Spent Grain? Make Your Best Friend Cookies!

[rgarry]

I started making these and now my dog and I are the only 2 in the house happy on brew day. Amazing how quick they learn that when I get my kettle, they get biscuits. Thanks for posting this. I follow original recipe but use a dehydrated to make them hard.

 

[processhead]

My vet prescribed a daily fiber supplement of a half cup of cooked oatmeal for my 13 year old chocolate lab, Chip.

I have been giving her spent grain instead, and she loves it.

 

[Iceman6409]

I have a question. I would love to try this. My question is when my grain is spent it is still in the mash tun still very wet. Does this matter when mixing it with all the other ingredients or should they be somehow dried out a little. If so how would that be done?

 

[FastAndy]

I have a question. I would love to try this. My question is when my grain is spent it is still in the mash tun still very wet. Does this matter when mixing it with all the other ingredients or should they be somehow dried out a little. If so how would that be done?

Wet from the tun is fine. I just add flour as needed to get a stiffer/drier consistency. Then a few hours in the oven with low heat dries them out nicely.

 

[rgarry]

I usually let it sit for a while, just so the temp comes down, finish brewing and then make them. If its early, I dry them in the oven like the original recipe, if late in the day, I stick in dehydrator and leave overnight.

 

[Kirkwooder]

subscribed

 

[Pratzie]

awesome, my sister heard about this on pinterest and ive been curious

 

[unionrdr]

Here's a link to BrooklynBrew Shop's spent grain chef page. It also has a recipe for drying the spent grains for storage; http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/category/spentgrainchef/
You can also grind the dried spent grains in a food processor into a course flour for some of the recipes. I'm going to double the pretzel bun recipe to make them big enough & enough of them for buns to put pit bbq'd cheese burgers on! And of course my dark hybrid lager to wash'em down.

 

[SillySally]

I wonder if these spent grain treats are really good for dogs.

I think the dog food industry would tell us it is fine since their products are mostly comprised of cereal grains too. Probably many vets would say the same.

My dogs love Milk Bone treats, so I'm sure they'd love spent-grain cookies too.

But still... Dogs are carnivores by nature, not herbivores or omnivores. I've recently been feeding raw beef and chicken to my dogs. They go nuts over it. And then afterwards they want a Milk Bone... go figure.

Actually, dogs, like humans are omnivores, though they are descended from carnivores. Humans and dogs have been living together and sharing food for anywhere from 10 to 100 thousand years. They have been eating grains as long as we have, and are thoroughly adapted to it. Spent grain biscuits should be fine.

 

[Kirkwooder]

I made these from the spent grains of a Cream of Three Crops that I brewed this weekend. My dogs, all 3 of them, love them. I doubbled the batch and ended up with about 5 qts of treats. That should hold them for a while!

 

[robyn0123]

Spent Grain Dog Cookies

Do you dry out the grains before making this recipe or can you squeeze as much liquid from the wet grains and use immediately?

Thank you in advance.
Robyn

 

[passedpawn]

Spent Grain Dog Cookies

Do you dry out the grains before making this recipe or can you squeeze as much liquid from the wet grains and use immediately?

Thank you in advance.
Robyn

Don't dry the grains first, but also you don't want them dripping wet. I make these treats only an couple of hours after I've brewed.

 

[sweetcell]

what pawn said.

if i can't make them right away, i'll let the grains drip for a few hours, throw them in a zip-lock and store in the fridge or freezer until ready to bake. do NOT leave the grains sitting out at room temp for more than 12 hours. rotting grain does not smell nice.

if the grains are dry, you can add a little water when mixing (or use extra peanut butter, or an extra egg). this recipe isn't an exact science. it's a forgiving recipe, you just want to get in the ballpark. be prepared to deviate/improvise.

 

[unionrdr]

I found some human recipes with one for drying spent grains for storage at this link; http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/category/spentgrainchef/
I got them dried in a warm oven (mine's 170F),but 200F is ok too. I cooled them & store'em in 1G size zip lock freezer bags on the pantry shelf. But I do want to get the right size tupperware bin to store them in at some point.
Just big enough to maybe hold 10lbs worth. With some of the recipes,you'll need a coffee/herb grinder to make the needed flour out of them.

 

[robyn0123]

Thank you for the responses. I'm looking forward to making the dog cookies.

I thought I'd pass this easy beer bread recipe. I have made it with a dunkelweizen and a rye pale ale. Both turned out wonderful.

Easy Beer Bread
3 cups self-rising flour
3/4 cup sugar
12oz (can) room temp beer

Put in greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes, until golden brown.

Regards, Robyn

 

[MarcusKillion]

Spent Grain Dog Cookies

Do you dry out the grains before making this recipe or can you squeeze as much liquid from the wet grains and use immediately?

Thank you in advance.
Robyn

Do not dry them out too much . I dry mine out in the oven for a while sometimes when I do not feel like doing a lot of squeezing but dried them well once and they fall apart into crumbs . Also do not bake them until real dry . They last a lot longer that way but you end up with a lot of crumbs that you must re moisten and cook again

 

[unionrdr]

But if you're gunna use them as is in a recipe,I'd think you want them a bit easier to chew? And when grinding them into flour you def want them dried well. It must be remembered that barley flour absorbs more moisture than wheat flour to begin with.

 

[JoppaFarms]

Strange question, but does anyone know if the original recipe, or some derivative of it would make safe horse treats? I don't have a dog but I have 2 horses. Slim chance that there are many horse owners around this forum, but I thought it would be worth a try.

 

[sweetcell]

spent grain, flour, peanut butter and eggs - i'm no expert on horse nutrition but i don't see anything in there that would hurt them, once baked. you can skip the eggs if you want. they aren't essential.

ask your vet?

 

[JoppaFarms]

ask your vet?

Good call, I may just skip the egg and get organic peanut butter. The majority of bagged feeds includes barley or oats of some sort and treats in the ~1oz size couldn't hurt a 1000+ pound animal unless you made it a significant part of their diet.

 

[Vigo_Carpathian]

Is there any type of grain that is either bad for dogs or just don't taste good to them? If I had grains from a stout for example, would that be ok? Thanks

 

[daveooph131]

Should be fine. My dog tends toile darker grain beer cookies

 

[mcstout]

Made these yesterday and they are Welsh Corgi approved.

 

[unionrdr]

I'm going to dry & save the grains from my next batch of PM Berlin Wheat. when I went to dump them,they smelled a lot like banana bread. Here's a link to drying & using spent grains; http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/category/spentgrainchef/

 

[HoppyDaze]

I'm going to dry & save the grains from my next batch of PM Berlin Wheat. when I went to dump them,they smelled a lot like banana bread. Here's a link to drying & using spent grains; http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/category/spentgrainchef/

you just blew my mind with spent grain flour!

 

[unionrdr]

I can't wait for the weekend..daddy goin shoppin! Need EGR valve for my lil tuner,& that herb/spice grinder for makin the flour. I wanna make the spent grain pretzel buns for pit bbq'd burgers.

 

[enkamania]

Batch of Gypsy biscuits in the oven

 

[MarcusKillion]

spent grain flour . Great idea. Next batch of really tasty stuff I plan on making some

 

[unionrdr]

I posted some recipes in the cooking & pairing forum. I got a Mr Coffee burr grinder (about the size of a coffee maker) for some 40bucks at Walmart. On the esppresso setting,it makes a nice medium grain flour that works really well. You may have to use a lil more liquid though. Barley flour is some pretty dry stuff. The Romans made their bread out of barley flour.

 

[newbies13]

I didn't read through all 50+ pages of this thread, but this recipe seems to be the most popular on the interwebs. My question is how healthy or unhealthy are these treats for dogs, ideally from a professional source. I've made a batch and the dog loves them, but I wonder if the recipe would be healthier with a protein addition.

I know that they are not "bad" for the dog, but would they be considered nutritious, or just safe to eat?