What do you do with your spent grains?

[odie]

I dump mine in the chicken run...they are scattered immediately and are gone.

 

[pigroaster]

Just put an ad in facebook marketplace. I trade my spent grain for eggs! I have two containers so the chicken hobby man just leaves a clean tote when he picks up next batch. I did 51 kegs last year from April to November so there was lots of spent grain. His ducks do not like it!

 

[Wrathchild]

I trash mine and I know on a hot summer day, it dont take long for them to go south real quick. Flies and maggots I mean. All bugs seem to love the hell out of them and they stink to high heaven after a week in the trash can

 

[Garage12brewing]

Feed the wild turkey and deers.

 

[day_trippr]

Last week I brewed two 10 gallon batches, both using very similar grain bills totally 25 pounds each, one on Tuesday and the other Thursday.

I brought Tuesday's spent grains over to the dozen chickens and ducks next door on Wednesday (I let it cool down overnight in the garage), and by Friday when I brought over Thursday's spent grains there was nothing left from the first batch but the half pound of rice hulls! The owner was very happy, because usually the chickens and ducks war over their daily rations, so the supplemental feed at the opposite end of their run from their usual feeding station brought a few days of peace

Cheers!

 

[DuncB]

THat is a lot of grain for the 12 chickens and ducks, wonder if the rats are helping out?

 

[day_trippr]

I've never seen anything one would call a "rat" out here in the boonies. Voles, moles and field mice, sure - but small stuff like that are also owl, hawk, fox, fisher cat and coyote food as well. And I can say the area has lots and lots of all those mid-level predators - much to the consternation of my neighbor with the fowl - they lost a duck last week to a fisher that dug under a vulnerable section of fence line.

Anyway, I keep an eye on the birds to see how they react to my offerings and did notice there was always at least a couple of the dozen pecking and scraping away at the grain dump, so I'm pretty sure they're getting most of it. The neighbor wife has often mentioned they get more eggs a few days after I bring grains over

Cheers!

 

[jcav]

Whenever I give my chickens my spent grains they devour it in record time. It always amazes me how fast they eat all that grain. They leave the rice hulls behind too!

John

 

[DuncB]

@daytrippr
Never heard of a Fisher before but google has seen me right, they can get quite big from the description but I hope that measurement of about 3 foot includes the tail.
Might fight dirty if cornered, smaller than a raccoon ?
Similar to a pine marten

 

[day_trippr]

3 feet with tail is about right. And they are nasty looking when they're prowling around. All teeth and claws.

Generally, I make it a rule not to get between wildlife and their prey, regardless of size. That philosophy has stood me well through encounters with bear in particular and all manner of the larger four footed horned beasts in general (elk, caribou and even moose I've encountered on my flyfishing travels), as well as random ankle biters

We also have mink - I've seen them on the banks of our pond - and river otters come by a couple of times each year. It's a friggin' menagerie

Cheers!

 

[DuncB]

They have a plague of these here

The possum is a marsupial and basically herbivore in Australia ( and a national treasure )but in NZ very much an omnivore and public enemy number one. Trying to eliminate them in the country as destroying birds and trees.
Some kept as pets but they are quite clawey.

 

[day_trippr]

We do have opossums (different but similar animal) locally - a fact evident mostly via roadkill corpses, because they are highly nocturnal.
I've seen more skunks on the move by at least an order of magnitude more often than opossums...

Cheers!

 

[chessking]

So, it appears that the top four are:

A. Compost,
B. Chickens
C. Dog treats, or other snacks, and
D. Dumping it in the woods or some other ground that is not yours
(With an honorable mention to tossing it in the bin.)

While not having access to chickens, dogs, or farm land, and no need to compost, and not wanting to have a sour bin, I do a little of each. I spread it out on a 6' x 6' patch in the backyard. In a week or so it is dry, and I scoop it up and put in leaf bags. By this time it is dry, odor free, and more importantly, lightweight. I can fill a lawn and leaf bag brimming full, and it is no heaver than if it had leaves. I have no qualms about it going into the landfill, Its just dry vegetation. If the weather turns wet, or snow is on the ground, just keep dumping on top, the dry times will return.

 

[DuncB]

Added to my porridge after drying it in the sunshine and the rest gets dumped in the compost

 

[pfmeyer]

Has anyone ever used spent grains as a substrate to grow oyster mushrooms? Thinking of trying, maybe add to straw.

 

[DuncB]

I've seen it done with spent coffee grounds, so maybe you could use that method.

 

[Toxxyc]

It should work perfectly - just I guess the same applies as with all substrates - sterilize it properly before use.

 

[RugenBrau]

The Deer and turkey love them

 

[Beermeister32]

I freeze them, about 4-5 cups in gallon ziplock bags. You get about 7-10 bags per batch.

My office manager gal bakes them wIth peanut butter, flour and eggs into doggie biscuits. Dogs love them!