Spent Grain Poll

[passedpawn]

into the woods. I voted compost.

 

[Blazinlow86]

compost for me too. cheers

 

[jrgtr42]

I usually keep a quart or so for bread making, the rest generally goes into my garden or compost bin. I've occasionally tossed a batch in the trash, but only when I procrastinate / forget about dumping out the mash for too long.

 

[ba-brewer]

I used to compost it but it gave the pile a strong feed lot smell, so it was going into the green waste bin to be composted somewhere else.

I now feed it to a neighbors horses. The best part of that is seeing them eyeball my truck whenever I drive past them and hearing them neah at me when I stop.

 

[Spartan1979]

I tried spreading it out on the lawn. I also tried mixing it into the garden soil. In both cases it just attracted ants so it goes in the trash.

 

[petemoss]

Wow. A lot of you guys have chickens. That's cool and all. It just seems odd that so many homebrewers also raise chickens. Maybe time for another poll.

 

[rhys333]

Has anyone tried mixing spent grains and wood chips to make compost? If so, did the chips break down quickly?

 

[ba-brewer]

Cant answer your question, but I used to compost my spent grain and it gives a pungent feedlot like aroma to the pile you could smell from 30ft away.

 

[rhys333]

Cant answer your question, but I used to compost my spent grain and it gives a pungent feedlot like aroma to the pile you could smell from 30ft away.

I know it's pretty powerful stuff, which I why I'm wondering if chunky wood chips would be a good thing mix with them. High nitrogen paired with high carbon?

 

[kh54s10]

I composted for years. It was 50 ft from my house. After the first day I never smelled anything. I would suggest mixing it in with leaves and or dirt. Wood chips would take to long to decompose.

 

[day_trippr]

If I do a particularly big beer (eg: 10 gallons of 1.110 stout) in the warmer months there can be a couple of days of "Holy cow - what the hell died in the back yard??" after I've dumped the spent grains in the compost pile. Then again, I usually donate the grains to the neighbors chickens - they go nuts for it - and then we get the even more pungent aroma of chicken crap instead

Cheers!

 

[LeeH]

I give some to my chickens but not loads as I presume the nutritional value is very low. Correct me if I’m wrong.

 

[bleme]

I give some to my chickens but not loads as I presume the nutritional value is very low. Correct me if I’m wrong.

We do a pretty good job of getting the carbs out of the grain, but we leave most of the germ, which is solid protein. Dehydrated spent grain is about 20% protein and 70% fiber.

https://www.barleylabs.com/blogs/ne...-what-is-the-nutritional-value-of-spent-grain

 

[Mic Carp]

Currently throwing it out, but have been researching bread recipes so I can start adding more buttery carbs to my diet.

 

[kh54s10]

Currently throwing it out, but have been researching bread recipes so I can start adding more buttery carbs to my diet.

If you want to use all your spent grain..... You are going to be eating an awful lot of bread!!!! You would use less than one pound in a loaf....

 

[firerat]

I live in a small townhouse in the suburbs so no neighbors with chickens or horses.

I make dog treats with some and bread a few times with moderate success so I usually keep a lb or 2 to freeze but the rest I toss out.

Recently I started a hot pepper garden so maybe I'll start a small compost bin and keep a bit more.

Would this make good compost for peppers? I'm as green as grass growing them.

 

[bleme]

Recently I started a hot pepper garden so maybe I'll start a small compost bin and keep a bit more.

Would this make good compost for peppers? I'm as green as grass growing them.

They are high nitrogen (like grass clipping), so would need a high carbon like leaves or newspaper to balance.

 

[bracconiere]

i dump my spent grain in the garden around my tobacco plants....not sure how good it works, but that's what i do....

 

[ApolloSimcoe]

I eat some for luck. Don't ask
made bread twice
Compost the rest

 

[kingmatt]

I currently throw it out because I don't have a garden but will most likely start composting it when we move to our new house, sometime next year (hopefully!)

 

[kh54s10]

For composting, mix in yard clippings left over vegetables etc. Put anything that was a plant in there then you should get a good balanced compost to use in your garden. I would even recycle potting soil in it to get back what the plants remove from the soil.

 

[tellyho]

My grains definitely go in my compost pile. They are a strong green, so you need to mix in brown to balance (leaves, etc). Wood chips will take a while to break down.

 

[Smellyglove]

I toss it in the garden, great for my hops and tomato plants. If I "spill" some on the grass one can see the spots where I spilled it, the grass is way greener and taller.

Some years ago I blended it in with the dirt in the patch which would be growing my future hops, When I dug up the patch again maybe next spring or something it straight up smelled like human feces. It was ridiculous, it smelled like if ten people with very bad eating habits went together to create the biggest turd in the world.

 

[kh54s10]

I toss it in the garden, great for my hops and tomato plants. If I "spill" some on the grass one can see the spots where I spilled it, the grass is way greener and taller.

Some years ago I blended it in with the dirt in the patch which would be growing my future hops, When I dug up the patch again maybe next spring or something it straight up smelled like human feces. It was ridiculous, it smelled like if ten people with very bad eating habits went together to create the biggest turd in the world.

Better keep a closer eye on your neighbors....

 

[u81doughboy]

I make dog treats out of it. The dogs love it! Whatever I don't use goes to compost.

 

[Mic Carp]

If you want to use all your spent grain..... You are going to be eating an awful lot of bread!!!! You would use less than one pound in a loaf....

Good Point KH!
Maybe I should spend as much time learning how to bake so I could be one of those Farmer's market guys selling bread ha ha

 

[treacheroustexan]

Use a few cups for a months worth a dog treats and rest in the garbage.

 

[Imhoppy]

I brew only extract recipes so the amount of spent grains are not too much trouble to deal with. I dry these in the oven and then turn into spent grain flour using a coffee grinder. This makes a nice substitute for regular flour (usually a tablespoon or so for a loaf of bread or most of my recipes). It gives a nice added flavor and color without being overly dense and heavy if excessive spent grain flour were to be used. I add to breakfast smoothies, pizza dough, honemade granola bars and granola cereal, pancakes, chocolate chip oatmeal raisin cookies, and chocolate cake to name several good uses. A great way to recycle instead of tossing it in the dumpster and letting it go to waste.

 

[kh54s10]

I brew only extract recipes so the amount of spent grains are not too much trouble to deal with. I dry these in the oven and then turn into spent grain flour using a coffee grinder. This makes a nice substitute for regular flour (usually a tablespoon or so for a loaf of bread or most of my recipes). It gives a nice added flavor and color without being overly dense and heavy if excessive spent grain flour were to be used. I add to breakfast smoothies, pizza dough, honemade granola bars and granola cereal, pancakes, chocolate chip oatmeal raisin cookies, and chocolate cake to name several good uses. A great way to recycle instead of tossing it in the dumpster and letting it go to waste.

Right. But that doesn't use up much of the spent grain when your dry weight grains total 10 - 20 pounds. I still have some dried spent grain that I saved about a year ago. So for me it is compost. I have also spread it on the lawn and raked it down into the grass.

 

[rhys333]

Right. But that doesn't use up much of the spent grain when your dry weight grains total 10 - 20 pounds. I still have some dried spent grain that I saved about a year ago. So for me it is compost. I have also spread it on the lawn and raked it down into the grass.

I sometimes cast my spent grain over the lawn too. It can quickly overwhelm my compost because it takes a LOT of browns to balance it out. I usually just leave it where it falls and it seems to work it's way down to the roots on it's own.

 

[kh54s10]

I sometimes cast my spent grain over the lawn too. It can quickly overwhelm my compost because it takes a LOT of browns to balance it out. I usually just leave it where it falls and it seems to work it's way down to the roots on it's own.

I dumped it too thick for that. It was about 6 inches deep in the middle of the pile. So I spread it around.

 

[crazyjake19]

I made bread once but it was way too dense, not my style.

Made dog treats once but our dog didn’t care for them.

Made cookies once and they were just ok.

Now I just throw them all in the woods when I’m done with them.

 

[CharlieW]

A small portion of mine go to the chickens, the rest goes to the deer.

Same here!

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

I dump mine out in the compost, which my dog also likes to scavenge through if I don't keep an eye on him. The hop gunk goes in the trash though...I've heard a couple heartbreaking stories about dogs getting into hops.

 

[LittleRiver]

I dump them in the woods.