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What do you do with your spent grain?

Maine Homebrewer

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I searched the forum on the subject and found a ten year old thread. For fun I thought I'd start a new one.

I give my spent grains to a coworker who feeds it to her chickens.  The birds go crazy over the stuff. She was shocked at their reaction.

And it's not like my efficiency is low. I average 75-80%.

What do the rest of you do?

Do you have friends with chickens?
 
Yep, my spent mash goes to the neighbor's (and ours--we have a couple that are "timesharing" over there) chickens. They do go crazy for it. I can't recall how many layers are over there now, but my neighbor has seen their egg production go from 3-5 per day up to 10-12 day. Keep in mind this is in the coldest, snowiest winter we've had in forever. That's good sound recycling, if you ask me!

I occasionally will throw a handful of mash into a batch of bread, too. Haven't made dog biscuits out of it; seeing what our dog normally does in that, ahem, region, I don't think I want to introduce a heavy dose of fiber into her diet.

Makes good compost, too.
 
I used to take mine to an 80 year old neighbor lady who had three donkeys and two ilpaca's.  Unfortunately, she passed away this past December.  I now take it to farm about 1/2 mile away, where he feeds it to his horses and cows.

I don't like to put it in the garden or yard waste recycle bin in the warmer months, because it attracts gnats by the kazillions!
 
Dog treats. My dog goes bonkers for them. My wife makes them while I'm out in the garage boiling the wort. By the time I'm pitching the yeast, she's packaging the goodies - everybody's happy! Of course I can't use all the spent grain, so the rest goes in my mulch pit in the backyard.
 
We use our spent grain to feed the deer that passes through our yard, especially during this time of year when natural food is a bit scarce. The love the stuff!

I do like the dog treat idea and will have to try it out.  Anyone have a good dog treat recipe they want to share?

-Dan
 
For those that cook with them, how do you get them fine enough to cook with? My son broke our blender so i was thinking about getting a Ninja blender. I think they have food processor capabilities.
 
Brewmex41 said:
For those that cook with them, how do you get them fine enough to cook with? My son broke our blender so i was thinking about getting a Ninja blender. I think they have food processor capabilities.

Brew buddy Mex!

How have you been lately?  Since our meeting last Thursday was cancelled due to the weather, we didn't get a chance to hook up and share homebrews.  Alas, you were probably working anyhow.

My wife and I have a ninja.  They aren't a food processor, but they are the next best thing.  I think they'd work fine.

I haven't cooked with spent grains yet, but am thinking about trying it.  My nephew and I are brewing up a Gingerbread lager, as I'm typing this.  He's a professionally trained chef.  I think I'll ask him if he wants any of the spent grains before with dispose of them for a bread recipe or something.
 
Scott I've been well. My work is working us to the bone. Mandatory 55+ hour weeks in metal fabrication. I am thinking about calling in sick and coming to the next meeting.

If you do happen to throw some grain into the ninja let me know how it goes. I used a hand held blender thing my wife has and it was not a fine enough blend to cook with.
 
How do you keep the grain from souring? I've given previous grains to my son for his chickens but the last batch soured in the mash tun before he could use it. I have some spread out now trying to dry it.
 
feed the critters out back  turkeys love the spent grain too
 
Slurk said:
philm63 said:
Dog treats. My dog goes bonkers for them.

What's the secret?

If I had to pin it to one special ingredient, I'd say it'd be peanut butter. Here's a basic recipe:

4 cups spent grain
2 cups flour
1 cup peanut butter (all natural)
2 eggs

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Depending on how wet the spent grains were, you may need to adjust the amount of flour to result in a dough that is stiff but not too dry. Press it down evenly into a dense layer on a large cookie sheet, about a 1/4 inch thick or so.

Score almost all the way through into the shapes you want - I use little cookie-cutters shaped like a bone. Bake for about half an hour at 350 F to solidify them. Loosen them from the sheet (this part is tricky!), break the biscuits apart and spread out on the cookie sheet and return to the oven set at 225 F for 3 to 4 hours or until they are really dry - this will prevent mold from growing. Store in an airtight container to keep them dry and mold-free.
 
philm63 said:
Slurk said:
philm63 said:
Dog treats. My dog goes bonkers for them.

What's the secret?

If I had to pin it to one special ingredient, I'd say it'd be peanut butter.

Can't go wrong with Peanut Butter!!!!  Thanks for the recipe, I'm all over it.  By the way we've used our spent grains in pizza dough and veggie burgers very successfully.  Those are basically the only way I'll eat a veggie burger :)
 
I also have a friend with chickens that I take the spent grains to.  It sure beats dumping it in the yard waste container.

Steve
 
That's just crazy - it's good enough for human consumption but needs to go through the red tape a second time for animal consumption?  Hopefully they work something out as the article concludes on that note.
 
Garrett Tenney, who wrote that article, appears to have not done all of his homework.  It states in the article that it's just spent grains with a little yeast added in.  Yeast?  The yeast never gets added to the grains.  As we all know here, the sugary water (wort) is separated from the spent grains, then boiled with hops and then cooled.  Then the yeast goes into the boiled hopped wort.  The yeast doesn't go into the spent grains.  Ever.  It seems misinformation in the media is rampant nowadays.
 
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