Reusing Specialty Grains

[EricS]

Noob question here so please don't make fun. I know I am going to regret posting this.

Can I reuse grains that were used in a specialty grain / extract brew? I read somewhere on this forum of people reusing the grains in a mashtun(sp?) for a second batch of brew that turns out to be a lighter beer. I was thinking, and this maybe completely idiotic, of reusing the grains from a steeping bag to make a second lighter batch.
Would I be able to extract enough for a 5 gallon batch or would it need to be smaller.

Here is the idea.
1. After finishing wort for original brew start a new wort with the grains in the steeping bag (2 gallon boil).
2. Add Hops at correct intervals.
3. Rapid cool the wort with Chiller and put into two 1 gallon containers in fridge with no yeast added.
4. When primary fermintation is done on the orignal brew I would rack it to the secondar fermantor and than take the wort that I created 7-14 days ago that has been sitting in the fridge and put it directly on the yeast cake in the primary.
5. Add water to make 5 gallons.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated or I guess you can make fun of me for suggesting this but I have had a crummy day and in the back of my head I have been thinking about brewing to keep myself somewhat happy.

Thanks!!

 

[ColoradoXJ13]

I suppose you could, but you are talking about a few bucks worth of grains, and you are going to extract most of the starches/sugars from the grains in the first shot. The all grain procedure involves making a beer from the first runnings, then a lighter beer from the second runnings, very different process.

 

[boo boo]

I think you would extract more tannins than anything else that would be usable from reusing any grain.

 

[Mutilated1]

Someone mentioned you could make dog biscuits from spent grains. Now I just give mine to my daughter to play in the kitchen with and make "dog cookies"

Reusing them to make beer hardly seems worth the effort if you're just talking about steeping grains. Now if you're making a big all grain beer, I've read a few posts where someone who'd appear to be a good brewer then make a second lighter beer from the grain, that might be worthwhile. But a few ounces of specialty grains ? Why bother.

 

[faber]

Well you can make that Japanese barley tea (genmai cha) with them.

Or feed rabbits.....

Sometimes the deer like them.....

But you really don't want to reuse them for brewing. They've already given their all.

 

[david_42]

What was being discussed is an old method of all grain brewing where the mash is batch sparged and each of the runnings is used separately to make a beer. The first running has the highest gravity and made a barley wine. The second, an ordinary beer. The last, a 2-3% small beer, that was the normal table beverage for meals. The grain is not being re-used.

 

[SuperiorBrew]

I reuse mine by feeding them to the deer and turkeys on my hunting land

 

[D*Bo]

As far as reusing the yeast goes, you would be better off boiling up another batch and racking off the previous beer before you start, or after the hotbreak (if your kettle is big enough that you don't need to continuously monitor it) and pitching on the yeast cake.

I think it would be a bit risky to keep the wort around for a week or two without pitching yeast. Something else might get a foothold before you get the yeast in there. If you really like Belgians though, it might work out OK for you. Not worth the risk if you ask me.

David 42 has the basic gist of parti-gyleing. It's an all-grain procedure where the grain bill is adjusted to provide two or three beers of varying strengths.

And don't sweat asking questions like that around here. This forum is pretty laid back, no trolls around here causing troubles or bashing going on here, even if the question has been asked several times.... in a week (search noob!!!! ). I've had plenty of times keeping myself going thru the day thinking about brewing to realize the idea wasn't going to work out quite as planned, but at least it kept me from going nuts and jumping off a crane.

 

[EricS]

Yeah, that idea doesn't sound so good after everyone's posts, sounded a lot better in my head the first time I thought about. Guess I will just dump the grains in the yard.
Thanks.

 

[Chad]

You could try making the Spent Grain Whole Wheat bread from the Bread thread. Good stuff.

Chad

 

[malkore]

David's post above is what you were thinking about...
I believe its called parti-gyle sparging...

A whole bunch of grain, and the first runnings are one batch and second runnings are another batch.

would not recommend it for steeping grains in extract brews...All Grain only.

 

[elf_brewery]

David's post above is what you were thinking about...
I believe its called parti-gyle sparging...

A whole bunch of grain, and the first runnings are one batch and second runnings are another batch.

would not recommend it for steeping grains in extract brews...All Grain only.

For years, we've sparged the specialty grain bag and hop bags with the hot water coming from the chiller to save two gallons to keep in the fridge (for 3 days) after which we would make the next batch. We still do this and add it to the fermenter to top up/cool down our brew. It doesn't seem to change the drinkability of the beer, maybe throw off the color a little, depending on the brew. Just saving water and the nice hoppiness is the wishful thinking process. Actually, I used to drink a few sips while still hot to just relax after the brewing is finished.

 

[MaxStout]

AI-like typing detected.

 

[jdauria]

I think you are referring to people who do a parti-gyle brew...lots of grain up front, then drain the mash tun, that wort goes to brew a stronger OG beer...then when the grains are sparged with more water, the wort that comes from that, is used to make a lower OG beer. Could your idea work...maybe. It really depends on how much sugar/color/flavor was washed out of the steeping grains on the first go-around. Parti-gyle using all the grain, not just specialty grain, so there are still fermentable sugars left.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Could your idea work...maybe. It really depends on how much sugar/color/flavor was washed out of the steeping grains on the first go-around.

Here's a simple "experiment" that one could do:

• 1# malt in 0.5 gal water.
• cold steep for 1 hour, stir briefly every 10 or 15 minutes.
• Measure SG and observe color.
• repeat with spent grains (as desired)

FWIW: I have done a number of brew day "in process" steeping 'experiments' over the last couple of years so I have an opinion on the result: nothing useful comes from the 2nd steep.