So, haven't brewed in a year due to work, self work, overseas travel, and trying to buy a house. Now that this is all pretty much wrapped up (I still have to work and it seems like it is still more than what the social contract said it would be), should be investing in a lot of stuff to expand the homebrewery from an apartment to a house. I'm pretty set in my ways as to how and what I'll brew, but I have one big question: Do spent grains count as a brown or green for compost?
I just dump mine on the border of the woods and my yard. As long as there aren’t heavily roasted malts involved, the deer make it disappear in a few days. Cheers!
I do not want to feed the deer in the area as they will surely wreak havoc on any garden I may plant. As far as I am concerned, anyone who encourages deer to continue living in an area near a domicile or agricultural area is an imbecile.
If I'm not allowed to shoot them I have to figure out a way to live with them, so I fence in my garden. I don't spray my apple tree, so the apples are essentially under-developed and have insect/worm penetration and I just let them drop as involuntary feeding of these 'pets.' Even if they're not fed, they're doing to eat any vegetation that is agreeable to them and they're here whether I like it or not, so I cope.
Not a compost expert, but would assume brown. They are exactly fresh grain that can still be considered green.
Maybe it depends on if (and how much) nitrogen is retained by the grains after mashing? My vote is for brown. If your compost pile starts to stink, there’s too much nitrogen. If it’s too slow you can add some manure, throw in some urea, or pee on it. Plant something deer like and if they're in your area you will be feeding them unless you implement some sort of deterrent. That can be an 8’ fence, deerBgone (organic), a .270, and I’ve also seen success by making a perimeter of white tape. I put out spent grains (in a rural area that don't allow no imbeciles (yeah, I know, "so how did you get there, riptorn?")) from a 10-lb mash and deer didn’t touch it, not once, but I don’t remember if it had roasted or dark grains. Depending on the crop, they don’t need much encouragement to frequent ag areas. I’ve had a small garden here for a few years. Deer frequently pass through. Never an issue. (Don’t plant hostas).
I compost all my grains. They count as green. It’s best to mix in shredded paper with them. I don’t always, and if I don’t aerate daily they get smelly.
Guess I'm a imbacill cause I still farm and dump spent grains in a big composte pile. Deer don't bother them much, but turkeys love them and help airate the pile by ripping the hell out of it and eating some of the product. I do find the deer are attracted more to fruit beer waste which is fine by me. The preacher,,,,,, or should I say,,,,, the .222 from the kitchen window makes short work outa any furred insurgent, hahahhaahahahanananha
Get chickens. Mine love spent grains. They break it down into compost real fast. They also love to help aerate compost piles and they eat ticks. And lay eggs. Win win win.
I dump my spent grain directly onto my vegetable patches in the winter (when I have nothing growing). I mix them in with the soil with intent for them to decompose as the weather gets above 41F (biological zero). However, the sparrows, cardinals and warblers usually get there first and devour them up. In the summer I usually bring them to my girlfriend’s parents house for their compost. Last summer I made spent grain dog treats. My dogs were most definitely not fans.
Thanks for responses. So far as deer go, back yard already has a 6' fence, gonna put some fluorocarbon a couple feet above it to further deter. Front yard is going to get a similar treatment 2' off the ground. Hopefully this will also help with all the dogs folks feel free to leave off the leash in the neighborhood we're moving into. From comments and research, seems like spent grain is most likely green. Thanks, we'll adjust if we actually start doing this.
Just learned something, I always counted them as brown, I have a ton of deer and turkey near my pile, they ignore it, but I do get the occasional skunk or raccoon.
My spent grains go onto the pile along with kitchen scraps and vegetable garden waste without giving a second thought to whether any of it is green or brown b/c it don't matter no how. Turn it once ... rest for ~6 months ... spread it in the spring and again in the fall.
I brew more often in the winter months and store spent grain in bins in my garage -- the compost area is difficult to access due to snow depth, and the plastic door to the bin gets frozen shut and I don't want to break it. The garage is not heated and the spent grains are stable over winter. But come spring, those grains will develop a strong ammonia smell, so I move them to the bin once it warms up enough. To counter this smell, I shred newspaper or junk mail from my paper recycling and add to the compost. Ammonia = nitrogen, = green. Newspaper = cellulose= carbon= brown. I am treating spent grain as a green.
