recycling those grains

[MAsteveINE]

Would anyone be interested in a way of contacting small farmers and homesteaders who could make good use of you spent brewing grains?

This would be no great comercial venture, but might be a barter situation for fresh eggs, chickens, or part of a deal on a whole hog for your Ques.

Might be a good club activity or a service for a brew shop.

This is my first post here, and the first mention of this anywhere;
any any and all ideas will be very welcome

MAsteveINE

 

[Yooper]

I only brew once a week, and usually only have 15 pounds or less of spent grains. I can't imagine that a small amount like that would be worth the hassle of hauling to a farm. I know that big brewpubs have farmers bring their wagons to get the spent grains.

 

[ghpeel]

You can make awesome compost out of your spent grains, if you are in to gardening. Some other folks make dog biscuits with them too, I think.

 

[triggerman72]

I'm pretty sure you'd get a lot further in your quest if you included the beer in the deal. 24 bottles of beer might be cheap to you, but its possible a farmer - especially in Canada, home of the world's most expensive beer - would exchange a fair bit of stuff for it.

 

[Austin_]

There's a recipe around here somewhere for dog treats using spent grain. I've made them a couple times and my dog goes crazy for them. Don't quote me on the recipe, but if I remember it's something like:

4 cups grain
2 cups flour
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
Combine them all then lay out on a cookie sheet. Cut the mix in to squares and then stick in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. Take it back out and break up the treats on your cut lines and then stick back in the oven at 225 for 3-4 hours or until they are completely dry.

Like I said, double check that recipe. I could be wrong.

 

[Parker36]

I would think you would need to brew a lot and often to make it worth your (and the farmer's) time. There are tons of other things to use spent grains for. The above mentioned dog treats and composting, along with breads and cookies (there are several recipes of each on the forums)

 

[MAsteveINE]

I only brew once a week, and usually only have 15 pounds or less of spent grains. I can't imagine that a small amount like that would be worth the hassle of hauling to a farm. I know that big brewpubs have farmers bring their wagons to get the spent grains.

AGREE, the big guys in both brewing, distilling, and more recently ethanol makers sell off what they can wet, nearby, and dry the rest; Distillers Dry Grain (DDG) is a high volume comodity sold for many uses.

I had something smaller in mind, like even the in town and suburban guy with backyard chickens or a pig or 2. More and more of those types are coming along all over the country; not all because of the economy either.


MAsteveINE

 

[Parker36]

AGREE, the big guys in both brewing, distilling, and more recently ethanol makers sell off what they can wet, nearby, and dry the rest; Distillers Dry Grain (DDG) is a high volume comodity sold for many uses.

I had something smaller in mind, like even the in town and suburban guy with backyard chickens or a pig or 2. More and more of those types are coming along all over the country; not all because of the economy either.


MAsteveINE

If you have somebody local and small, I think it sounds like a really good idea, even if it just a dozen eggs here and there, its trash for you to get rid of.

 

[portlandbeergeek]

There's a recipe around here somewhere for dog treats using spent grain. I've made them a couple times and my dog goes crazy for them. Don't quote me on the recipe, but if I remember it's something like:

4 cups grain
2 cups flour
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
Combine them all then lay out on a cookie sheet. Cut the mix in to squares and then stick in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. Take it back out and break up the treats on your cut lines and then stick back in the oven at 225 for 3-4 hours or until they are completely dry.

Like I said, double check that recipe. I could be wrong.

My dogs go crazy for these treats! Today I'm making a batch with a few tablespoons of bacon grease added for good measure. I suspect they will be agreeable.

 

[jrfuda]

...Today I'm making a batch with a few tablespoons of bacon grease added for good measure...

Heck, I might eat those myself!

 

[shelly_belly]

Here's a Bread machine recipe I've made several times. I love it...

Martin's Spent Grain Bread
By Martin Carman

Ingredients
Yield: 1 2lbs Loaf
1 cup 1 egg & water (to make a cup)
2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
3 Tbsp Sugar
2 tsp Salt
3 cups Bread Flour
1 cup Spent Grain
2 Tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten
1 Tbsp Yeast

Method
Add ingredients to the bread machine in the order suggested by the manufacturer of your bread machine.
Use the regular bread cycle.
After the first 5 minutes of kneading, check to see that there is a proper balance of flour to water.
If there is still dough sticking to the bottom of the pan, add a little more flour.
If the flour has not been incorporated into the dough, add a little water.
This variability is caused by the inconsistency of the quantity of wort remaining in the grain.