What do you do with your spent grains?

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

Turn them into big brown eggs with the help of the feathered disposals.

 

[troy2000]

I've done my best to give mine away to people with kids who are raising 4H animals, and no one will take them. I guess people figure if it doesn't come in a sack from a feed store, it can't be trusted....

The usual excuse is, "well, we don't want to mess with their normal feeding routine; it might upset their digestion."

No one feels that way about my beer, though; they line up for a shot at it.

 

[Rusty2089]

Then end up somewhere in the yard... maybe under a tree... maybe up against the fence.

Unfortunately they've never grown into a beer tree.

 

[hopkincr]

I use mine and make energy bars. Mix with equal parts oats and add craisins, nuts, chocolate and then PB, honey and butter as the binder. Really good and the different grains make for interesting tastes.

 

[Simps]

Dog Treats! Really simple recipe:

2C Flour
1C Spent Grain
2 L eggs
1C pumpkin or peanut butter

Bake em at 325 for 30 min, then down to 225 for about an hour to dry out completely

Thanks for this recipe. We made them for our dachshund and he loves them...although he recently ate a couple of his own turds so I can't really rely on his palate.

 

[drainbamage]

I make dog treats as well.

I may have tried a couple myself...

 

[mcartt11]

For those of you that are making bread, are you drying the grains, milling it to flour and then using the flour mixed with other flours or are you using the wet grain like you would other whole grains in a bread recipe?

 

[Brettomomyces]

I make dog treats as well.

I may have tried a couple myself...

I think next time im going to split the batch and put some salt and brown sugar for the people batch

 

[Brettomomyces]

For those of you that are making bread, are you drying the grains, milling it to flour and then using the flour mixed with other flours or are you using the wet grain like you would other whole grains in a bread recipe?

I just use them whole and wet, I would start with 4 parts flour 1 part spent grain, and reduce the water you would add by maybe 1/2 to 1/3c, YMMV. You have to resist the urge to use much more than that, there's so much extra fiber that it can upset your stomach if you go a little too heavy.

 

[unionrdr]

When I mix spent grains & flour for biscuits, pizza crust, rolls & the like, I dry them in the oven for storage. I then grind what I need into flour in my Mr Coffee burr grinder on the finest espresso setting.

 

[Gavin C]

Into the flower beds or around a tree in the yard. I'm not much of a baker and no dog for treats.

 

[trussell]

Spread them on planting beds. I got a 100' x 10' ground cover bed at the back is where most of it goes. What the animals, birds and insects don't eat seems to break down over time.

 

[Tinpanharry]

I give them to a relative to feed chickens.

 

[Matt3424]

I used to live in a neighborhood with a pond. So, I would just feed it to the ducks that lived there.

 

[DrummoRC]

I have made dog treats but I do all grain and can only make so many Biscuits for the boys! I compost most of the grain.

They are really good for Blueberry and Azalea bushes both like acidic soil which make spent grain a great mulch for them but would not use it directly on anything else.

 

[brewcat]

I should try the granola recipe and make some flour. That sounds like a good use for them. I'll also compost with them.

 

[unionrdr]

Dry them in a 200F oven, turning every 30 minutes until dry & fluffy. Cool, then store in 1 gallon zip lock freezer bags. I label'em for what beer they were used for.
i have a Mr Coffee burr grinder I use on the finest espresso setting to get a nice flour out of them. This site has a lot of recipes for spent grains/flour; http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/category/spentgrainchef/

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Here (Tucson), it's quail. Pitch the grains over the wall (no one behind me), usually the quail are there the next day. Grains gone in three days.

Kangaroos and possums eat most of mine. Last batch went sour though, then the dog rolled in it.

 

[bobeer]

Dry them in a 200F oven, turning every 30 minutes until dry & fluffy. Cool, then store in 1 gallon zip lock freezer bags. I label'em for what beer they were used for.
i have a Mr Coffee burr grinder I use on the finest espresso setting to get a nice flour out of them. This site has a lot of recipes for spent grains/flour; http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/category/spentgrainchef/

I usually just make dog treats for my lab and my friends dogs. They're quick and easy. However, this brooklybrewshop site has awesome recipes for pretty much anything. Once you make flour out of the grain you can make anything from scratch pretty much. Great site!
I'm assuming I can use my mill on a fine setting to make flour? I have a coffee grinder but I'd rather not crush lb's and lb's of grain at a time in it.

 

[CUrchin]

Most often compost, sometimes I make spent grain bread. Occasionally dog biscuits.

I don't really care much to spend the time to dry them which is why they usually get composted.

 

[obi_krash]

I have lots of little critters around me, so I put little piles of them out in the woods for them.

Keeps them out of my trash and recycling so that work for me.

I have wanted to try my hand at making some dog treats though. And I hadn't thought about the chickens - I have a friend who is doing the urban chicken thing. Im going to reach out to her and see if she wants them.

 

[Brew_G]

For now, they go into the compost, but I would like to eventually add some to one of my bread recipes.

Next beer will be a pumpkin ale (letting it condition until early fall), so that might be a good time to bake up some dog treats. My dog's food is all grain-free, but treats are treats...

 

[unionrdr]

Adding some peanut butter &/or bacon drippin's is always good too.

 

[Brew_G]

Adding some peanut butter &/or bacon drippin's is always good too.

My pup is all about bacon drippings. That's a great idea. Maybe add a little bit of chopped up bacon, too. Bacon/pumpkin dog treats. Yum...

 

[unionrdr]

Actually, that one does sound pretty good! The spices ought to be interesting.

 

[satownsend]

One of my other hobbies is carp fishing. I used spent grain from my Lemon Drop Saison to make a method mix to catch a 16 lber.

 

[55x11]

during the summer i would either put them in our compost pile or use them to mulch my hop plants...now that winter is upon us i'm going to make a pile behind the garden and in the spring use them to make a mushroom patch

I use them in compost bin.

Supposedly you may not want to just pile them next to garden as the smell attracts animals of all kinds - they will start with grains and then onto your garden next.

 

[razyrsharpe]

compost. as well as the trub.

 

[MEPNew2Brew]

A friend of mine has chickens. I give him the spent grain to feed them. Crack for chickens he says.

 

[hifidelity]

I throw them over the fence for the cows to enjoy.

 

[Jeremy_84]

Neighbor has chickens we have a deal worked out where I get some free eggs for spent grain. Also use some in compost. Tried making a fire log one time with it by building a mold and pressing it. It didn't work out well. It was just a big sticky mess. I was wondering if I throw it in a bucket with some water and let it sit in the sun for a week if I can use it for catfish chum kinda like maze.

 

[catdaddy66]

I'm at a beer tasting that my LHBS has on the last Saturday of each month. The owner's wife made pizza using the spent grains for the crust dough. Omg it's phenomenalView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1437841141.536911.jpg

 

[wardens355]

Neighbor does not want me feeding any spent grains to chickens anymore, thinks it hurts their egg production. Compost now.

 

[brewbama]

Dump them into the wood line so the deer will enjoy them. I like seeing the deer hangin out.

 

[stever1000]

I'm at a beer tasting that my LHBS has on the last Saturday of each month. The owner's wife made pizza using the spent grains for the crust dough. Omg it's phenomenalView attachment 292261

How did she do it? I hate throwing away my spent grain, and I love pizza

 

[dallasdb]

You definitely don't want to just dump them in a pile. They'll actually get mold/mildew and can stink.

 

[Kent88]

Another one for using it in pizza dough. I'm still experimenting with how much I can add, I bet it is a lot more than I am using now.

@stever1000 I basically use this recipe for pizza dough, but I sub in whole wheat flour for an equal weight of dried spent grain "flour". I bet one could also sub some of the bread flour for equal weight of spent grain flour as well, but start with just sub'ing the whole wheat flour. I sometimes sub the sugar with DME, too. Pizza stones are great things, BTW.

 

[stever1000]

Another one for using it in pizza dough. I'm still experimenting with how much I can add, I bet it is a lot more than I am using now.

@stever1000 I basically use this recipe for pizza dough, but I sub in whole wheat flour for an equal weight of dried spent grain "flour". I bet one could also sub some of the bread flour for equal weight of spent grain flour as well, but start with just sub'ing the whole wheat flour. I sometimes sub the sugar with DME, too. Pizza stones are great things, BTW.

What's the best way to dry them quickly? I have a vitamix to make flour, but I find that the grains don't take long to get a sour smell to them so I would need to dry them quick enough to prevent this from happening!

 

[Kent88]

@stever1000 when you are wrapping up with sparging set the oven as low as it will go (it is probably still hot enough to discourage souring bacteria). While you're waiting for your wort to boil line a big cookie sheet with something and spread the spent grain out as best you can and put it in the oven. When you're done chilling the wort and you've got it in your fermenter with yeast pitched, so you can actually pay attention to the spent grain, bump the oven temperature up to 200F to 210F and just let them sit for several hours.

The flour is also good in waffle batter, but not in pretzels. The pretzels I made, it was like I added sawdust to it, I couldn't eat them. Maybe if there had been some beer cheese sauce to dip them in it would have been better, but I couldn't eat them plain. Malt extract in pretzel dough is good, though.

 

[stever1000]

@stever1000 when you are wrapping up with sparging set the oven as low as it will go (it is probably still hot enough to discourage souring bacteria). While you're waiting for your wort to boil line a big cookie sheet with something and spread the spent grain out as best you can and put it in the oven. When you're done chilling the wort and you've got it in your fermenter with yeast pitched, so you can actually pay attention to the spent grain, bump the oven temperature up to 200F to 210F and just let them sit for several hours.

Can I refrigerate it while I brew? I use my range/oven outlet for my e-kettle so I can't dry right away