So I had a thought.....

[seatazzz]

So I'm brewing up my Holiday Ale this morning, and while I was standing by my kettle with my spray bottle, waiting for the inevitable boilover, I munched on a bit of the spent grain in the tun. This batch has about a pound of flaked barley in it, which BTW is absolutely delicious once it's mashed.

I know a lot of you use your spent grain for dog treats, dry into flour for bread baking, and the like...but I was thinking; what if I added some boiled-down brown sugar and molasses (or not, maybe just brown sugar and some cinnamon boiled down into thick syrup) to some spent grain, then baked it until it was super crisp, then broke it up into chunks like granola? Anyone ever tried this? Just curious. Usually just dump my spent grain, or save it for a friend that has chickens, but this spent batch is so tasty I want to save some of it.

 

[Elric]

I have added it to my granola and it was delicious, I'm sure making the granola with it would be equally tasty and if you do a google search there are a lot of recipes for it out there.

 

[IslandLizard]

Good idea!
Just don't use rice hulls (or oat hulls, etc.) if you want to eat it at some point, whether raw, baked, dried, or turned into dog biscuits.

I usually make bread using a good portion of the wet mash. There's just too much to process it all.

 

[seatazzz]

Thanks for the input! Snagged a big bowl of it that is now cooling in the fridge, to be used later after I take a nap from a too-early brewday. Hoping it turns out well, will probably add a bit of white flour to it to help it stay together. Also this is the first brewday in a year where my grain bill was over 18lbs, that bag is WAY too heavy for me to lift out of the tun unless I dredge some out of it first. I don't have one of them fancy winch things to lift the bag, should look into that someday.

*edit I MIAB so I don't use rice or oat hulls, never a stuck sparge with my trusty bag.

 

[Vale71]

That's going to have a lot of fiber in it. Make sure there's an accessible toilet nearby...

 

[seatazzz]

That's going to have a lot of fiber in it. Make sure there's an accessible toilet nearby...

I'm in my fifties, more fiber is a bonus according to all the commercials....

 

[IslandLizard]

Thanks for the input! Snagged a big bowl of it that is now cooling in the fridge, to be used later after I take a nap from a too-early brewday. Hoping it turns out well, will probably add a bit of white flour to it to help it stay together. Also this is the first brewday in a year where my grain bill was over 18lbs, that bag is WAY too heavy for me to lift out of the tun unless I dredge some out of it first. I don't have one of them fancy winch things to lift the bag, should look into that someday.

*edit I MIAB so I don't use rice or oat hulls, never a stuck sparge with my trusty bag.

64 here, always been on lotsa fiber. I hear you on those brew days (I prefer nights), they're friggin' exhausting anymore! I clean around, making the kitchen accessible again, but the big cleanup needs to wait. After a nap, I'd finish the cleaning or... brew another batch, so there is only one cleanup.

I put the wet mash spent grain in the KitchenAid mixer, using the dough paddle, add yeast and enough white (bread) flour to make a dough that's thick but not quite kneadable by hand yet. It's very sticky!
Let it rise once, punch it down, pour it out into well greased and floured bread forms, then proof before baking.

It makes good floor breads too, just use a bit more flour or you'll end up with a large muffalata.

 

[seatazzz]

64 here, always been on lotsa fiber. I hear you on those brew days (I prefer nights), they're friggin' exhausting anymore! I clean around, making the kitchen accessible again, but the big cleanup needs to wait. After a nap, I'd finish the cleaning or... brew another batch, so there is only one cleanup.

I put the wet mash in the KitchenAid mixer, using the dough paddle, add yeast and enough white (bread) flour to make a dough that's thick but not quite kneadable by hand yet. It's very sticky!
Let it rise once, punch it down, pour it out into well greased and floured bread forms, then proof before baking.

It makes good floor breads too, just use a bit more flour or you'll end up with a large muffalata.

OMG I need to try that! Too tired today, but next brewday I will, and let you know how it turns out.

 

[IslandLizard]

OMG I need to try that! Too tired today, but next brewday I will, and let you know how it turns out.

FYI, I actually meant with "wet mash" the spent grain, after the mash and sparge.
Were you thinking of using some actual mash? Now that's an idea!

When I was a kid we had a bakery on the corner, we always bought their barley bread. Now that was Bread!
I don't think they used spent grain though.

Then when I was a student there was a bakery that sold "Kellogg bread." It was very heavy and moist, fairly dark with large bubbles inside. It could not be pre-sliced. 2 slices was a meal and a very tasty one!
I never figured out how they baked it or where the name reference came from. In those days I didn't ask much of what and how...

 

[bracconiere]

don't really have anything to add from experience with spent barley, but if you're going to make granola, i'd recommend tossing some rice bran, ground brown flax, and sunflower seeds into it? nutritional power house!

 

[seatazzz]

For anyone who cares, it's in the oven now; I mixed up 2 cups of brown sugar, about a teaspoon of cinnamon, with enough water to make a caramel; then mixed that with about 6 cups of spent grain, 3/4 cup of white flour, and pressed it onto a well-greased cookie sheet and it's in the oven now at 425 for 35 minutes or whenever I decide to go look at it. Tasted great.

 

[seatazzz]

Update...didn't turn out great, probably because it was too thick. Tasted ok but not what I was looking for. Will have to try again sometime.

 

[Elric]

Update...didn't turn out great, probably because it was too thick. Tasted ok but not what I was looking for. Will have to try again sometime.

That's the right attitude! Don't give up, just try a different approach! Most of the spent grain granola recipes I have seen go 1/2 and 1/2 spent grains and ots, or at minimum supplement with at least a 2:1 spent grain/oats ratio, so maybe try one of those ratios for your next attempt?

 

[DBhomebrew]

I've not tried spent grain granola, great idea!

I wonder if mixing some melted butter butter or olive oil into the fresh oats would help. Having made quite a bit of standard granola, I find if there isn't enough fat the raw oats just get toasty and mealy dry. With the fat mixed in, they get toasty, light, and crispy.

Swap your "enough water for a caramel" for the olive oil.

 

[IslandLizard]

I've not tried spent grain granola, great idea!

I wonder if mixing some melted butter butter or olive oil into the fresh oats would help. Having made quite a bit of standard granola, I find if there isn't enough fat the raw oats just get toasty and mealy dry. With the fat mixed in, they get toasty, light, and crispy.

Swap your "enough water for a caramel" for the olive oil.

"The more you know..."

 

[IslandLizard]

That's the right attitude! Don't give up, just try a different approach! Most of the spent grain granola recipes I have seen go 1/2 and 1/2 spent grains and oats, or at minimum supplement with at least a 2:1 spent grain/oats ratio, so maybe try one of those ratios for your next attempt?

Spent grain contains a lot of moisture, gotta try and see how much moisture is acceptable to prevent the oats from becoming overly mushy and fall apart.
Maybe pre-dry them a bit before mixing with the other ingredients?

 

[DBhomebrew]

Maybe pre-dry them a bit before mixing with the other ingredients?

Yep, that's what I'm seeing in the recipes I'm finding via a quick Google search. I'll other give it a shot in the next few days.

My usual granola recipe, replacing half the fresh oats 1:1 with oven dried spent grain.

 

[seatazzz]

And there's where I screwed up; I didn't have any oats on hand yesterday, so just went with some white flour mixed in. Next time I'll make sure I have flaked oats on hand, and press it thinner. The cookie sheet I baked it on is currently soaking in the sink; greasing it well didn't do diddly and I can't get that mess to move. Next time I'll dry the spent grain in the oven as well before mixing in the sugar and oats. Darn it, that means I have to brew again next weekend....

 

[Elric]

. Darn it, that means I have to brew again next weekend....

I'm so sorry for your loss. If it helps and you feel like you are overburdened with beer, please feel free to send me some, I will try to lighten your load as best I can!

 

[DBhomebrew]

press it thinner.

Through trial and error, I've found pressing does not make for better granola. Perhaps it may hold together better as more of a bar, but we find it works best leaving it loose. Lighter and more crisp. This is the kind of granola you mix into yogurt or eat like Raisin Bran.

The cookie sheet I baked it on is currently soaking in the sink; greasing it well didn't do diddly and I can't get that mess to move.

Yes. Granola making was my first foray into the joys of parchment paper.

Aside: I bake my bacon in a glass casserole lined with parchment paper. More consistently cooked bacon. Frees up the stovetop for pancakes, eggs, whatever. Most of the time cleanup consists of lifting the paper, pouring the grease through cheesecloth into a Mason jar, throw away the paper. 7/10 times the glass underneath is clean.

To be fair, 1/10 times I spill grease across the counter.

 

[seatazzz]

Through trial and error, I've found pressing does not make for better granola. Perhaps it may hold together better as more of a bar, but we find it works best leaving it loose. Lighter and more crisp. This is the kind of granola you mix into yogurt or eat like Raisin Bran.




Yes. Granola making was my first foray into the joys of parchment paper.

Aside: I bake my bacon in a glass casserole lined with parchment paper. More consistently cooked bacon. Frees up the stovetop for pancakes, eggs, whatever. Most of the time cleanup consists of lifting the paper, pouring the grease through cheesecloth into a Mason jar, throw away the paper. 7/10 times the glass underneath is clean.

To be fair, 1/10 times I spill grease across the counter.

The more responses I read from you guys, the more I realize I just jumped into this with two feet and no preparation. I have a HUGE roll of parchment paper on top of my fridge that I use for making fudge, of course I didn't think of using it for this. And the idea for cooking bacon is fantastic, thanks; when we cook bacon I usually haul down the electric griddle. Dammit now I want bacon....

 

[DBhomebrew]

cooking bacon is fantastic, thanks

375-425 depending how you like it. I like commercial bacon cooked at 400. My homemade bacon is cut a bit thicker and hot smoked, better at 375.

At 425 it goes from almost done to near burned. I don't know if it passes through perfect. Wife is still searching for it, I just decided to turn the dial down. At 350 it'll look like it's cooked to perfection, but turn out too chewy.

 

[seatazzz]

375-425 depending how you like it. I like commercial bacon cooked at 400. My homemade bacon is cut a bit thicker and hot smoked, better at 375.

At 425 it goes from almost done to near burned. I don't know if it passes through perfect. Wife is still searching for it, I just decided to turn the dial down. At 350 it'll look like it's cooked to perfection, but turn out too chewy.

I prefer "floppy" bacon, as I call it. Husband likes his crispy, but unless it has lots of fat I do NOT. The lean part gets too hard for my old teeth. Seems to me cooking in the oven would give more control over how it turns out; on a griddle or frying pan, it continues cooking long after the heat is turned off, since the grease retains the heat longer. Dammit now I REALLY want some bacon...that would require getting dressed and shopping. arrrgh.

 

[IslandLizard]

Next time I'll dry the spent grain in the oven as well before [...]

You probably won't need to dry it all the way. Just reduce the excess. Pressing out most of the low gravity wort (1.010-1.020) before drying in the oven will save time and energy.
I remember toasting 75 oz (5 regular cans) of pumpkin puree in the oven took a few hours. Once the excess water had evaporated, it toasted very nicely, and quickly.

When making bread dough, instead of adding water to flour, it's provided by the wet spent grain already. That's why it's so easy. Then you just add enough flour to make it into a decent bread dough.

Granola is a whole different process.
Let us know what worked best.

 

[DBhomebrew]

It's been a few years since I made granola, I had forgotten we landed on mixing shredded wheat into the oats for a lighter product.

3C Rolled Oats
2C Shredded Wheat, roughly crushed
3Tbsp Olive Oil
3Tbsp Butter
6Tbsp Real Honey
3Tbsp Milled Flax Seed
1tsp Cinnamon
1tsp Vanilla Extract

For this first attempt with spent grain, I'm pretty much replacing the shredded wheat 1:1 with spent grain.

For my sourdough, I regularly freeze 225-250g packages of spent grain. The package I pulled for this granola was from an ordinary bitter. Maris Otter, a bit of biscuit and medium crystal. I mill rather tight, lots of flour and shredded hulls.

Thawed, I spread it out to dry in the oven. 230g wet. 120°F for two hours, mixed every 30 minutes.

Down to 165g, still a bit damp to the touch.

~2 1/4 cups lightly packed.

Now we're into the usual recipe. Spread out the the oats and spent grain over parchment paper.

Put it in a cold oven, preheat to 400°.

Everything else goes in a medium sauce pan set on medium-low heat. I get it hot long enough to boil off the bourbon from the vanilla extract, but not much more than that.

At this point my oven is usually preheated and the oats fragrant and very lightly toasted. This time the surface was there, but the underneath was just hot and humid. I mixed it up and let it go for a while longer.

When they're ready, pick up the toasted grains with the paper and pour it all into the sauce pan. Just enough room to give a good mix.

Pour it back onto the paper and gently spread it out. Be sure to keep it fluffy.

Bake for 8-12 minutes, turning halfway through. It's ready when it's golden brown. When hot, it will be very loose and solidify as it cools. Still very crumbly, though. Good for a bowl of cereal or mixing into yogurt. For more or less adhesion, play with the ratios of oats:fat:sugar.

When we were working on our granola recipe to begin with, we started toasting the oats specifically to drive off moisture before coating them in fats. Less moisture going into the full bake left a better tasting and crisper product that gave a few extra days of good eating before going stale.

Keeping it loose helps moisture escape letting it crisp all the way through. Pressing it down will increase residual moisture and only the top surface will crisp. Pressing can help adhesion, but if you do press be sure to get dry ingredients to really earn their name. Low and long as not to over toast.

Next time, I'll dry the spent grains until they are as dry as the oats they're mixing into. This batch has a bit of raw oat in the chew. Baking the whole thing longer would risk burning the sugars. Once it starts to brown it quickly goes too far. Best to get the moisture out early.

And lastly, the only cleanup is the sauce pan which easily gets taken care of with warm water.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Ok, tried this again with drier spent grain. 260g wet down to 80g dry in a 170° oven for about two hours.

This batch is much more enjoyable. Less starchy, more crispy.