Spent Grain? Make Your Best Friend Cookies!

[passedpawn]

But, I will refuse to feed him vet recommendations. Dogs can't digest grains. Guess what's at the top of the list for most dog foods? Corn..

Some truth to that, but not applicable to this thread. We mash our grains to make the starch available to yeast, and (is it turns out) to the dogs too!

From the ever-believable webz:

Compared to herbivores a dog's digestive tract is much less specialized for digesting grains, or carbohydrates in general for that matter - especially in their raw, unprocessed form. However, dogs are not true carnivores but opportunistic feeders and can digest and utilize the starch from grains in dog food that has been converted by the cooking process. Digestibility depends on quality and type of grain used: rice (72%) is for example more digestible than wheat (60%) or corn (54%). Dogs can absorb the digestible carbohydrates from rice almost entirely, of the other grains about 20% are not absorbed. Indigestible fiber from grains contribute to intestinal health.​

 

[indigi]

How long do these last? I made a batch about 3 weeks ago and have stored them in Ziploc bags. Would they be ok to give to friends as Christmas presents? My dog only likes chewy treats.

 

[beergolf]

How long do these last? I made a batch about 3 weeks ago and have stored them in Ziploc bags. Would they be ok to give to friends as Christmas presents? My dog only likes chewy treats.

If you dried them out all the way they seem to last a long time. My dogs love them, and I always have some around. Everytime I run low I do another batch. I is usually about 3-4 weeks between batches.

 

[indigi]

I dried them in the oven for almost 10 hours til they were totally dry (I think I made them a bit too think) so I'm hoping mold won't be a problem, but I'd rather not find out by hearing about how one of my friend's dogs is dead. Maybe I'll let my sister's perpetually hungry cat try one first and see what happens.

 

[passedpawn]

They last a long, long time (afaik indefinitely). I bake at low temp for about 4 hours. I've kept them for 6 months.

 

[Doomsday]

I have had mine for months now. Dogs still love them.

 

[cardinalsfan]

thanks for this idea. made a batch last night and my maltese max loves them!! shared it with my other beer forum as well.

 

[Diver165]

My dogs (I have 3) absolutely love my beer biscuits. I mix equal parts of flour and corn meal with 3 or 4 eggs into the spent grain. I'll throw in maybe a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of peanut butter (depending on the size batch). I bake them at 350 for 40-50min then turn the oven down to 200F for about 4-5 hrs. They come out dry as a bone and crunchy. My dogs go absolutely ape **** for them. There is nothing in there that will hurt them. Both vets I have talked to have said it sounds a lot healthier than commercial products available and to keep doing what I'm doing as it doesn't seem to be harming them.

Hell I tasted one. Kinda bland if you ask me...but then again I don't lick myself and pee outside.

 

[GreenDragon]

Kinda bland if you ask me...but then again I don't lick myself and pee outside.

That should be a signature line...

 

[Diver165]

that should be a signature line...

:d

 

[TriangleIL]

My pup and our friends dogs love these... except for the tiny dogs, because they seem to get diahrea from them. Great recipe!

 

[Wreck99]

Sounds like a great idea. No waste there! I'll have to try this with my next batch. Thanks for sharing!

 

[LabRatBrewer]

I made these using the spent grains from Edwort's, Bee Cave Brewery Bavarian Hefeweizen. So the grain bill was Wheat and Pils. When I took them out of the oven after the 4 hours they smelled (smelt?) great. So, I ate one and, while still warm, they are very good. I imagine, cold they will not be as nice. I think next time I brew this beer I am going to made a pizza dough, but for now I'll just try not to ear any more tonight.

 

[rjcortez]

Thanks for the idea and recipe. I have my first batch in the oven now. My ol' Lab is going to love these I'm sure.

 

[Wreck99]

My shetland sheepdog loves them. I gave her my spent boddingtons grain treats.

 

[PistolsAtDawn]

I made a big batch of these yesterday for my girlfriend's dogs and they were MENTAL for them!

Great suggestion!

 

[indigi]

Any ideas for additions to the ingredients to change them up a bit? I'm making a few batches for presents and would like to change up some of the recipe.

 

[passedpawn]

Any ideas for additions to the ingredients to change them up a bit? I'm making a few batches for presents and would like to change up some of the recipe.

I've done the following, all with no problem:

Making them:

• I bought a silicone dog bone mold. It's fairly expensive ($100).
• Cookie cutters work well. There are ones shaped like dog bones.

Ingredients

• Tablespoon of Parmesan cheese per batch.
• Teaspoon granulated or powdered garlic per batch.
• Food coloring (yellow for "chicken", red for "beef"). Takes much more food coloring than you would think, but it works.

Packaging:

• You can buy a billion simple plastic bags from www.uline.com for about $5
• Get some thick card stock for your printer at office supply store, print a logo or something similar on it, fold it over the top of the bag, and staple.

 

[indigi]

Ooh, great ideas, thanks! Does the parmesan cheese affect the shelf life at all? I won't be giving them out for a couple weeks but am making most of them today.

 

[passedpawn]

Ooh, great ideas, thanks! Does the parmesan cheese affect the shelf life at all? I won't be giving them out for a couple weeks but am making most of them today.

Does not affect shelf life as far as my dog is concerned.

 

[sweetcell]

our puppy, a Nova Scotia Duck-Tolling Retriever, LOVES these treats. we do a lot of training with her so she gets a lot of treats, and these are among her favs. they're also great because she has to chew them. she tends to inhale a lot of other treats without biting them once. not these guys. thanks for the recipe!

 

[lumpher]

been brewing for years. my dogs would bite my ankles if they knew i'd been throwing all the grain out all this time. made the treats finally from the last brew i did from grain for a pale ale. these biscuits are their favorite treats. next beer is a dark, so i'm sure they'll love those treats even more

 

[CTS]

Did anyone figure out if rice hulls are OK to have in them?

 

[weeple2000]

should the spent grain going in be dry, or wet? I dried out about 10-12 cups of spent grain for cooking. My first attempt was these dog treats. I used 3 eggs and normal peanut butter instead of all natural. After the initial baking period, the grain didn't solidify into treats. It is more of a granola like it was before it was baked. Is this salvageable?

 

[Golddiggie]

should the spent grain going in be dry, or wet? I dried out about 10-12 cups of spent grain for cooking. My first attempt was these dog treats. I used 3 eggs and normal peanut butter instead of all natural. After the initial baking period, the grain didn't solidify into treats. It is more of a granola like it was before it was baked. Is this salvageable?

I use it wet/moist... Never had an issue with it binding together either with a single egg and such. Did you use any flour in the treats?

Try another batch exactly to recipe (all natural PB isn't important). Also use the grains without drying them out.

 

[Walker]

I use it wet/moist... Never had an issue with it binding together either with a single egg and such. Did you use any flour in the treats?

Try another batch exactly to recipe (all natural PB isn't important). Also use the grains without drying them out.

This is not rocket science. I use cheap ass peanut butter. I've used wet grain. I've used dry grain. I've packet it hard into the measuring cup. I've loosely scooped it.

They always come out fineand the dogs don't seem to care how I made them.

 

[Golddiggie]

This is not rocket science. I use cheap ass peanut butter. I've used wet grain. I've used dry grain. I've packet it hard into the measuring cup. I've loosely scooped it.

They always come out fineand the dogs don't seem to care how I made them.

It's not rocket science, or brain surgery (or plastic surgery in your case... yeesh!!)... Like with most baking type recipes (IME) it's more of using what it takes to get the end result. Some will use more flour than others, or more grain. Or the grain will be wetter than others, etc. You can tweak it as you like, just try to get the same end result.

For the OP, drying out the spent grain was probably the most critical error.

BTW, using a stand mixer for this makes it stupid easy. :rockin:

 

[weeple2000]

Well I think I salvaged it. I took the granola mixture and put it in a bowl and added some water, put it back on the sheet and scored it. I am thinking that you either need to use wet spent grain or else add water. Dried grain, 3 eggs, peanut butter, and flour didn't create enough of a paste to bond the treats together. After baking it for 30 minutes at 350 with some water introduced, it bonded better. It was a little crumbly breaking up the scored pieces after it was done baking, but it seems like this was normal.

For future reference, do spent grain recipes usually call for wet grain, or dried grain? It looks like some people freeze the wet grain while others dry it by baking it overnight at a low temperature, which is what I did.

This really *isn't* rocket science, but between last night's first attempt at brewing all grain and today's attempt at dog treats it seems like the process always has plenty of room for error and improvement.

 

[HollisBT]

Well I think I salvaged it. I took the granola mixture and put it in a bowl and added some water, put it back on the sheet and scored it. I am thinking that you either need to use wet spent grain or else add water. Dried grain, 3 eggs, peanut butter, and flour didn't create enough of a paste to bond the treats together. After baking it for 30 minutes at 350 with some water introduced, it bonded better. It was a little crumbly breaking up the scored pieces after it was done baking, but it seems like this was normal.

For future reference, do spent grain recipes usually call for wet grain, or dried grain? It looks like some people freeze the wet grain while others dry it by baking it overnight at a low temperature, which is what I did.

This really *isn't* rocket science, but between last night's first attempt at brewing all grain and today's attempt at dog treats it seems like the process always has plenty of room for error and improvement.

I haven't tried making these dog biscuits, but since the op's recipe doesn't call for any added liquids, I would assume to use wet grains...

Brewing beer and baking are VERY closely related, they use nearly the same ingredients and (to some extent) the same processes.

 

[kellzey]

Success!

My dogs love them!