Spent Grains

[twisted-brew]

Dog treats, pizza crust, granola bars, compost, farm feed...what else do you all do with your spent grains?
I have four dogs, dog treats are a no brainer. What are some other edible ideas to do with the grains?

 

[Pappers_]

I brew at our club's (CHAOS) brewhouse and we pour our spent grain into two big garbage cans and every week a farmer comes and collects it for feed. Before I began brewing at the brewhouse, I added my spent grain to two barrel composters that I kept. Spent grains really jump start compost - its warm, wet, and covered with wild bacteria.

 

[Sparge]

I just dump mine in the woods.

 

[Aristotelian]

Dog treats, pizza crust, granola bars, compost, farm feed...what else do you all do with your spent grains?
I have four dogs, dog treats are a no brainer. What are some other edible ideas to do with the grains?

You can actually make dog food (not just treats) with it. I mix it with rice, whatever leftover veggies we have, and some cheap "manager special" meat from the grocery store. I feed her about 40% homemade food and 60% kibble. I have to mix it in otherwise she won't eat the kibble!

Whatever I don't use for the dog, I give to neighbors to feed their chickens.

 

[ArcLight]

Spent grains really jump start compost - its warm, wet, and covered with wild bacteria.

I think the 'wild bacteria' that were on the grain are dead, depending on the mash temperature. Still makes a great compost though!

 

[kombat]

My municipality has a "green bin" program, so I just dump mine into the bin. It does, however, become a bit of an issue in the winter, when the damp grains freeze solid to the inside of the bin, making it impossible for the garbage collectors to extract them (although they did destroy our bin last year trying, banging it against their truck). Then the next week, I add more on top of the pile that they were unable to collect the previous week, and so on, until the thing is filled to the brim. I bought a spare garbage can for the "overflow" until the spring thaw.

 

[GHBWNY]

Anyone ever fed them to the birds? I make my own suet that's basically shortening (or lard), peanut butter, cornmeal and flour. Then I usually stir in a few handfuls of wild bird seed. But now I'm wondering about using spent grains in addition to or in place of the bird seed. Not so sure they'd like the hops or the change in flavor.

 

[Xpertskir]

I just dump mine in the woods.

This...I create way too much spent grain to even consider using it. ~160 dry pounds last weekend alone

 

[beerkench]

Mine goes to the horses and the chickens. I won't be throwing it in the compost again because of the fruit fly invasion we had last time I did that.

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

On occasion I'll fill up a few cookie trays with grain and throw them in the oven on the lowest setting, moving them around every few hours to dry them out a bit. Take them out, dump them in a big bowl with some oats, honey, molasses, nuts, spices, whatever you want. Throw the mess back in the oven for a bit, take it back out and add dried fruit and voila, spent grain granola!

 

[Funkychef]

I dry mine in the oven then put them in the blender and make flour and use it in my sourdough bread.

 

[DurtyChemist]

Compost pile but I'm wondering if when I add them wet if it is causing the compost to make the large balls it does like dough balls. I've given some to the dog or baked eggs in them but 99% of the time it's compost.

 

[unionrdr]

I dry them in a 200F oven, turning once an hour till dry & fluffy. Store in ziploc bags with the style o beer they were used for on the bag. I grind them into flour in my Mr coffee burr grinder on the finest espresso setting.

 

[Hackwood]

Started scattering them across the front lawn. The birds love them.

 

[twisted-brew]

I dry them in a 200F oven, turning once an hour till dry & fluffy. Store in ziploc bags with the style o beer they were used for on the bag. I grind them into flour in my Mr coffee burr grinder on the finest espresso setting.

Great idea

 

[MaddBaggins]

I give mine to my chickens. They love that stuff.

 

[kh54s10]

Started scattering them across the front lawn. The birds love them.

I put mine under the bird feeders. The birds will not touch them..........

I have never used any but plan to dry some out from the next batch for making bread. It will be a small addition to the store bought flour though.

 

[Neptune]

You can actually make dog food (not just treats) with it. I mix it with rice, whatever leftover veggies we have, and some cheap "manager special" meat from the grocery store. I feed her about 40% homemade food and 60% kibble. I have to mix it in otherwise she won't eat the kibble!

I would like to try this.

Do you dry the spent grains out first? How long will it keep if you don't? Store in the fridge?

 

[jake-k]

Chicken food. I dont feed them for a couple days and ten or so lbs of spent grain gone in one day. They love it.

 

[Aristotelian]

I would like to try this.

Do you dry the spent grains out first? How long will it keep if you don't? Store in the fridge?

I don't dry. Just put them in the freezer in freezer bags until I need them.

 

[Collmorgen]

I dump mine on the ground and my horses and my dog eat them.

 

[jschein]

Pig slop, they love it more after a week, that's what Farmer Frank told me. I Think he does a batch sparge and gets whacked! I never see him until Tuesday.

 

[N3Bruce]

When I brew, I dump my spent grains onto a compost pile. As for wild bacteria, while the fresh spent grain might be pasteurized, it soon picks up wild bacteria blowing on the wind, washed down by the rain, or picked up from the soil or compost beneath, and the warm, wet protein and sugar rich spent grain allows the bacteria to grow quickly.

In the winter, the spent grain is a magnet for birds, and small animals, and if snow covers the ground, footprints of everything from rabbits, birds, squirrels converge on the pile, until a large portion of it is consumed.

 

[backsideslash]

My wife likes to use them in her cooking. You can use them wet and right from the mash tun in some recipes, or dry them and use them whole or grind them and use as flour.

 

[kombat]

I dump mine on the ground and my horses and my dog eat them.

Just make sure you don't do this with any grains with which you've "mash hopped." Hops are toxic to dogs.

 

[drksky]

I toss mine in the garden and it all gets tilled under in the spring. I thought the birds would eat it, but they won't touch it.

 

[jpakstis]

I used some with a nice bread. It turned out great. Although between the brew day, the bread baking, and also cooking a stew, it made for one hot day in front of my stove and oven!

 

[twisted-brew]

Yeah I've learned drying and baking grains takes longer than brewing a beer. I lost interest. My girlfriend loves making dog treats with the grains, so all of it isn't going to waste.

 

[castillo556]

Friend of mine with chickens takes em. The chickens love em, even wet, they eat it right up.

 

[ericbw]

Dog treats, pizza crust, granola bars, compost, farm feed...what else do you all do with your spent grains?
I have four dogs, dog treats are a no brainer. What are some other edible ideas to do with the grains?

It looks like you already have an exhaustive list of what to do with it!

Not exactly innovative, but I used some in a loaf of rye bread recently. I grind mine twice when I brew, so it blended right into the loaf. And I sprinkled some on top.

I saved more in the freezer to use later.

 

[MaxStout]

I give mine to friends who have chickens and ducks. They put the grain in small pails and set it in the freezer. Then they put out the blocks of frozen grain for the birds to peck at all day. They're crazy for it.

 

[gwiz1]

On brew day, I fill sandwich bags with a few cups of the spent grains and freeze them. When the wife makes soup (or other bread appropriate meal), I use the bread machine with this: http://www.food.com/recipe/spent-grain-bread-machine-bread-449525 Regards, Kevin.