Spent Grain Burns Grass?

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Omahawk

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After mashing and letting the spent grain cool, I empty my spent grain into another container over my grass. The theory goes that whatever I spill during transfer will just compost in the yard eventually and no cleanup is required.

I've noticed the last couple of times I've done this that it burns out the grass in that spot if i spill any. The grain temp is usually close to ambient temp by the time I do this, so it's not a heat issue. Could it be a pH issue?

Not a huge deal, just wanted to know why.
 
Whats your mash PH, or do you know? If its within normal range I don't think it should burn the grass. From my little gardening knowledge the ph would need to be 7 or above to burn the grass.
 
I doubt seriously that it's the grain that burning your grass. Grass is a kind of grain and a very close cousin to barley. It's very likely an issue with your water and Eucrid is right... the first place I'd check is the pH of the water. It could also be that something else was dumped there befor the grain got there.
 
Mash pH this time was 5.2. My tap water here is relatively alkaline (near 8 ), so I'm not sure what to make about the "above 7" info from Eucrid. When I need to water the lawn, that's what I water it with.
 
it could be that it's preventing CO2 from getting to the leaves. Remember that when you compost your lawn, ti stuff is much smaller. BTW, 5.2 is what your pH should be. And you may be blocking the light from getting through.
 
Yep, 5.2 was my target on this batch. I used 5ml lactic acid to treat 10 gallon batch. I'm doubting there was any significant concentration of acid in the small amount of grain that ended up in the yard.
 
I'll pay attention next time to see if I'm "suffocating " the grass there. It didn't seem deep enough to be, but I could be wrong. I'll keep testing and report back.
 
I dumpy spent grain around a tree into backyard like you would do with a mulch, the deer eat a fair amount, but the ring of grass adjacent to the mulch is greener and taller than the rest of the lawn, so I'm guessing it has some fertilizer value?

A large clump of grain would likely suffocate grass???


Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/
 
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