What not to do with your spent grains

[rockytoptim]

Well I brewed a robust porter about two months ago and to clean out the MLT I used my shop vac to suck out the grain. Well yesterday I needed to use the shop vac so i opened it up to put the filter in and OMG the smell that came wafting up made me gag not. So I won't be making that mistake again.

 

[halite]

Yep they'll pretty much turn to silage if you leave them. Easy thing is o spread them on the garden if you have any flowerbeds. Also you could give it to the local stables as horses love it.

 

[Revvy]

Lactobacillus sets in nearly immediately after the wort cool below pasteurization temps. It's not pretty. I nearly got attacked by angry Llamas for trying to feed them some grain that had turned. Evidently some animals like the taste of stinky soured grain, but not Llamas.

 

[Homercidal]

They deserve it though. I got spit on by a Llama once.

 

[Revvy]

They deserve it though. I got spit on by a Llama once.

Yeah they started doing the huffing/honking thing that is a prelude to the spitting. My then GF, who owned them told me to keep my eyes on them and back out of spitting range slowly.

 

[Chemkrafty]

Was it Ralph the Wonder Llama or one of those 142 mexican whooping llamas...I wonder?

 

[Freezeblade]

Was it Ralph the Wonder Llama or one of those 142 mexican whooping llamas...I wonder?

Python. nice.

 

[Hammy71]

They deserve it though. I got spit on by a Llama once.

Me too, of course, I kinda deserved it. I was patting it on the head repeating LLama, LLama......... At least it provided entertainment for my pals.

 

[phrogpilot73]

When I accidentally left my grains in the MLT, I didn't smell the sour stench of bacteria - I smelled the sweet wafting of wild yeast... It's probably because I brew beer and bake bread, I have a ton of yeast hanging out in the place...

 

[Bensiff]

Yeah do that once and you will never do it again. I feed it to my chickens, they don't spit in my face.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I made the mistake of using stale, unused grain, as a mulch.

Won;t do that again. Damn near killed the two plant I mulched with it. What a foul stench that made as I was pulling the maggot infested muck away from the plants.

 

[Razorbrew]

Yeah do that once and you will never do it again. I feed it to my chickens, they don't spit in my face.

My chickens love it as well. ...well not the stout grain bill.

 

[Bizoune]

As soon as I finished up a brew day, I cleaned out my MLT and threw it on the compost pile. Well the spent grains were like at 165F when I tossed them in. A few days later, my neighbor who has a pool in his backyard came over to tell me that my compost bin didn't smell to good while he was bathing. It was pretty hot that week so it took forever to cool down. It reeked pretty bad. Ended shoveling out everything into garbage bags. So I guess my word of advice would be to let everything cool down and dry up before composting comes to mind.

 

[northernlad]

I made sure to tell my new neighbor that wasn't a dead body he was going to be smelling from my compost. Turn it daily for a week and it won't get too bad.

 

[Austin_]

I recently did a 36 hour mash and the smell from that was enough to make me queasy. That smell stuck around in my apartment for a week, too. I can't imagine two month old grain.

 

[JNye]

i threw some used grain in the front by some flowers/shrubs, but kinda outta the way. Well its been soo humid and with the heavy non moving air...there is about a hundred foot radius around my house of puke smell. its not pretty. swmbo is not happy either. mailman is walking a bit faster now though.

 

[rockytoptim]

I recently did a 36 hour mash and the smell from that was enough to make me queasy. That smell stuck around in my apartment for a week, too. I can't imagine two month old grain.

What were you making that needs a 36 hour mash?

 

[Teromous]

I did a batch where I left the grains in my cooler thinking...screw it I'm tired, I'll clean it up tomorrow. Yeah...not doing that again...

 

[TheBroonery]

I put some in the compost pile.. we'll see what happens

 

[homebeerbrewer]

I spread the spent grains in my vegetable garden and hop beds. The plants seem to love it. It does tend to get a little raunchy smelling for a few days, but spreading it thin helps.

Of course, I let it cool before spreading. I don't want to burn the plants.

 

[HiGravShawn]

I made the mistake of using stale, unused grain, as a mulch.

Won;t do that again. Damn near killed the two plant I mulched with it. What a foul stench that made as I was pulling the maggot infested muck away from the plants.

+1, The wife heard about using the stuff in compost and so right after I brewed she planted some flower pots and used it. Compost maybe, fresh potting soil = NO!

Immediately was covered in bacteria/mold and killed all the plants.

 

[Austin_]

What were you making that needs a 36 hour mash?

Took a variation of a Kentucky Common and combined it with some blueberries to make a Sour Blueberry Beer. SWMBO can't get enough of it.

 

[Randar]

Compost bin/tumbler = good

Throwing right on the garden = BAD. They will suck nitrogen from the ground and can change the pH of the soil beneath.

If you spread it thin like grass clippings when using a mulching mower, you should be ok, but it really doesn't "help" your soil all that much unless you fully compost it first with a proper green/brown compost mix.

 

[o0weno]

While brewing at my old apartment I had no space for a compost bin so I just tossed the grains under a ceder tree behind the building with the idea that the tree could use the nutrients.

There was no smell, but boy did the rat/mouse population sky rocket!

I use a composter now that smells pretty bad. I was putting it together after a long day of brewing/drinking and used my drill to put on the oh-so-important rotating arm and it broke right off. Instead of rotating daily I'm doing it every other week. Oops!

 

[dchmela]

You also have to be careful with dogs. I used spent grains to mulch my citrus trees and always catch my dog munching on the grains. He always ends up leaving lots of pecan log looking poops around the yard.

 

[Randar]

While brewing at my old apartment I had no space for a compost bin so I just tossed the grains under a ceder tree behind the building with the idea that the tree could use the nutrients.

There was no smell, but boy did the rat/mouse population sky rocket!

I use a composter now that smells pretty bad. I was putting it together after a long day of brewing/drinking and used my drill to put on the oh-so-important rotating arm and it broke right off. Instead of rotating daily I'm doing it every other week. Oops!

If it smells bad you ain't doin' it right

And as noted by others, leaving them lying around is just asking for a rodent/pest invasion.

 

[Jethro]

Yep they'll pretty much turn to silage if you leave them. Easy thing is o spread them on the garden if you have any flowerbeds. Also you could give it to the local stables as horses love it.

I did this and was just gonna let it sour and turn into compost. Worked great until the dog came in the house smelling REALLY ripe. Took me a while to figure out what he had been rolling in till I saw some grain husks stuck to his fur. So I guess dogs love spent grains too but not maybe for the purpose of eating.

I now toss the spent grain in the yard debris bin.

 

[ksbrain]

My new puppy got into my spent grains yesterday and ended up puking all over the place.

 

[KayaBrew]

Lactobacillus sets in nearly immediately after the wort cool below pasteurization temps. It's not pretty. I nearly got attacked by angry Llamas for trying to feed them some grain that had turned. Evidently some animals like the taste of stinky soured grain, but not Llamas.

Where are there llamas in Michigan? Are you sure they weren't Ton Tons? And I thought they smelled bad...on the outside!

 

[Bensiff]

Toss some dirt over it when you put it into the compost bin to keep the smell down, it will also starve it of oxygen making it harder for things to grow. Turning it helps speed the process too.