# Spent Grain + Worm Farm =?



## dans6401 (19/3/10)

Hi all,
Have just started AG brewing and wasn't to sure on what to do with the grain after i'd extracted all the goodness. Decided to throw it in the worm farm, and in no time at all it seems a very good friable soil. If i had cattle/chooks obviously i'd give it to them, but being in the the inner city the worms are my only pets. (Do have some tropical fish but it's hard enough keeping that clean as it is)
Anyway, got me thinking what do you do with your spent grain?


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## lonte (20/3/10)

dans6401 said:


> Anyway, got me thinking what do you do with your spent grain?


bury it or bin it but i'd love to do something more useful ...


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## bum (20/3/10)

Straight into the dwarf Meyer pot.

Partials, mind you.


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## dans6401 (20/3/10)

bum said:


> Straight into the dwarf Meyer pot.


Not talking about once it's been consumed!


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## browndog (20/3/10)

For years I was dumping my spent grain into the garbage bin, but getting a green cringe about a 6 months ago I started dumping it into a corner of the yard and turning it into the soil there. I have to say it makes really good compost/soil after a few months. Dans ifyou get yourself some oscars you can feed those worms to them and be amazed at how much they can stick in their gobs.

cheers

Browndog


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## sam (20/3/10)

How much grain did you throw in the worm farm dan? And did you drain/cool before throwing it in? I did it once ages ago, but the worms never went for it and it got lactic as all getup. I assumed it was to acidic and haven't done it since.

I'll have to give it another shot, mix it through a bit better.

Worm farms are rad.


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## bum (20/3/10)

dans6401 said:


> Not talking about once it's been consumed!


 

Just read this a second time and still laughed. Nice one.


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## pdilley (20/3/10)

I've tossed it on the worm farm, water spray to draw the residual sugars down through the farm, as the tray below had green scraps and newspaper. The sugars make for fat worms which could be an issue in a stackable farm but the bathtub farm method works so much better than the miserable home kits at Bunnings and there it would not be an issue with fat worms and small holes. I also had an infestation of black soldier fly which is actually paydirt as they are something like 40% protien and 30% fat in larval form and the chooks went crazy for them. Freeze them hard and feed to fish in Aquaponics systems like pellets. Yes they are so desired they have dedicated soldier fly farms just like worm farms.

The bulk of spent grain goes into the veggie patch.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete


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## brettprevans (20/3/10)

search for spent grain. theres multiple threads on its uses.


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## Bribie G (20/3/10)

Makes great compost fodder but stinks for a few days, worms love it. My fellow brewer on the Island here found that spent grain was giving his chooks sticky cloaca. Sounds gruesome, so he declined to take my spent grain in exchange for eggs. Damn.


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## Phoney (20/3/10)

I always throw a bit on the worm farm, once it's cooled of course. A handful of dolomite lime counter-acts the acidity. I used to throw my spent grain into the garden but then I started getting rats the size of cats running around my backyard! :blink: I laid out some poison and that made for a very stinky job of collecting dead rats covered in maggots everywhere.

So now I garbage bag most of it and throw it in the bin.


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## bconnery (20/3/10)

phoneyhuh said:


> I always throw a bit on the worm farm, once it's cooled of course. A handful of dolomite lime counter-acts the acidity. I used to throw my spent grain into the garden but then I started getting rats the size of cats running around my backyard! :blink: I laid out some poison and that made for a very stinky job of collecting dead rats covered in maggots everywhere.
> 
> So now I garbage bag most of it and throw it in the bin.



I used to throw it on the garden as well, with the same result. Maybe not quite the same size but we had a rats and the little bastards ate some power cables too. 
They've gone now but the practice of throwing in the bin remains. 
I'd love to use it better but the choice between a little compost and the rats is an easy one for me...


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## geoffd (20/3/10)

I agree with composting with dolomite lime, also chuck in some rock phosphate (good for all plants; phosphorus used for uptake of other minerals), it's good to fix the acidity as it will be too acidic for worms & you'll have a healthier compost (good bacteria), dont forget to aerate well for the first few days & at least a cubic meter of material, half greens half browns is fine, th hotter your compost gets, the more bad bacteria/diseases/funguses get killed off, also a bit of compost from you last batch is good to innoculate the next compost heap when youre ready to damp it down. Keep your materials as dry as you can until you have a decent pile.
Compost can reach 70 degrees on a healthy vigorous fermentation. hops & speny yeast go in too, yeast is particularly good for rose bushes, attracts shit loads of slugs & snails if you pour it straight onto the soil though.


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## wakkatoo (20/3/10)

sam said:


> How much grain did you throw in the worm farm dan? And did you drain/cool before throwing it in? I did it once ages ago, but the worms never went for it and it got lactic as all getup. I assumed it was to acidic and haven't done it since.



I did the same thing and promptly got banned from dumping grain there. Mine will go to the chooks when I finish their pen. Currently goes in the compost / goes to in-laws chooks.

Haven't noticed any sticky cloacas, but I haven't really been looking as I'm not that intimate with the chooks I roll with :blink:


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## praxis178 (20/3/10)

wakkatoo said:


> I did the same thing and promptly got banned from dumping grain there. Mine will go to the chooks when I finish their pen. Currently goes in the compost / goes to in-laws chooks.
> 
> Haven't noticed any sticky cloacas, but I haven't really been looking as I'm not that intimate with the chooks I roll with :blink:



Mine goes to the chooks and after lord only knows how many brews still no problems, occasionally if I do two brews too close together the second will go on the compost, where it disappears in record time, those worms do looove that stuff!


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