what do you do with all that grain?

Out of curiosity, what do some of you do with the grain left over from mashing? I would imagine composting is an option, but what other uses have you all found short of just tossing it in the trash?

There have been many discussions on this. Some of the most popular seems to be making bread, feeding chickens and composting.

There’s so much of it that one either has to throw it away or compost it. But a small fraction can end up in bread and muffins.

The most clever is Dog-biscuits. There’s recipes out there.

Mine ends up in the garden out back. It will stink big time for a few days.

I’m intrigued by adding it to bread, but can someone give me an idea of quantities?

Mine goes to my neighbor’s chickens…he says they love it and can’t get enough.  I guess I better start brewing more then.

I place mine at the edge of the woods, and the deer come and clean it up.

If you spread it out, it stinks less… or maybe my garden is far enough from the house that I don’t notice.  When I dump it in the composter, it stinks like a dead body.

Compost pile.  Guess it’s far enough away from the house, I’ve never noticed too bad a smell.

Compost pile, deer , birds, etc…

I haven’t tried making bread yet.

You guys don’t just dump it over the fence into the neighbor’s yard? I thought everyone did that.

We make bread and Dog biscuits.  Here are the recipes:

Spent “Malted Grain” Beer Bread

3 ½  cups Flour
2 cups  Malted Barley left over from the mashing or steeping process
1 ½ teaspoons Salt
1 ½ tablespoons Wheat Gluten (omit if using bread flour)
1 ½ tablespoons Oil
1 ½ tablespoons Honey
Water
1 teaspoon Yeast

Add all ingredients except yeast and watert to a bowl and mix well. 
Add the yeast and enough water to form a very dry mixture.

Place in the bread machine on Muti-Grain cycle or if not using a bread machine let rise for 30 minutes, punch down, knead and let rise for 2 hours.  Bake in the oven for 45 minutes at 425 degrees.

Note:  This dough is very deceiving. When kneading it will start out VERY dry but will end up just right due to the remaining moisture in the grains.

Spent Grain Dog Biscuits

•  4 cups spent grain
•  4 cups flour
•  1 cup peanut butter
•  1 egg

Note : hops are toxic to some species of dogs. Please do not use grain that has been mash-hopped! 
Mix together (works well with hands) and roll onto cookie sheet. Score (almost through) into shapes you want, or use a cookie cutter as you would for cookies. They don’t spread out and they pretty much end up the thickness you start with. This recipe made one cookie sheet but they are pretty thick so you could adjust that if you want them thinner.
They end up very crisp after they’ve been baked and dried. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Let cool enough to break them up then place back in the oven to dry for 4-6 hours at 200. You want to make sure they dry adequately, if they look like a fig newton when you break one they’re not dry. If they don’t dry enough they will mold. Dried thoroughly they will store well in an airtight container.

Excellent idea.  Thanks.  I’m going to give this one a try.  I think my dogs will love them.

My nearest neighbor is over 1/4 mile away…too much work!

Same here…  I just throw it out for the deer & turkeys.

My recipe is pretty similar to thirdhand’s: I Have Made Bread « SeanTerrill.com I’m munching on some right now, in fact. Oatmeal stout grist, probably my favorite so far.

Unfortunately our fascist neighborhood association doesn’t allow composting, so all but a tiny fraction goes in the trash.

I throw all of mine in the trash, but I should really start composting it.  I don’t want to encourage deer in my yard though, they like to eat my other plants too much (they “pruned” my new plum tree, the bastards).  And there’s too much to feed to the worms.

I put an ad on Craigslist for the local chicken farmers.  Now, I get a dozen eggs as a barter every other brew… (10 gallons each)

I’m stealing that idea. Thanks.

That’s a fantastic idea. Perhaps not many chicken farmers in Denver, but who knows! If that doesn’t work i will start dumping it in the neighbor’s yard :slight_smile: