What do you do with your used grains?

[tdavisii]

I just used some spent 2row and flaked maize in some bread. It turned out really good. Good source of fiber.

 

[Rick500]

Please be very careful with hops around dogs. One hop pellet is enough to kill a dog. Glad yours vomited it back up.

As for grains, I dump them in the woods behind my house. They're usually all gone the next day. Not sure what's eating them.

 

[hammer one]

#1 Rick500 dogs and hops don't mix
drain as much water out of your grains and add flour bake on low heat for a long time and they make great dog treats. Great avitar beerthirty... mines bigger

 

[beerthirty]

I'm still willing to do rock, paper, scissors.

 

[henrychinaski]

Man, I've had vegemite. Why would anyone voluntarily make it? Nasty.

i just asked my four-year-old daughter which she would give up if she had to: television or vegemite (or marmite)? she said she'd give up television. her favorite mode of transport is on a bagel with cream cheese.

 

[flyangler18]

I'm a big fan o' Vegemite.

 

[Hagen]

Originally, I was trying to compost my spent grain with chicken manure from the coop. I figured it would be good stuff for covering my hops in the fall. But every time I'd dump the grain, it would be gone the next day. Animals love it!
Whenever I dump my grain, I am greeted by what could only be described as happy chicken noises. Within a minute, the yard birds are surrounding the grain pile. They don't ven wait for it to cool.
I'm sure they have help from the woods too...

 

[delarob]

Has anyone tried the dog biscuits? I bet they would taste pretty good....

 

[philrose]

one small issue to composting spent grains is the sugar, it seems that a lot of the sites when I first googled the same question reccomended making sure that there's plenty of other compost to thin out 5-20 lbs of spent barley! I guess it smells something funky in large clumps. Shrug.

personally I like the veggie burgers found on the seven bridges site.

 

[homemadebeer]

i just throw em under a tree

when i lived in an apartment, i fed them to the pot plants outside

 

[b767fo]

I just put the stuff right into the garden beds.. tilled in and planted my tomatoes. Result: Little Shop of Horrors! 8 foot vines with tons of fruit!

 

[b767fo]

Oh yeah.. first time my lab ate the better part of the 13 lbs. She was cleaning out both ends for 2 days.

 

[King of Cascade]

Vermicomposting is the way to go but it's slow. I brew about two times per month (10 gallon batches) and the worms eat about half of the grain. next spring I plan on making another worm bin to handle all the grain. The benefits are, Worm casings (very good for soil conditioning and fertilizer), worms (fishing and adding to the garden) and a place for other kitchen scraps. There are less oders then traditional composting but you have to keep your worms alive in the cold of winter.
There's a great book on the subject called "worms eat my garbage" here is a link to some sites on the subject.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermicompost
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/index.html

 

[zoebisch01]

Chicken and Duck food.

 

[-Dan-]

Can I let it dry and give to my rabbits? Never really thought about this... interesting thought

 

[budbo]

Spread em on the yard, they make great organic fertilizer and loosen the soil

 

[BadKarma]

I have a neighbor that has a potbelly pig and a little goat. I split the grains between them and the deer.

 

[TUCK]

I tried putting it in some bread I made once...it turned out ok. It was more for looks b/c the grain had already been stripped from it. I just throw mine away now and let the birds go to town or throw it in my decomposition pile for my garden.

 

[Fat Guy Brewing]

Has anyone tried the dog biscuits? I bet they would taste pretty good....

I was thinking the same thing. What could be bad about baked grains and peanut butter? Anyone...Anyone?

 

[BrewWhat]

I give them to my Neighbor, who feeds them to their horses. They love em.

 

[Yooper]

I was thinking the same thing. What could be bad about baked grains and peanut butter? Anyone...Anyone?

my husband ate some on Friday- he thought they were cookies cooling. The only comment he made was, "These aren't very sweet- did you add enough sugar?" I then mentioned they were dog biscuits, and they were supposed to be drying out after being bake. He just said, "Oh". Toby (the dog) LOVES them.

 

[Beerrific]

I was thinking the same thing. What could be bad about baked grains and peanut butter? Anyone...Anyone?

A couple people have posted this recipe but I can't find those threads ATM...

4 cups flour
4 cups spent grain
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg

Mix with hands. Roll mixture onto cookie sheet to the desired thickness. They will not rise. Cut into shapes. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Remove from oven to cool. Bake again at 225° for 8 to 10 hours for complete drying. If they don't completely dry they'll spoil.

(DO NOT USE SPENT GRAIN THAT HAS HOPS IN IT)

Score before the first baking, break apart and put back on the baking sheet for the long, slow drying bake. I do not bake for 8-10 hours, a couple hours usually dries them out real well. Dogs love them.

 

[Fat Guy Brewing]

I ended up trying to make cookies out of it. It turned out more like little cookie-shaped cakes. I mixed about a cup of steeped grains from last night, about a cup of flour, some peanut butter, butter, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, 2 eggs, and water. Baked at 350 until golden brown and got a nice malty, cakey kind of cookie. Its not bad, it smells like steeping grains which I really like. I think next time I will find an oatmeal cookie recipe and substitute the grains for oatmeal. SWMBO told me you can't just make up a recipe!

 

[Beer:30]

+1 for compost pile. This year I even had a barley plant growing out of the pile. No fooling.

 

[TerapinChef]

They get hard, but that's how they should be.

:rockin::rockin::rockin:

 

[brrman]

I scatter them about the front lawn - they are an awesome source of nutrients for the grass.

On occasion I will keep a quart of the grains to make dog biscuits.

 

[TexLaw]

They become mulch on my garden that is tilled in later. One of these days, though, I'm gonna make that bread.


TL

 

[vmpolesov]

I chuck them in the compost bin.

 

[scinerd3000]

ive heard dog biscuts but mainly i use it as compost or for treberbrot:Treberbrot - German Brewing Techniques ...add a bit of honey and its much better

 

[Jaybird]

how much honey??

 

[EvilTOJ]

I store spent grains on the hood of my ex's car.

 

[Anbrew]

I usually dump it in my fire pit...the neighborhood cat that thinks I own him likes to eat it when it's fresh.

However, I need to make fires more because this stuff starts to mold and smell like nasty swamp gas after a couple days, gross.

I set aside some to make dog treats, still haven't gotten around to it.

 

[joejaz]

I used them in the bath water for my wife, i heard they had a natural soothing effect. Boy, that was mistake, they don't drain out of the tub. Was she pissed, so much for the soothing effect.

 

[aekdbbop]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f56/spent-grain-bread-machine-recipe-85379/

good bread.. easy to make..

 

[aekdbbop]

Try this for dog treats

3 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 cup spent grains (wet)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup hot water
2 beef or chicken bouillon cubes

Dissolve bouillon cubes in hot water. Add milk and beat. In a separate bowl, mix flour and grains. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well. Press onto an ungreased cookie sheet and cut into shapes desired. Bake at 300 for 1 hour. Turn off heat and leave in the oven to harden. Refrigerate after baking.

If you have dried your grains.. add a little water to get the right consistency.

 

[blacklab]

I eat them. They are very tasty.

This is his(?) one and only post.

 

[HBHoss]

I just dump mine out in the garden. I keep hoping for a giant grain stalk to grow and take me to the brewery in the sky.

 

[Gregredic]

Im definitely going to have to give a few of these cooking ideas a try.

 

[ahansler]

Mine go to the hens and the compost pile.

 

[BlindLemonLars]

Mine got to the hens and the compost pile.

I've got no hens, but the worms in my compost heap eat really well on brewdays!

If you haven't tried the bread, thing you really should. Just swap a cup of grain for a cup of flour in your favorite recipe. Since the grain is wet, you may need to adjust the liquid in the recipe as well.