Spent grain composting

See "sawdust" http://organicgardening.about.com/od/compost/f/greensandbrowns.htm

I would lean towards brown, but I'm no pro. In my experience, they don't break down quickly. They clump together and are spongy at best. A great addition if you add other quick disposing things to them like egg shells, kitchen scraps, coffee grounds etc.

 

I've found that it helps to dry the grain out a bit before you throw it in the bin, I would consider the spent grain more of a brown material though, it's really fibrous and as inchrisin said before me, they take a while to break down. Though I have tilled some semi-dried spent grain into the first 4" of soil, I think it keeps the soil soft and rather un-compacted- for good workability, though if you don't dry it, it can get really moldy...

 

My instincts as a soil ecologist lead me to say green, although I never measured it to be sure. While the husks are full of cellulosic fiber, I think you are still leaving begind a lot of nitrogen in those spent grains. Whenever I add grain to my compost pile, things take off quickly and the system starts to develop an ammonium smell. My instincts tell me that bacteria are growing on the carbon in the grain, releasing a lot of nitrogen that they don't need. The nitrogen is released as ammonium, which volatilizes off the pile. Experience tells me that if I aerate my pile better, it does not give off as much ammonium, probably because nitrification is occurring.

In contrast to what you guys are saying, I find it breaks down fast.

 

I have read that you can't put too much grain in too big a clump (without recirculation) because you'll get anaerobes in the center, causing rank stankness. You need to mix it with other stuff or spread it out. Not sure if I'm recalling this exactly right or not (read it somewhere on the truth machine, err, I mean internet).

Ahh, I see pweis909 has also addressed the stankness issue.

Anyway, I don't compost it because the rather numerous animals around here (mostly the wild hogs) would dig it up and make a mess pretty quickly. I don't have one of those compost bin thingies either. Instead, I spread it around the property, in a slightly different place each time. I figure it's nutrient for the soil, and perhaps some animals eat it (tho it mostly doesn't seem to get eaten). Since my brother finds squirrels annoying, I sarcastically refer to it as "squirrel nutrient" (but I don't think they actually eat much, if any of it).

 

I compost it along with leaves, grass clippings (I don't chemically treat my lawn) and vegetable scraps and while occasionally I see that some animal or another scored a free meal out of some of it, I find it breaks down quite well as part of the mix. When I have done an especially big beer, it seems to break down fast like "green" material, from what I can tell, but it is always mixed with other stuff, anyway.

 

I'd call the spent grain a form of green material; each grain is just a seed that has ripened and dried while on the original plant and then has been harvested. I think when referring to brown material that it is usually a thin layer of soil that is added to the compost pile.

I have read that good composting procedures call for the green materials to be added after that have been dried out a bit, especially fresh-cut grass clippings, but anything that can become matted because of the high moisture level that will prevent oxygen from circulating in the pile. And that's the best way to avoid the 'stankness'

 

Not to get all techy or anything, but Nitrogen is Nitrogen, etc..., regardless of the source.

I don't compost, and I know pretty close to nothing about the process, but the stank after a day or two is in your face (and the neighbors') if you simply leave it in a pile in the garden. I spread it out as much as practical. It dries out fairly quickly that way, and there's virtually no odor problem. A couple times a year, I'll till it in where it sits, or move it around to other beds on the property as needed. It seems to keep the soil loose, and I assume it breaks down into something beneficial. At the very least, it doesn't seem to hurt anything. FWIW, I've never seen any evidence of it having been eaten. Neighborhood rabbits, squirrels, coyotes, ducks, cats, birds, and my dogs, all seem to ignore it.

 

I just see green as quick compost. If you have 100% green you'd have a bunch of sludge that wouldn't really hold together. I see brown as fibrous stuff that takes longer to break down. If you have 100% brown you would just have a bunch of cardboard that wouldn't break down.

When mixed together and when you have bacteria in the mixture, (a necessity), you get a little bit of heat and you get a reaction that lets bacteria break down the material quickly.

 

Y'all are over thinking this whole composting thing.

Dump the spent grains in a pile along with anything else compostable.
At some point...stop adding to the pile.
If the spirit moves you...turn the pile once after three months...otherwise fuggetaboutit.
Come back in six months...scoop and spread.

 

I totally agree. While I think about this stuff for fun, in practice, I just dump and fuggetaboutit. There's no percentage in micromanaging decomposition.

 

I agree, simple is best. Since I don't have an odor problem the way I do it, I just roll with it.

 

I guess this is just something to echo others, but I add it with dried/decomposing grass and brush I pile next to the bin, and find my grains turn pretty quickly. I do turn and water my compost when necessary, and it is old enough to have a killer population of worms, so maybe that is part of it.

 

My compost pile is over 5 years old now, and yes there are a lot of worms. Also, it's under some trees, so it always gets lighter mulch added on top of it right before winter.