What to do with Spent Grains.

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by Flight0011, Apr 1, 2013.

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  1. Flight0011

    Flight0011 Initiate (0) Jan 8, 2013 Washington

    When I first got in to home brewing I always wondered what I could do with my spent grains besides just throw them away? I started to compost them but then I realised there has to be more I can do. Right now I feed it to my chickens. I am however, curious about what other people do with there spent grains.

    What do you do with yours?
     
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  2. ThreeFishes

    ThreeFishes Initiate (0) Jan 8, 2013 Florida

  3. RblWthACoz

    RblWthACoz Initiate (0) Aug 19, 2006 Pennsylvania

  4. pweis909

    pweis909 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,176) Aug 13, 2005 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I feed them to my garden via the compost bin. What can I say? I don't have chickens.

    Once or twice I put a cup or so in a loaf of bread, but I didn't like picking husks out of my teeth. I suppose I could make spent grain flour but anything that calls for drying the spent grain seems like a waste of energy to me. I'd rather just make flour out of whole grain.
     
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  5. psnydez86

    psnydez86 Initiate (0) Jan 4, 2012 Pennsylvania

    I like them for my garden but a half cup
    Is a nice addition to a Stromboli/Pizza crust....especially with bacon... But...bacon...mmmmmmmmmm
     
  6. ventura78

    ventura78 Pundit (960) Nov 22, 2003 Massachusetts

    I bring them to work and leave them in a big pile on the ground. A few days later they are all gone. A certain group of birds that honk love them.
     
  7. JrGtr

    JrGtr Pooh-Bah (1,689) Apr 13, 2006 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I'll generally make bread with some of them, and compost/ Mulch with the rest. I saw a recipe for dog biscuits using them at one point, maybe I'll try that sometime for friends' dogs.
     
  8. billandsuz

    billandsuz Pooh-Bah (2,023) Sep 1, 2004 New York
    Pooh-Bah Society

    deer are a pest in these parts of upstate NY. like most people, the site of deer devouring 10 pounds of fresh seed in my bird feeder is enough to burst a vessel.

    but i still put spent grains out back and will happily watch them chow down. it might be 10 degrees. they're not all bad after all.
     
  9. ventura78

    ventura78 Pundit (960) Nov 22, 2003 Massachusetts

    I love to see deer sitting next to the mashed potatoes, with a nice homebrew to wash it all down!
     
  10. inchrisin

    inchrisin Pooh-Bah (2,013) Sep 25, 2008 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah

    Compost. I think if you take 3/4 of the good stuff out of grain the remaining 1/4 is sawdust. I've heard you can put them in a sliced open bag in the garrage to promote oyster mushrooms to grow. I don't know enough about mushrooms to avoid the color-inducing ones.

    For me, I try to conserve waste not by reusing my grains, but by trying to reuse that 30+ gal of water I run through my wort chiller.
     
  11. Ejayz

    Ejayz Initiate (0) May 15, 2011 Iowa

    I recently made spent grain flour for breads/pretzels. I just scooped some into the food dehydrator let it run for 24 hours then ground it up in the blender. I was able to make 2 pounds of flour now if I could just bake!! I also put some under the bushes out front and the birds love it!!!
     
  12. FremontBar

    FremontBar Initiate (0) Feb 1, 2013 Arizona

    I compost most of it, not a big fan of spent grain bread, but I do also make dog biscuits from the Brooklyn Brew Shop recipe mentioned above, our dog likes it, she also likes shit.
     
  13. WickedSluggy

    WickedSluggy Savant (1,105) Nov 21, 2008 Texas

    There is easily a ton of spent grain in my yard. Lots of hops too.
     
  14. pweis909

    pweis909 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,176) Aug 13, 2005 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah Society


    I had a student do a senior thesis project on growing oyster mushrooms, about three years back. He tried several different media and did not have much luck with spent barley. I was paying attention to that result for obvious reasons, but other than that, I have not retained the details. IIRC, he was sterilizing the spent grains in an autoclave to avoid infection by mold, so that is another consideration that costs some energy. This doesn't mean it can't be done; mostly, it probably means I was a lousy thesis advisor.:flushed:
     
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  15. SFACRKnight

    SFACRKnight Grand Pooh-Bah (3,274) Jan 20, 2012 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I wish my memory was better, I read a recipe for spent grain granola bars. it works great for pizza crust too.
     
  16. tommyguz

    tommyguz Initiate (0) May 14, 2008 Pennsylvania
    Trader

    My wife made dog biscuits. I will have to find the recipe. The dog liked them, but then again what doesn't the dog like. We also make pizza dough
     
  17. AlCaponeJunior

    AlCaponeJunior Grand Pooh-Bah (3,326) May 21, 2010 Texas
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I just spread them around the property where we brew, never in the same place twice, and not too thick (I don't just dump them, I spread them). There's no compost heap, but I think this allows them to go back into the soil anyway, and probably feeds a bunch of squirrels or birds at the same time.

    I've made bread once but wasn't impressed. I should try a different recipe or tweak the one I used a little.
     
  18. geezerpk

    geezerpk Initiate (0) Nov 8, 2010 South Carolina

    I use a Corona Mill to grind my grain and brew in a bag, so my spent grains quite a bit more on the flour side than most I suspect. I usually reserve a couple of quart containers out of most batches to combine with bananas, and egg, some oatmeal and a bit of flour for so nice bran muffins. The muffins have never been more moist and cake-like as they are since incorporation a couple of cups of the spent grain into the recipe. The rest of the spent grain goes into the compost pile, and hopefully into my tomatoes and peppers.
     
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  19. JulianB

    JulianB Initiate (0) Feb 1, 2012 South Carolina

    Like you, I feed it to my brewing partner's chickens.
     
  20. inchrisin

    inchrisin Pooh-Bah (2,013) Sep 25, 2008 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah

    For some reason I see Andy from Shaw Shank Redemption in the middle of his back yard. He looks carefully both ways to make sure nobody's watching and puts his hands in his pockets. After a moment he pulls out two fistfuls of spent grains and quickly scatters them across the nearby grass. He looks both ways again, and quickly walks off. :sunglasses:
     
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