spent grains in there. Any "green" materials (like spent grains, perhaps counterintuitively), in the presence of moisture and lacking aeration, will rot and stink. Few things smell as bad as spent grains when they are allowed to do this. This isn't composting (aerobic), it's rotting (lots of anaerobics). It's really hard to keep spent grains from doing this in the compost pile, and I don't want those nasties in my compost. The stuff works great, though, when spread evenly on the lawn and raked in. Five to ten minutes and it's done.

I'm going to give this a big +1 (even though there was that post about the +1 getting on someones nerves, please don't call the HOA!)

Anything heavy and wet can really muck up a compost pile. I dig it right into my garden so the soil can soak up the moisture and it can break down in a more user friendly fashion.

 

[jamaha]

Anything heavy and wet can really muck up a compost pile. I dig it right into my garden so the soil can soak up the moisture and it can break down in a more user friendly fashion.

I've not had this problem, and I compost every bit of organic matter my house produces that I can't recycle, including meat, bones, fats and grease, and the contents of my humanure toilet. My bin is enclosed on the sides to keep critters out, and covered with alot of cover material (straw or gathered leaves). I've never been able to detect a smell after I've covered the pile. However, I'm an extract brewer, so I've never had that much wet grain, although I doubt it's any more heavy and wet than my toilet contents.

But if you don't have a compost bin, spreading it out and raking it into the lawn would be a great way to go.

 

[arkowa]

My guess is that the neighbor called and said you were "throwing garbage" in your yard and the health department never even came out to see what they were referring to. I would contact them, contest the letter and explain to them that you're COMPOSTING and that your neighbor is an idiot.

Indeed. Today I have calmed down a bit. Composting - good neighbor - wife that is a HS green Initiative sponsor, husband that is Army Public Relations Representative, and I share my bountiful harvest with anyone willing to take yet another bag of squash!

Scare tactic - I'm basically calling their bluff - and calling the Health Dept to give my terse response. Kinds warms my heart that people in the ghetto care enough about their neighborhood to "rat" on "nuisances" like myself!

.... *real estate websites* Yup, moving to N. Kentucky... where land is plentiful and sisters make SWMBOs.

 

[Zamial]

Man you have the most powerful weapon to derail "the system" at your disposal and have not tapped it??? WTF???

1st off love just love the "spent chicken feed" + composting. You can also use it to grow mushrooms (I would suggest the legal varieties...) Did you know you can also dry the spent grains (That is actually part of a DIY project coming this late spring.) and then use a blender to make a spent grain like flour to bake with?

Now onto your great untapped weapon.

(wife is a HS science teacher and head of the school's Go Green Initiative)

Your wife has how many students? Unless this is a real strange HS I guess she has 6 classes all full of kids. Did you know that your city/township offices addresses are public domain?
I would bet that your wife could have the students write a letter to the city with a "green idea". I bet she knows more teachers as well, the younger the better, Kindergarten is where it is at though. Letters and pictures in crayon... If every student sends 1 letter every day for a week...ZOMG!!! This is a "snail mail denial of service style attack." That much volume of mail WILL cripple them. They also need to reply to each one because it is their constituents children. You would hate to have to inform the local paper that the city does not care about the children or the environment...that is just bad politics. I bet you could go into the office after a day or 2 and have an impromptu meeting with the "city officials" and explain that the letters will stop as soon as "you leave me alone" unless I am actually breaking a law. I am going to guess that they will never bother you again...

 

[chromados]

Well if you cannot move and a fence is not possible I found that brewing in a teeny weenie speedo is a great way to have the neighbors stop watching what your doing and pretty much leave you alone forever. Dangerous, yes......effective, absolutely.

Chromados

 

[Golddiggie]

Could be a bit scary in the middle of winter...

You could always brew in the buff, after sunset... If they complain, ask what they were doing looking into YOUR yard after dark... If they're not right next door, that means they had to actually put effort into looking at you...

You could always plan on dumping the grain into the compost heap/bin late at night. Of course, during the summer you could just do it like you're tending the garden anyway... Or have SWMBO take care of it for you, while doing the gardening (or whichever of you does it)...

Basically, since you're not doing anything to harm him, or his property, he should sit on a flag pole... wow... where did THAT come from???

 

[northernlad]

The nice thing is, since you are not dumping raw garbage on your garden, you have nothing to worry about.
I compost my spent grain and if I don't keep it stirred it smells like dead bodies.

 

[Golddiggie]

Get some fake animal tails and stick them in the top of the compost heap... Get some that look like cats, dogs, any other pet or even exotic animal you can find... As long as they look real, get them and stick them in all over the place... Maybe rotate which ones are in the pile with others in reserve, so it looks like you're always adding more, and others are decomposing...

Get that neighbor to sheit a BRICK!!

 

[Zen_Brew]

I have magic rocks that I used to put my spent grain on after brewing.

Wow mister. I have this money that my mom gave to to buy some groceries and to get her medication, but I think I'd like to buy some of your magic rocks instead. Are they for sale?

 

[steinsato]

I compost about 12 lbs of grain every two weeks. We use worms for our composting and every two weeks when I go to add more grains to the pile the previous grains are completely gone. Whether it rots or not, the worms still eat it and it still turns into compost. We haven't had any problems with stink either.