What do you do with your spent grains?

[bailey mountain brewer]

If anyone is mixing spent hops with the spent grains, the hops can have some very bad effects on dogs.

Brooo Brother

absolutely.. i read quite some time ago that hops can be very bay for dogs... something like hyperthermia if i recall, probably 10 years ago when i looked into it so i cant say for sure. but yeah definitely only use the grains.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

It may take a few times for them to get used to the new ingredient? It's just a ****** proposition until they do.

Don't forget, dogs always claim to have a digestive system second to none.

aint this the truth.. my sisters black lab i swear is a garbage disposal.

 

[Tom Foolery]

I guess I'm lucky in this regard.. I live on a lake with noisy AF Canada geese. Depending on how many are around, 10-12 lbs of grain will be gone within the hour.

 

[KookyBrewsky]

Compost and dog biscuits. If I ever start a local brewery they'll be going to a local dog biscuit shop.

Dog biscuits has only been a few times, I hate shoving my fist into peanut butter... Compost, I only have a single rotating bin for my raised beds. Small backyard in Florida suburb.

 

[Broothru]

I guess I'm lucky in this regard.. I live on a lake with noisy AF Canada geese. Depending on how many are around, 10-12 lbs of grain will be gone within the hour.

Yeah, but they leave a lot of 'recycled' grains behind when they depart.

How's that simile for "rapid" go...."Like grain through a goose?"

Brooo Brother

 

[IrishManBrewing]

I feed them to my Chickens.

 

[firerat]

At my old townhouse most would go to the trash. I had no backyard and my dog only ate so many treats.

Now that I actually have a "yard" I might start composting at least some once I get a garden growing.

 

[crazyjake19]

I dump mine back by the woods and hope some wildlife will snack on them. I've noticed this time of year that not much bothers to eat them.

In the past, I've made dog treats, breads, and granola bars (my favorite) with the spent grain. Usually, I just don't have the time since my brew days are also used for smoking meats or working on other projects as well.

 

[DuncB]

Crazyjake How do you light the meat?

 

[Grizwold1]

Do you live in a city? Put them in a plastic bag, then into a box. Wrap with gift wrap and a ribbon and leave in in the back seat of your car while you are grocery shopping. Likely gone when you return. (Apologies--this was probably suggested already somewhere in the past 4 pages.)

 

[Grizwold1]

On reflection, don't do that. They will probably retaliate by trashing your car.

 

[DuncB]

Alternatively leave in a sealed box outside your house ( or neighbours if they are out) with a " sold sign awaiting collection" and that will also be gone in 5 minutes.

 

[Grizwold1]

Alternatively leave in a sealed box outside your house ( or neighbours if they are out) with a " sold sign awaiting collection" and that will also be gone in 5 minutes.

I would vote for the neighbor's house. That way when they come back it's their house that gets trashed.

 

[DuncB]

Mulched!

 

[day_trippr]

y'all are crazy people

 

[Panderson1]

I bury 10 gallon batches. I dig a small hole and mix it with the dirt. It never smells. I assume some of it will turn into decent soil. It rains everyday in the summer in South Florida. Lucky I have a decent size back yard with a small area I section off for the digging. It's along a hedge section and they seem to grow really well.

If you don't mix it with dirt it smells like puke. Literally like puke back in elementary school when a kid would throw up.

 

[Broothru]

Better hope some nosey neighbor doesn't rat you out to Five-O. They might be inclined to go digging for bones

 

[oskee]

Spread it out on garden bed and rake it in with the soil. As previous poster indicated that if it's mixed with the soil, smell is not a problem.

Folks buy rice hulls to use as a soil amendment (maybe they used it before brewers did) so if someone could figure out how to dry it out economically, I'm sure there are gardeners that would buy it by the pound to use in same manner peat moss is used. Animals also seem to hate the taste or maybe faint smell. My dogs which will eat most things won't get near the garden after I've spread it out.

 

[DuncB]

Our dog will eat it if given a chance. It's the lactic fermentation that makes it smell like vomit.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, the neighbor's chickens and ducks are still holed up in their shelter, but the local deer plundered the last two ~25 pound spent mashes which each had a half pound of rice hulls. That's three batches in a row so I reckon at least while there's heavy snow still on the ground they can be counted on to clean up after me until the fowl get back to foraging

Cheers!

 

[mashpaddled]

Our dog will eat it if given a chance. It's the lactic fermentation that makes it smell like vomit.

It is bacterial but not a lactic fermentation that makes it smell like butyric acid (vomit).

Rodents seem to have no problem consuming the grains no matter how bad the smell. Squirrels are extremely eager to eat it out of the compost even after it smells horrific.

 

[DuncB]

No squirrels down here

 

[Gusso]

Our dog will eat it if given a chance. It's the lactic fermentation that makes it smell like vomit.

When I lived in upstate NY, I initially dumped my grains in the backyard. One day, we were out for a few hours and when we got home, I thought a Shetland pony had broken into our place! There were mounds of grain manure in 3 rooms of our house. The crazy dog must have consumed many, many pounds of the spent grain. After that, I dumped them in the river across the street

 

[DuncB]

Sounds as bad as when our dog ate more than half of a multicoloured sponge cake that was iced for our sons' 18th birthday.
It was about 4 inches thick and 16 inch by 16 inch. Each sponge layer was one colour of the rainbow. Dog swelled up the more water it drank and lay in the garden looking like a snake that had swallowed a rabbit and pretty miserable.
Needless to say the vomit and manure was all the colours of the rainbow.

But on the plus side no grains in it and easy to spot on the lawn.

 

[Jako]

my neighbors own horses and chickens... but she said she wants to control what the animals eat -.- i understand that but i want to share.

 

[DuncB]

Jako Not sure that a diet of hay, grass and grains would be that good for you. But it might give you a nice shiny coat!

 

[Toxxyc]

When I lived in upstate NY, I initially dumped my grains in the backyard. One day, we were out for a few hours and when we got home, I thought a Shetland pony had broken into our place! There were mounds of grain manure in 3 rooms of our house. The crazy dog must have consumed many, many pounds of the spent grain. After that, I dumped them in the river across the street

Don't you mean a Shitland pony?

 

[DuncB]

The crazy dog must have consumed many, many pounds of the spent grain. After that, I dumped them in the river across the street
[/QUOTE]

That's no way to treat your dog! Anyway we want to know what you did with the grain

 

[BrewZer]

Do you live in a city? Put them in a plastic bag, then into a box. Wrap with gift wrap and a ribbon and leave in in the back seat of your car while you are grocery shopping. Likely gone when you return. (Apologies--this was probably suggested already somewhere in the past 4 pages.)

No, because I was going to suggest putting them in an Amazon box, taping it up, and leaving it on the front porch...

 

[radwizard]

I compost them. I bought a 15 page paper shredder on Craigslist and I shred cardboard boxes that mix with the grains. It makes great compost and I dispose all of my grain and cardboard this way. If you mix daily it can be usable compost very quickly. It takes a lot of cardboard scrap to make it work for me.