What do you do with your spent grains?

[Shaffer1515]

Just moved to a new place and brewed 2 beers on Sat. late into the am. Quickly remebered after I had 25lb of (dry) grain I had no plans for the spent grains after (they ended up in a garbage bag and are awaiting trash day Friday, yuck). Previously I was able to dump them away from where I was staying, now I am renting.

 

[Strut]

My dog loves them. They also make great compost for a vegetable or flower garden.

 

[hexangel013]

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

 

[wapitiscat]

I started using spent grains in homemade bread. No real recipe. Just half a cup or so added to whole grain flour, etc. I got the idea from an article at the AHA site. I didn't want to go to all the trouble of drying and milling like they did in the article. Doesn't even begin to put a dent in the used grain but makes for a robust loaf. The rest goes on the compost pile.

Todd

 

[jimyson]

I put them out to the curb for yard waste pickup. It comes weekly on Mondays so it's perfect timing after a brew weekend. I think there is also an article in either BYO or AHA that provides direction on turning it into flour for baking.

 

[trailrider]

We make dog treats from the spent grain. I don't do all grain batches so the amount of grain isn't large and the recipe only calls for 4 cups of spent grain.

 

[soccerdad]

All good ideas - compost (hard for renters), bread or muffins (if you or a friend bakes), dog treats (for you or a friend) -- also nice as feed for anyone you know who has livestock from chickens on up to cows or horses.

 

[Brettomomyces]

You can dry them and turn them into spent grain flour

Compost em

Save a few cups in the freezer and pull them out whenever you want to make spent grain pizza dough/rolls/whatever. I like to do 1:4 spent grain to flour...from personal experience any more than that can sometimes lead to an upset GI tract from all the fiber in them. But man is it filling.

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

 

[Patrick87]

Mine go in the garden.

 

[Tazzster]

I feed them to the chickens.

 

[JimEb]

I've been putting them either in trash or garden. I'm going to try the bread thing from now on. Maybe every batch of beer I'll do will have a matching loaf of bread to go with it.

 

[brewbama]

I dump them on the edge of the woods. The next day I go see if the deer found them. Most of the time they do.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[harry_the_face]

It is great feed for livestock because the most sugar is gone and all of the protein is left. Breweries usually sell their spent grain as feed. If you know a farmer ask him/her if they want it. Because it is wet it needs to go straight to feeding or it will mold and be no good. Same for making bread. Dry it or put it in the freezer til you need it.

 

[mikeasu]

I dump them on the edge of the woods. The next day I go see if the deer found them. Most of the time they do.

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.

 

[wardens355]

Feeds the landlord's chickens and I get free eggs.

 

[chezhed]

Try to give them to some kid with a 4H animal project...otherwise, trash.

 

[MrTux]

The wildlife in the backyard love me! I just toss my spent grain behind the shed where all the deer hang out. The rabbits love it as well.

 

[bragona71]

Feeds the landlord's chickens and I get free eggs.

Ditto free eggs for grains

 

[Remmy]

All spent grains go into the woods.

 

[mhurst111]

i've done several of these recipes. The pretzels come out really good.

http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/category/spentgrainchef/

 

[Tkeonce]

I've only made 2 batches of beer, but I used my spent grain on dog biscuits and pizza dough. My dogs went nuts over the treats.

 

[dkennedy]

You can dry them and turn them into spent grain flour

Compost em

Save a few cups in the freezer and pull them out whenever you want to make spent grain pizza dough/rolls/whatever. I like to do 1:4 spent grain to flour...from personal experience any more than that can sometimes lead to an upset GI tract from all the fiber in them. But man is it filling.

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

I compost mine, as my dogs are predominately grain-free. That treat recipe looks good though, might make some Brewer Treats!

 

[JINKS]

I've been putting them either in trash or garden. I'm going to try the bread thing from now on. Maybe every batch of beer I'll do will have a matching loaf of bread to go with it.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/brewers-bread-476154/

 

[rxpx40]

I dump mine in the yard for the deer. Sometimes my dogs go out and eat them.

 

[BorealBrewer]

I compost 'em, or feed 'em to pigs at a farm near where I work.

I think over the holidays, I'm going to try make pine cone and suet feeders with some. Roll a pine cone in softened suet, and then in birdseed...in this case, spent grain.

Sounds like a plan...I have an excuse to brew a small batch, and then I can "do a project" with my cousin's kids, or SWMBO niece...beer+craft+nature study=happy me, happy kids!

 

[unionrdr]

The spent grain chef link is great! It even tells how to dry them for making flour. I dry them a few hours in a 200F oven till fluffy. That's how you tell if they're dry. Then I use my Mr Coffee burr grinder on the finest espresso setting to make flour. I doubled the recipe for the spent grain pretzel buns for burgers. Springy & good! Also good in biscuit dough for biscuits, or country style pizza dough. here's a couple pics;


These were made with spent grain flour mixed with regular flour. Spent grains from PM IPA.

 

[Monkey-BB]

My buddy's Chickens love when they see my truck pull into the driveway. We make some dog treats once and a while for the pooch.

 

[Vedder014]

Either used to make dog treats or tossed into the garden.

 

[GluStick]

I dump them in my neighbors yard because we have been feuding for about a year now and i do anything to make his life a living hell LOL! just kidding, he has a compost pile and he asked me to dump my spent grains in there

 

[ghohn]

Chickens love grain. My parents chickens are good for over a pound per chicken per day. I swear the eggs taste even better because of it