Time to Get Real About Eating Spent Grain

[Protos]

Barley husks are soft, especially after the mash, fine to eat, IMO.

We must be having either different barley or different standards for edibility...
Every time I read someone makes bread of it (and I read such stories pretty often) I wonder what do they do to the husks. It seems they do nothing, they just eat it as it is. The world is full of weird dishes.

 

[Knightshade]

I stumbled upon this when I started brewing, Brewers grains | Feedipedia so with it in mind I try and utilize as much of the spent grains as possible whenever something is being baked. Thus far, we've added either dried or dried then pulverized to:

Pizza Crust
Sandwich Breads
Various other breads (Zucchini, Pumpkin, Banana)
Muffins
Pancakes

Pooch will get the occasional spent grain dog biscuit, but for fear of him being referred to as "Ottoman shaped" by our vet again, it doesn't happen very often.

I eat steel cut oatmeal every morning and add flax. Think I might try and add some of the ground up spent grains tomorrow morning and see how that turns out.

Whenever we don't have room for more grains, they get put into various vermicomposters I have on our side yard.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Raises hand...

But I prefer baking bread with some of the wet spent grain. Just mix in enough flour to make a no-knead dough.
The wet grain is even better a day or 2 later.
And without any rice or oat hulls.

From Sunday's brew I dumped 29 pounds of wet grain on the edge of the woods - all yours if you want it. Had a couple days of snow and rain so it should be really wet!

 

[Christoff]

My dogs love it, but if you give them too much you can’t pick up after them. It just crumbles. And they cough it up for 10-15 min after because it gets stuck in their throat. I made granola with it once, and I’ll second the razor blades in the throat effect. Also coughed it up for a bit afterwards. After second running’s it’s straight to the compose now.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

I've read where deer love spent grain, but I haven't noticed them devouring the piles I put out. I have seen some signs of something digging around them though but for the most part the piles just revert back to Mother Nature. I have seen pigs gobbling up spent grain, but I can't get my wife on board with pigs or chickens or any barn yard animals.

When summer comes back I want to try mixing the warm, wet grain with shredded paper and try making those paper logs. I thought that would fun to try and might smell nice in the fire pit.

 

[day_trippr]

On days when there is simply too much spent grain to give it all to the chickens (eg: an imperial stout that uses 42 pounds of malt) the better portion ends up in the compost pile. We have seen members of our local deer herd surround that pile at night with most of the dumped grain gone the next morning. I've never been able to determine if rice hulls bother them much...

Cheers!

 

[El Whedo]

If I feel lazy it goes in my composter.

If I have time on my hands I take some to a neighbor with chickens, and some to a neighbor with the most friendly goat I've ever met. Merle (the goat) also gets about 40ish mammoth sunflower plants a year from me, and after every cannabis harvest and trim, he gets the rest. That goat loves me.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

My wife is a steady bread baker, but a little spent grain goes a very long way. Most ends up in the compost for the garden

Same here. I think the biggest downside of spent grain is that it is...umm...spent. The good stuff of the flours, grains and seeds that make great bread have already been extracted to make great beer. Spent grain is mostly just the left over husks. I have used it in bread and pretzels (as dried, dried and ground to flour, and wet). It is novel to take to a homebrew club meeting as a "spent grain" product (spent grain pretzels are a hit), but I have never really felt spent grain added anything positive to a food product. At about 1 cup per loaf of bread, you have to bake a LOT of bread to make a dent into the spent grains from 1 batch of beer.

I have been curious about grinding up some non-spent grain (say Crystal Malt, Golden Naked Oats, Munich Malt, Honey Malt, etc.) and using that in a loaf of bread. I just have not gotten around to it. Has anybody else tried?

I have also been curious about adding flour to a beer. The malted wheat that I often use is over $2 per lb, where a bag of whole wheat flour is around $1 per lb. Anybody tried this?

 

[ebbelwoi]

I use ground-up Carafa Special III (it's dehusked) in breads to darken them and add a little flavor. Works pretty well.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I've never baked with them or otherwise eaten them. I generally do one of four things with my spent grains:

1. Down the drain and ground up by the garbage disposal, which I really don't like to do.
2. My back yard is the 6th fairway of a golf course. After dark I take my bucket out a and spread
the grains all around.
3. Give them to a friend for his chickens.
4. Give them to a different friend for his compost pile.

 

[JAReeves]

Same here. I think the biggest downside of spent grain is that it is...umm...spent. The good stuff of the flours, grains and seeds that make great bread have already been extracted to make great beer. Spent grain is mostly just the left over husks. I have used it in bread and pretzels (as dried, dried and ground to flour, and wet). It is novel to take to a homebrew club meeting as a "spent grain" product (spent grain pretzels are a hit), but I have never really felt spent grain added anything positive to a food product. At about 1 cup per loaf of bread, you have to bake a LOT of bread to make a dent into the spent grains from 1 batch of beer.

I have been curious about grinding up some non-spent grain (say Crystal Malt, Golden Naked Oats, Munich Malt, Honey Malt, etc.) and using that in a loaf of bread. I just have not gotten around to it. Has anybody else tried?

I have also been curious about adding flour to a beer. The malted wheat that I often use is over $2 per lb, where a bag of whole wheat flour is around $1 per lb. Anybody tried this?

I have added flour to beers when I cannot find the appropriate whole-ish grain. All I can say is expect a really slow draining mash and sparge, and potential turbidity in the beer that will never drop out. It's not a good time.

 

[balrog]

I have added flour to beers when I cannot find the appropriate whole-ish grain. All I can say is expect a really slow draining mash and sparge, and potential turbidity in the beer that will never drop out. It's not a good time.

Other than watching a batch's total distatic power, and the issues with lautering, and further down the line with turbidity, I suppose wheat/corn/rice flour could be used....

 

[SirHC_]

I use spent grain on food for my family frequently.
I typically blend the sg with whatever liquid the recipe calls for, just for a smoother effect.
They do co tain some soluble fiber still, a lot of roughage, a fair amount of protein still, and surprisingly, still some carvohydrates. The carbs are not all converted during the mash.
Spent grain in compost functions as a green because of the protein. Protein=nitrogen. Same reason it is a good supplement to livestock feed.
I've made bread, muffins, brownies and the house favorite are the pancakes and waffles, they turn out similar to the Kodiak cakes from the store.

 

[TheMadKing]

Other than watching a batch's total distatic power, and the issues with lautering, and further down the line with turbidity, I suppose wheat/corn/rice flour could be used....

Ask @bracconiere... He might know

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Well, yes a little spend grain does go a long way… I use them wet for bread and ”cookies” for my parrot. I don’t bother drying and grinding them to use in bread now, but who knows with inflation it might be desirable. And remember, if your spent grains are tasting good then your efficiency could be better.

 

[bracconiere]

Ask @bracconiere... He might know

i use my spent grain in the garden for growing tobacco....but i just had the thought due to your comment, what about 'second runnings' with like a gallon of milk to make malted milk? wouldn't keep the grain out of the garden, but that's where ends up one way or the other, as dirt....

edit: damn: DKU....

I have also been curious about adding flour to a beer. The malted wheat that I often use is over $2 per lb, where a bag of whole wheat flour is around $1 per lb. Anybody tried this?

i've used 5lb with 8 lbs barley malt....sparging is a SOB, but it got done....these were destined to be 10 gallon batches with 7 gallons strike water, for the record.....if i had to do it again, i'd try and make crackers out of the flour first to try to give it a bit more lauter capability...

that's when i first started malting, and didn't think i could dry 20lbs with just cool air flow, so i was using a food dehydrater....didn't want to feel like a total simp with the sugar so i was using white flour.....

 

[Knightshade]

I stumbled upon this when I started brewing, Brewers grains | Feedipedia so with it in mind I try and utilize as much of the spent grains as possible whenever something is being baked. Thus far, we've added either dried or dried then pulverized to:

Pizza Crust
Sandwich Breads
Various other breads (Zucchini, Pumpkin, Banana)
Muffins
Pancakes

Pooch will get the occasional spent grain dog biscuit, but for fear of him being referred to as "Ottoman shaped" by our vet again, it doesn't happen very often.

I eat steel cut oatmeal every morning and add flax. Think I might try and add some of the ground up spent grains tomorrow morning and see how that turns out.

Whenever we don't have room for more grains, they get put into various vermicomposters I have on our side yard.

Threw some on the oatmeal this morning, other than being a little thicker I couldn't really tell. Maybe the banana I threw in there this morning masked it? These grains did have rice hulls in them, but like I mentioned they've been dried and pulverized via our blender into a fine powder.

So extra nutrition, fiber, etc., w/o much if any taste? Sounds like a win to me.

 

[Skeeter686]

I have also been curious about adding flour to a beer. The malted wheat that I often use is over $2 per lb, where a bag of whole wheat flour is around $1 per lb. Anybody tried this?

I believe someone has...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/hazy-cheapskate-miraculix-forbidden-ale.710855/#post-10195034

 

[bracconiere]

I believe someone has...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/hazy-cheapskate-miraculix-forbidden-ale.710855/#post-10195034

DAMN! $8 for 5lbs of flour now! last i bought flour it was like $1.5?

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I'm new here, so seeing people hijack my threads makes me feel welcome.

 

[bracconiere]

feel welcome.

it's not that off topic! we are talking about eating grains here? which gives me another thought....use a lot of wheat and use the mash to extract the gluten for seitan? or there's anti gluten people that say there's enough gluten in barley even to give them problems?

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

it's not that off topic! we are talking about eating grains here? which gives me another thought....use a lot of wheat and use the mash to extract the gluten for seitan? or there's anti gluten people that say there's enough gluten in barley even to give them problems?

All I know is, I like the taste and texture of spent grain. It reminds me of a hot cereal called Ralston. I don't know if they still make it. And anything that will facilitate a healthy deuce is welcome.

 

[laurentobias]

Dried and pulverized, then used to make these crackers: How to Make Spent Grain Crackers | Spent Grain Soda Crackers

They're delicious!

 

[JAReeves]

One of us, one of us...

 

[bracconiere]

All I know is, I like the taste and texture of spent grain. It reminds me of a hot cereal called Ralston

so we need to figure out how to get the husks out?

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

And lose all the chewiness?

 

[day_trippr]

All I know is, I like the taste and texture of spent grain. It reminds me of a hot cereal called Ralston. I don't know if they still make it.

Ah, there's a long interesting history behind the cereal produced by Ralston - some of it unsavory.

For instance:
"The name Ralston stems from a minor social movement in the late 19th Century called Ralstonism - created by Webster Edgerly. Followers of the movement (about 800,000) followed the motto "Regime, Activity, Light, Strength, Temperation, Oxygen and Nature" - the first letters of which spelled out "Ralston".

Ralstonism required its adherents to follow very strict guidelines regarding diet and personal hygiene. Since the ideology's founder advocated the castration of all non-Caucasian males, it could be assumed that pro-Caucasionism and minority-exclusionism were additional tenants of the movement not covered by the "Ralston" moniker."

Yikes!

 

[BongoYodeler]

Ah, there's a long interesting history behind the cereal produced by Ralston - some of it unsavory.

For instance:
"The name Ralston stems from a minor social movement in the late 19th Century called Ralstonism - created by Webster Edgerly. Followers of the movement (about 800,000) followed the motto "Regime, Activity, Light, Strength, Temperation, Oxygen and Nature" - the first letters of which spelled out "Ralston".

Ralstonism required its adherents to follow very strict guidelines regarding diet and personal hygiene. Since the ideology's founder advocated the castration of all non-Caucasian males, it could be assumed that pro-Caucasionism and minority-exclusionism were additional tenants of the movement not covered by the "Ralston" moniker."

Yikes!

I'll stick with Maypo.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Ralstonism required its adherents to follow very strict guidelines regarding diet and personal hygiene. Since the ideology's founder advocated the castration of all non-Caucasian males, it could be assumed that pro-Caucasionism and minority-exclusionism were additional tenants of the movement not covered by the "Ralston" moniker."

Yikes!

Well, sure. It said that on the back of the box.

 

[JAReeves]

Ah, there's a long interesting history behind the cereal produced by Ralston - some of it unsavory.

For instance:
"The name Ralston stems from a minor social movement in the late 19th Century called Ralstonism - created by Webster Edgerly. Followers of the movement (about 800,000) followed the motto "Regime, Activity, Light, Strength, Temperation, Oxygen and Nature" - the first letters of which spelled out "Ralston".

Ralstonism required its adherents to follow very strict guidelines regarding diet and personal hygiene. Since the ideology's founder advocated the castration of all non-Caucasian males, it could be assumed that pro-Caucasionism and minority-exclusionism were additional tenants of the movement not covered by the "Ralston" moniker."

Yikes!

"It's not just for Eugenicists anymore!"