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Is your dog a brew dog? You know the one. Constantly following you as you brew, making sure you hit your temps, and reminding you when it's time to add the hops? No? Well they could be.
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If you're more than a few batches into your beer obsession you've probably moved into all grain or partial grain brewing. After your boil you're left with a mound of spent grain, and that is were Rover comes in. Have you ever taken a look at the back of a bag of dog food? It's all corn and binding agents mixed with meat flavor.
Spent Grain Dog Biscuits are a great way of keeping all that delectable spent grain from going into the compost heap. Full of high quality grains, and simple to produce, your dog is going to demand being part of all brew days moving forward to make sure these get done.
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Basic Spent Grain Dog Biscuits
4 cups spent grain
2 cups flour
1 cup peanut butter (all natural)
2 eggs
Make sure the grains are damp, not dripping wet. Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Press down into a dense layer on a large cookie sheet. Score almost all the way through into the shapes you want. Bake for about half an hour at 350 F to solidify them. Loosen them from the sheet, break the biscuits apart and return them, loosely spread out on the cookie sheet, to the oven at 225 F for 3 to 4 hours (until dry) to prevent mold growth. Store in an airtight container.
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Many members have taken to modifying the recipe depending on the beers brewed, adding peanut butter, pumpkin, bacon grease, and a host of other ingredients to make a flavorful treat for old Fido, but it doesn't stop there. People treats!
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For Humans
:
2 cups spent grain (Spent Pilsner malt on hand)
1 cup flour
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 big tablespoons of honey
one egg
pinch of salt
butter.
Mix all ingredients except butter in bowl. Move to bake pan; we put down baking sheet paper. Pat down so the mix spreads across the bottom of the pan, about 1/4-1/2" thick. Score with knife in squares; bake @ approx. 350 for 25 minutes. Take out of oven, spread butter across entire mix, then bake again for 5 minutes.
So next batch you finish up be sure to give these a try. It's a great way to use what would otherwise go into the trash or compost heap, and you get to make your four legged friend apart of your brew day.
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Love this. I just started making these treats for my dog and they ended up tasting better than some things I put in my lunch box.
 
I made these for my dogs and they love them. They'll actually eat anything, but I tasted them to make sure they were good. Plain, but delicious. I rolled mine into balls and flattened into cookie shapes. Go ahead and make them. You're dogs will thank you!
 
Cool idea. Any alternatives to Peanut Butter? My dog is allergic.
 
FYI, I made these for my dogs for years, and they WILL make them fattttt. Make it an occasional treat, not a normal thing :)
 
I may give this a try, but I'm not real hopeful. My new pit bull is a complete Milk-Bone addict; she'd eat them by the pound if I let her. But she won't eat any other dog biscuit I've tried to give her. She'll carry one around in her mouth for a minute or two to be polite, then discreetly spit it out when she thinks I'm not looking.
I just shrug and accept it; I stopped expecting females of any sort to make sense years ago. :)
 
My dogs already chase me for just the plain unmashed malted grain.
I've had good luck using canned pumpkin in place of peanut butter - get plain pumpkin, not pie filling.
Also, after the initial bake to set, I put mine in the dehydrator for about 12-18 hours, or until they are bone dry (ha). Dried that way, they are more shelf stable than my 2 dogs will allow me to test. At least a month or two.
 
I started doing doggie treats when I started brewing BIAB...I can only save so much, though, since 4 cups of grains makes a big batch of treats. So, I've bought a compost bin and started composting for my little garden plot. I have enough spent grain in the freezer for a few more batches and then I'll replenish my supply. I like the idea of using pumpkin in place of the peanut butter...maybe alternating for variety! Nice write-up!
http://mmmbrews.wordpress.com/2014/08/22/extra-edition-spent-grain-doggie-treats/
 
The Aldi's around here started carrying almond butter. Maybe try that? There are also spent grain human recipes on the Brooklyn brewery site under "spent grain chef". All kinds of goodies. I doubled the recipe for spent grain pretzel buns to use with my pit bbq'd cheeseburgers. Great stuff!
 
And my wife thought I was weird the first time I made a batch of these and tried one myself...
 
I've done the spent grain dog treats...even my very spoiled and very finicky (almost cat like, dare I say it) senior lady will eat them.... I have to say though that the remainder of my spent grain doesn't last long tossed over the back hill after the other local critters get involved... I suspect its mostly the deer, but I wouldn't rule out racoon, possum, or perhaps even the coyotes...
 
1/4" is too thin. When you roll it onto the cookie sheet, it should be 1/2" to 1" thick if you're going to use cookie cutters. Rolling it to thin will cause them to become brittle if cooked too long or break apart if not cooked thoroughly and they are soft.
 
Thank you for this idea! I've already made my first couple grain biscuits for the pup and will continue to do so on brew day from now on!
 
@unionrdr
if giving anything with almonds to dogs, please be aware that almonds are not easily digested by dogs and may cause stomach irritation
 
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