Spent grains and composting

[Bartman]

I have been placing the spent grains from PM brewing into the compost bin. Nice balance with some great generated heat and decomposition. I moved to all grain and now I can see where my composting is out of balance. What should I add to the bin. It smells now like fermented stinky grain, but boy does it get hot. It was smoking this morning!!!

 

[Scooby_Brew]

I am considering starting composting my grains. What kind of a bin do you use?

 

[buzzkill]

alot of times I just dig a trench next to my veggies,dump them in,cover them up. then next year I move veggie row over to where I burried the grains and start over. Yes they can STINK!

 

[Jumbo82]

+1 on stank. I dump all my spent grains in a pile near the woods (we're in rural NH, so no neighbors). A typical month is over a 100 lbs of grain so the pile is getting sizeable. And on a hot day, oh man. Potent stuff. I'm glad I walk the extra distance to dump because if this was next to the house it would be a problem. Any suggestions on speeding up composting? I'm thinking a base like lime to counteract the acidic nature of the spent grains, but thats just my best guess.

 

[chase]

I'm told that adding newspaper and grass clippings or yard debris will help with the stink.

 

[Bartman]

This is the bin I have. Had it for 15 years.
Black Soilsaver Compost Bin

Never really heated up like it was supposed to, except with damp grass clippings. Now with the grains in there, it really gets kicking.

 

[BigEd]

The spent grains are just too rich to add by themselves. Mix in some soil along with some green refuse like grass clippings.

 

[Clayton]

hot is good, hot kills all the weed and grass seeds in teh compost so that it will not add weed seeds when you use your compost

 

[ghpeel]

Man, my compost really took off after I started adding spent grains. Just make sure you balance it with grass clippings or straw. I think chipped peanut hulls will work too.

Anyone else get a sh*t load of maggots right after they add grain? My bin was crawling with them for several days afterward. I don't mind, but it does creep my girlfriend out.

 

[BeerPressure]

I have a pile of spent grain and dog**** in the way back of my backyard.

 

[bhatchable]

I live in an apartment but have a friend that composts and grows ALOT of vegetables. I normally trade him garbage bags full of spent grain and boiled hops (and the occational six pack of what I have bottled) and get shopping bags of veggies in return. (sort of post-modern). I'll check to see what the effect on his compost is/how is he countering it.

 

[ibbones]

The spent grains age GOOD for the soil. If they start to smell, spread them out for a day so they can dry up a bit and then rake them back into the pile (or bin) and let them go. You can also spread them in the garden right after brewing and leav them alone until the next season when you till the soil.

 

[jdinger29]

The spent grains age GOOD for the soil. If they start to smell, spread them out for a day so they can dry up a bit and then rake them back into the pile (or bin) and let them go. You can also spread them in the garden right after brewing and leav them alone until the next season when you till the soil.

^^^^
That's what I do... As for reducing the smell in the pile I would go along with the others suggestions of adding grass clippings or even some small twigs etc... Make layers of different materials and you will be good.

 

[Acidjazz54]

I haven't done so yet but I plan to build one of these:

Double-Decker Drum Composter

I think the main advantage being that you can easily rotate the drum in order to get some air in there. The air should help to keep some of the stink down.

 

[Bsquared]

I layer my grains with lawn clippings and other green material and don't have a problem with smell, and am adding 25-50lb a month into the heap. I also have a worm bin right next to my compost heap, so the worms migrate into the heap and speed the decay process.

One thing I have notices is the worm's go absolutely NUT's for the spent hop turb.

 

[MikeScott]

I'm gearing up to do my first AG batch, and my plan was to put the grains into my worm bin. I've been doing that with my seeping grains on the extract batches, and the worms seem to love it.

Of course, my bin isn't too terribly big, so I may have to give some to a friendly neighborhood composter.

 

[Bsquared]

I'm gearing up to do my first AG batch, and my plan was to put the grains into my worm bin. I've been doing that with my seeping grains on the extract batches, and the worms seem to love it.

Of course, my bin isn't too terribly big, so I may have to give some to a friendly neighborhood composter.

I've been told that it's best to allow the grain to heat out in the compost pile before adding it to your worm bin. The decomposing grains can generate a lot of heat and can cook your worms. my worms are "free range" so they can move out of the compost pile if it gets too hot for them.

 

[MikeScott]

Thanks Bsquared! I may just give it all to my composting friend, or maybe start my own compost pile.

 

[DNW]

Why compost at all? Make them into dog biscuits, sell them in your local canine boutique and brew for free!

 

[MikeScott]

Sweet! That's most excellent! I have 2 dogs, so I'll gladly try this one out.

 

[DNW]

Our dog would never even taste any homemade biscuits we had tried before. She LOVES these.

 

[Saint Aardvark]

Hm -- I just did a small batch (2 gallons), and put maybe 1.5 pounds in a worm composter (Worm Composting). That was Sunday; I'll have to check it out when I go home and make sure the little critters are okay.

 

[Bendbiker]

be careful. Not sure what type of worm compost you are running but they are sensitive to acidity, so for us they told us not to use citrus, and to add eggshells, which help buffer the pH. I added a bunch of spent grains to mine (which I think are somewhat low pH) and killed half my colony!

 

[MikeScott]

I've added the steeping grains a few times and haven't had any issues, but I don't think I'll do that again.

Not that I have to anymore, I'll be turning mine into doggie biscuits from here on out.

 

[Saint Aardvark]

be careful. Not sure what type of worm compost you are running but they are sensitive to acidity, so for us they told us not to use citrus, and to add eggshells, which help buffer the pH. I added a bunch of spent grains to mine (which I think are somewhat low pH) and killed half my colony!

Sorry to hear that! I heard the same thing about coffee grounds. I just checked the worms last night, though, and they seem to be fine -- no dead worms, no bad smell. Really, though, I should be taking all my grains to my father-in-law -- he's got a backyard, and he's got the space for a big compost pile.

 

[carl spakler]

It smells now like fermented stinky grain, but boy does it get hot. It was smoking this morning!!!

I tend to doubt smoke, more likely water vapor from the warm grains and cool air.

 

[Synovia]

Our dog would never even taste any homemade biscuits we had tried before. She LOVES these.

Mine loves em too, but theres no way I could ever go through using all the grain from each batch. 10lbs of grain probably makes 30 lbs of dog biscuits. (grain + flour + peanut butter + egg)

 

[DNW]

That's why you need to start a business... or find someone that would like to add a new line to their dog biscuits...

It does make a lot, but 10# of grain is not 10# by the time you take 80% of the starch out, and there is no liquid left by the time you're done cooking them either so most of the weight of the peanut butter and eggs is gone too. The cookies are pretty light. It would be interesting to know what it actually was, but I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't actually gain anything (10# grain = 10# finished cookies).

 

[Scooby_Brew]

So finally I have built a composting pile. It's a 4x4' cube, made with 1x1"x4' wood and a chicken wire. This time of the year I have lots of leafs in my backyard, so this way hopefully I can kill two birds with one stone. Right now I have 23# of spent grains in there mixed in with the leafs and no bad smell so far. Lets hope I can keep it this way.

 

[BeerPressure]

grain is not really part of a dog's diet and they have no use for it. i wont feed my dog spent grain