Spent Grain? Make Your Best Friend Cookies!

[Gremlyn]

Oh sorry, 'frozen beef nuggets' aren't a brand, just what I was calling chunks of cut up, frozen beef My dog loves to chew, so she loves the fact that she has to chomp on the frozen meat for a bit before swallowing it.

 

[bendavanza]

I just made a 4x batch of these. My house smells great. The local pet shop has interest, so I'm going to take some there. Maybe I can offset some of the cost of the $50 bags my dogs eat.

 

[Malintent]

My label for by Doggie Beer Bars says "Better Then Poop". Only dog lovers get it. LOL

Well THEN you better fix that label.... it is Better THAN Poop.

Or did you mean to say that it is Better, Then (it becomes) Poop?

 

[johnodon]

I have what may be a silly question and I'll admit that I did not read through the entire thread...

Are there any grains that could be harmful (i.e. choco malt)? I know dogs can't have chocolate but I am assuming chocloate malt is not really the same as chocolate.

TIA,

John

Did someone say "treats"?!?!

 

[bad coffee]

hops bad, all the grains good.

 

[Bittersweet]

ok folks, dumb newb question, but, when you say "spent grain" are you referring to the grain you are malting yourself, or specialty grain you are steeping? or doesn't it matter. I'm very new to brewing and I'm trying to get my terminology straight, plus, I'm not to the point yet where I'm brewing all grain batches (just brewed my first batch today). I have spent specialty grain that I steeped in at first...can I use that to make treats for my pup?

(please forgive me if my terminology is incorrect - still learning).

 

[johnodon]

'Spent Grain" is the grain left ovr in your mash tun after you have completed your mash and drained all of the wort. It is all grains...base, specialty and otherwise.

 

[beerjunky828]

Yes. You can use specialty grains. I made the dog some of these treats with C-40 grains I steeped for a pale ale. The dog absolutely loved these treats. They are quite tasty to my K9 companion.

 

[AugustDerleth]

Created about three batches of these for dogs from a Great Pumpkin Ale, but am starting to think that I'm just going to begin adding brown sugar, more peanut butter, chocolate chips, possibly honey and maybe self-rising flour and making brew-day treats with them! The dogs'll just hafta keep eating grass and whatever they find on the floor! :fro:

 

[thataintchicken]

last batch of porter resulted in a very happy Doberman.

 

[JeepDiver]

made some yesterday, the dog wasn't sure at first, but now he loves them. Got to admit I was hungry when I pulled them out of the oven, so I tried one. They are better than the nature valley bars my mom use to give me as a kid

 

[Malintent]

awesome, epic thread. Did this last weekend's brew day with the remains of a brown ale. 2-row, 60L cara, and choco.

... and I don't even have a dog. Gave them to my friends with dogs and they all loved them.

FYI... No one seems to make dog bone shaped cookie cutters... go figure. I used a shamrock and cut them in half. Half a shamrock is pretty close to a dog bone, lol.

 

[CherryBombMel]

that's a much better idea than tossing it out back and your dog eats it plain and has an accident in the house later that night oops

 

[brrman]

FYI... No one seems to make dog bone shaped cookie cutters... go figure. I used a shamrock and cut them in half.

They are around - go to Petsmart or Petco and you should find em.

 

[Walker]

They are around - go to Petsmart or Petco and you should find em.

Very timely. I made another batch of these for my boxers this weekend and my 5 year old was helping me. I just make rectangle shaped treats, but she wanted to make them shaped like bones.

I told her that it would take too long to do bones because I didn't have a cutter shaped like a bone. Her response was, "Bones will be easy. It's just a rectangle with the ends shaped like butt cheeks."

Which is true... but I don't have a butt cheek shaped cookie cutter either.

 

[shroomzofdoom]

Very timely. I made another batch of these for my boxers this weekend and my 5 year old was helping me. I just make rectangle shaped treats, but she wanted to make them shaped like bones.

My girl was obsessed with making shapes too must be a woman thing, so she did Halloween shapes and dog bones.

One thing she started doing was making the shapes and putting them on parchment paper. She's the cookie person around here. I was having a BEAST of a time with these things sticking in greased pans. My cookies were an awful, ugly mess.

Not sure if it's been mentioned in this thread but I will never make these without parchment paper again! We probably bake about 10-20 lbs of these things a month--my boxers love them, they're like scooby snacks!

 

[jmkratt]

I don't know how I've missed this thread!

My Lab will be quite excited after the next brew: Oatmeal Stout. What's even better is that my SWMBO is excited about it. Anytime she supports the brewing I win.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Walker]

Not sure if it's been mentioned in this thread but I will never make these without parchment paper again!

I've never had any issue with them sticking, and my cookie sheets are beat to hell and back. *shrug*

We probably bake about 10-20 lbs of these things a month--my boxers love them, they're like scooby snacks!

Both of my boxers have become poster children for Pavlov's classical conditioning experiments. As soon as I walk in the door from work, they run to the kitchen and the big one starts dripping drool on the floor 'cause they know I'm going to walk in, kiss the kids, grope the missus, and then give them one of these things.

 

[knotquiteawake]

Got my batch in the oven right now. Our Boston was trying to jump up to the counter to see what was so delicious that I was making.

 

[TANSTAAFB]

My chocolate lab Guinness thinks they are puppy crack

She sits at the edge of the kitchen and repeatedly glances from me or SWMBO or whoever is in the kitchen to the top of the fridge...I'll give you three guesses as to what is on the fridge & the first 2 don't count!!!

She was sniffin, twitchin, and barkin in her sleep while they were in the oven. Gave em out to friends to see if other dogs liked em as much (Guinness is not very discriminating; she eats cat sh!t!!!)...everyone loved them, even the "picky" dogs.

Now I am making tons for Christmas presents. Epic thread and thank you sooooo much from all the dogs we know:rockin:

 

[Varroa]

My dogs LOVE them (a little too much). I now have to be careful while I am brewing because the dogs can smell the grains and they are pretty good at grabbing things when you aren't looking, lol. I also put some of the grains in my gardens and the dogs keep trying to eat the dirt!

 

[Altayre]

Made these with my specialty grains from the irish stout I made. Took about half of the grains and made her these, then i mixed some egg, sugar, and a couple spices in the other half (can't remember which ones, would have to go look lol) and baked it for a pretty decent desert, just add milk to a square of it.

My puppy loves them more than the gourmet treats we bought her

here she is ^_^



Took a couple and mixed in some catnip.. my cat lost her mind with them. Sadly that little experiment cost me some new drapes though lol :cross:

 

[Wigglyscuds]

Just made some of these with for my dog: Buttercup

Used 6 cups of grains and 4 eggs. Everything else the same.

 

[akthor]

Anyone notice any adverse effect to your dogs digestive system?? As in loose or runny poops giving them "beer cookies"?

 

[TANSTAAFB]

Loose? Are you kidding? These are super fiber supplements!!! But I wouldn't feed em a whole batch at a time! If your dog has a sensitive digestive system, you might experiment with small biscuits in small amounts

 

[Diver165]

Anyone notice any adverse effect to your dogs digestive system?? As in loose or runny poops giving them "beer cookies"?

No! My dogs love them. My vet said to just to be careful and avoid adding chocolate etc. My recipe is similar to everyone elses spent grains enough flour to absorb the moisture from 4 eggs and a big scoop of peanut butter. I bake them for 40min and cut with a knife into chunks. After that they go back in the oven for 2-3hrs or more to dry out

 

[TANSTAAFB]

I'm tellin you, puppy crack!!! I have to add extra flour (sometimes a lot of flour) to get the dough dry enough to roll out and cut with cookie cutters. I also use wax paper to bake on...if the dough sticks to the wax paper, its too sticky. I can pick em up and move em around to maximize space on the sheet. 1 batch makes 4 cookie sheets of biscuits so I cook for 30-40 min in two rounds then stack them all on 2 sheets to dry on warm for a couple of hours. If I'm making them at night I just turn the oven off and leave them in the oven overnight to finish drying out.

 

[HCTRT42]

Made them last night. My 2 Chocolate Labs go nuts for them. Great idea!

And btw......They aren't that bad, a little bland for my taste, but overall not bad. YES, I tried them too.

Idea: After they are cooked for the inital 30 min, can you put them in a dehydrator to finish them instead of 3-4 hrs in the oven?

 

[TANSTAAFB]

Sure, I have read on this thread where people have done that. As long as they are dry, does it really matter how they got that way?

 

[UncleDrax]

Glad I found this thread, I've been hunting for some things to do with my spent steeping grains (haven't graduated to all-grain, but will prob try a BIAB soon), and this sound perfect.
Thanks!