What to do with spent grains?

[lump42]

No, never had any issue with barley husks. They are fully hydrated after an hour mash and sitting around in clinging wort for hours to days. But there is a certain texture, that may be an acquired taste. For a similar reason I cannot stand most factory white bread.

What you're describing sounds more like rice hulls.

It's the same experience you described with rice hulls, but once the barley husk is baked, it dries out and get sharp. Maybe it's just an acquired thing like you mentioned. We just got a new oven with dehydrator setting, I'm planning on trying it out as kh54s10 described, either using a rolling pin, food processor, grain mill cranked down to crush the husks smaller and try baking again.

Added benefit if I can effectively dry it out, I can use it in mushroom growing too.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

When the weather is good for baking I’ll bake a couple loaves of spentgrain bread, perhaps give them to someone to bake dog treats. Hate just wasting them.

 

[SirHC_]

I bake bread with them, but not with stout/porter grains. tried that once and only once. I do send them through the food processor for a while first to make the bread easier to sell to my kids.
Otherwise I put them on the garden, in the compost, or just rake them into the lawn.

 

[jrgtr42]

What was also shown was that unsolluble fibre, and espacially those of grain husks, can damage your collon and lead to inflammation if present in excess..... so I just wouldn't.

That's why you don't use it to excess.
I bake with it - I have a recipe for bread that needs 6 cups of flour, I sub in a cup to a cup and a half of spent grains. Same with a pizza dough I have, half to 3/4 cup to 4 (I think ) cups of flour.
The rest goes in my garden or compost bin.

 

[Miraculix]

That's why you don't use it to excess.
I bake with it - I have a recipe for bread that needs 6 cups of flour, I sub in a cup to a cup and a half of spent grains. Same with a pizza dough I have, half to 3/4 cup to 4 (I think ) cups of flour.
The rest goes in my garden or compost bin.

Well, in excess might be less than we think it would be.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

A small portion of cooled spent grain goes to my chickens, and they love it. The rest gets spewn across my back yard. The deer love it also.

 

[jason613]

I make dog biscuits with peanut butter, egg and some flour...i don't have a dog, but everyone i give them to say that their dog loves them

 

[jason613]

I dump mine in the woods behind my house for the deer to eat. I'll take a deer or two in the fall and then enjoy venison backstrap with a cold glass of homebrew made from the grains that fed the deer that is now feeding me.

Circle of life

 

[HomeBrewMike91]

I made dog biscuits once. My dog took one bite and that was it. Threw the rest away.
Now the grains go in the compost pile or woods.

Oddly enough when I dump my the hot grains out back my dog eats them like shes on crack. Puked a few times from stuffing herself. I need to kick leaves and dirt over the pile so she wont eat them

Johnny make sure there are no hops in that grain!!!! Otherwise you'll have a dead dog in a few hours. [emoji22]

 

[Kirkwooder]

I keep a flock of about a dozen laying hens year round. I turn mine into eggs. Yes, those are really my chickens in my avatar.
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I also raise chickens, turkeys, ducks, and quail for meat in the summer. They all love it! I have made dog biscuits, bread and crackers with it as well.

Spent grain doesn't last long around here.

 

[Backslide]

I feed mine to our 4 chickens. Before the chickens I would compost it.

 

[Backslide]

Most of mine go into the compost, but I freeze about a third of the grains in tupperware so I can bake with it.

My neighbor has a few chickens so I might ask him one day if he wants some.

Do it, you may get delicious eggs in return! My ladies (chickens) will kill for spent grains as it's there favorite food.

 

[Backslide]

Here we go, a pic of the Mamma's eating up spent grain.

 

[Sorrow]

We do the same. Chickens love it. I also freeze tupperware containers of it and break them out in the summer for the chickens. Gives them a nice cool treat to help deal with the really hot days.

 

[Jambro64]

My dog loves the biscuits and we have also made bread. Lots of recipes online.

 

[North_of_60]

Do you have any issues with the barley husks in the grain? The few time I've tried spent grain bread, it was like some one place little needles in my mouth.

I add half the liquid for the bread recipe to the spent grain and pulverize it in the blender. There are no sharp husks. It tastes and feels like whole grain bread.

 

[Dade0]

Most of mine go into the compost, but I freeze about a third of the grains in tupperware so I can bake with it.

My neighbor has a few chickens so I might ask him one day if he wants some.

My chickens love them.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Pretzels or bread. Yum!

 

[balrog]

Use in bread, about 50/50 fresh wet spent grain / white bread flour. Plus plenty of baker's yeast. I rarely measure any of it, just go by feel and looks. It becomes a mixable/pourable dough, but way too sticky for hand kneading. It holds shape when proofing in baking tins, then into a 450-500F degree convection oven.

OK. Color me intrigued. Do you add anything (fat, salt) other than flour and yeast?

 

[lschiavo]

I keep hearing about people putting the grains out and birds and animals eating them. It has never happened in my 7 3/4 years of brewing. Maybe worms. I once saw a bird land on the pile, look around a bit then scurry away about 3 feet and dig in the leaf litter. I never even saw any animal prints. I live in suburbs though so no deer etc.

Compost, Give to an animal farm, bake with them (but this will only use a very little)

I hope that people feeding them to animals don't use this as the bulk of the diet. Most of the feed value has been turned into beer..........

I wonder if it depends on your brewhouse efficiency for animals to eat them? Less sugar left behind must make them a less viable food source for critters.

I have always had pretty good efficiency and wildlife never bothered with my spent grains either.

"Spent" is the keyword.

 

[Kirkwooder]

I wonder if it depends on your brewhouse efficiency for animals to eat them? Less sugar left behind must make them a less viable food source for critters.

I double mash and sparge most of the time. I get every thing fermentable I can out of the grain. My poultry still love it, especially if they are still warm.

 

[IslandLizard]

OK. Color me intrigued. Do you add anything (fat, salt) other than flour and yeast?

I do add salt of course, and sometimes olive oil, say 1/8 cup or a little more per large loaf.

My favorites are when I add an oil steeped herb mix to some of the dough, with or without garlic, and bake them as flat breads.

I guess crunchy peanut butter would work well too, but it's really great spread on top.

 

[AJinJacksonville]

I found a recipe online for dog treats. Two cups of spent grains, 1/2 cup peanut butter, cup or so of flour and one egg. I ended up needed a bit more flour than the recipe called for...but the three dogs I've treated with them absolutely love them. 30 minutes at 350, then 2 hours at 200 and they are nice and dry/crispy.

 

[grampamark]

I found a recipe online for dog treats. Two cups of spent grains, 1/2 cup peanut butter, cup or so of flour and one egg. I ended up needed a bit more flour than the recipe called for...but the three dogs I've treated with them absolutely love them. 30 minutes at 350, then 2 hours at 200 and they are nice and dry/crispy.

I use this same recipe. My dog really likes them. Hell, I've even tried them; they're not half bad.

 

[skw]

Compost.

I've tried baking with it, but never enjoyed the results. Sticky and I'd get husks stuck between my teeth.

 

[Kent88]

There is a brewery near me that makes pizza dough from spent grains. Pretty good pizza

Which one?

 

[balrog]

I do add salt of course, and sometimes olive oil, say 1/8 cup or a little more per large loaf.

My favorites are when I add an oil steeped herb mix to some of the dough, with or without garlic, and bake them as flat breads.

I guess crunchy peanut butter would work well too, but it's really great spread on top.

Great.

Thanks.

Now I'm starving.

 

[Abrayton]

Which one?

Moon ridge brewery

 

[Dland]

Yup, the laying hens hear when I'm dragging the tub of spent grain and get all excited, eat it all.

 

[kh54s10]

For those of you making bread with the spent grains. What do you do with the rest of the grains? I use very little in my bread compared to the amount of spent grain in a brew.

I couldn't eat enough bread to use all my spent grain.