# What Do You Do With Your Used Grains After Mashing?



## ShredMaster (11/8/11)

I'm starting to get a setup organised to start BIAB but SWMBO is wanting to know what to do with the spent grains. I would probably just bin them but it got me thinking about what else they can be good for (if anything).

Anybody got any creative uses for it?

I told her that I would be brewing in order to do "my part in helping climate change" as I would be recycling bottles and reducing garbage from the bottle shop etc. Now she wants me to find a use for the grains... 

Bloody hippies... :chug:


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## vykuza (11/8/11)

I've used it in bread, dog biscuits, compost and given it away as chook food. The problem is the quantity produced rather than the uses! It's best to probably compost it and take small amounts for other uses when you want it.


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## Pennywise (11/8/11)

I make dog biscuits every few batch's, the rest unfortunately goes in the bin as I have no other use for it & compost isn't an option ATM with the mouse plague we're having down here


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## Bribie G (11/8/11)

Lets face it, pine bark is sooooo Nineties





There would have to be about 20 brews worth there, it just keeps rotting down into the Bribie Sand underneath.


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## Pennywise (11/8/11)

I wish I could do that...


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## Gar (11/8/11)

I feed em to my neighbor and brewing assistant... Donk






He always trots up to the fence when he see's the kettle coming out :icon_drool2: the neighbors probably wonder what the hell I'm feeding him :lol: 

It's a good relationship we've got going on, he gets my grains and scraps and I get his fertilizer for my hops and chilli's :kooi:


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## Lord Raja Goomba I (11/8/11)

Gar said:


> I feed em to my neighbor and brewing assistant... Donk
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Love it! 
Where south are you - that's looking decidedly like the bit between Jimboomba and Hendra Beaudesert.
We might have the cure for a particular virus - beer (or at least mashed grains).

Goomba


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## geoffd (11/8/11)

Bribie G said:


> Lets face it, pine bark is sooooo Nineties
> 
> View attachment 47579
> 
> ...




Classy Bribie, even resolves getting fungal blooms on the grain when you havent enough dry material to mix through when composting.

Gar, that's one cool pony, looks like he wears beer goggles.


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## mxd (11/8/11)

Bribie G said:


> Lets face it, pine bark is sooooo Nineties
> 
> View attachment 47579
> 
> ...



+1


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## kocken42 (11/8/11)

I use some to feed the worm farm (they get plenty of scraps anyway), dig it into the veggie patch, or use it in breads I make. 

Put some in a bowl, add some milk and you have breakfast.


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## drsmurto (11/8/11)

Feed my chooks.

6 of them will go through a batch of grain before i bring the 2nd lot out on a double brewday.


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## [email protected] (11/8/11)

Yep + 1 for the pony disposal system, they can smell it when i mash and wait at the gate for it.


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## cdbrown (11/8/11)

Goes to the chook and mulch bin. Once I chucked the lot on the vege patch during a summer, damn thing went stinky really quick and flies bred like crazy. Have learnt to spread it around and not leave it in a heap.


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## Gar (11/8/11)

Lord Raja Goomba I said:


> Love it!
> Where south are you - that's looking decidedly like the bit between Jimboomba and Hendra Beaudesert.
> We might have the cure for a particular virus - beer (or at least mashed grains).
> 
> Goomba



haha yep, you may have a point there

I'm in chambers flat, not a bad guess!


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## Spork (11/8/11)

Recipe for the dog biscuits?

Mine goes to chook. Chook loves brew days, but I think the local possums help her with the used grain.


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## argon (11/8/11)

I've tried composting or on the garden beds, but it always ends up stinking up the place. Now i just scoop it all into garbage bags and straight in the bin. Really should give it to the neighbour's chooks, but afraid i'll get some pretty dodgy sideways looks.


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## brettprevans (11/8/11)

cant help myself

search 'spent grain'. there are at least 4 seperate threads on this topic


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## Spork (11/8/11)

argon said:


> I've tried composting or on the garden beds, but it always ends up stinking up the place. Now i just scoop it all into garbage bags and straight in the bin. Really should give it to the neighbour's chooks, but afraid* i'll get some pretty dodgy sideways looks*.



Not from the chooks you won't. 

You could offer to "sell it cheap" to your neighbour. People are funny. If something is free we assume it is worthless. If someone puts a price on the same thing we think it has worth... 
This psychomolology doesn't apply to chooks. They know a tasty belly filler when they see it.


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## Nick JD (11/8/11)

I stopped using it for compost when the mice turned up. Goes in a shopping bag then into the wheelie bin. 

Spent grain in the back yard + sacks of delicious grain in the spare room = rodent problems.


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## pk.sax (11/8/11)

I used to give it to the hops I grew back home. They absorbed it really well. Won't bother up here it will stink up in an hour.


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## Harry Volting (11/8/11)

chooks+spent grain = eggs.
eggs + agitation + heat = omelette.
omelette + utensils = wife's breakfast.
happy wife = happy life.
here endeth the lesson.


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## drsmurto (11/8/11)

argon said:


> I've tried composting or on the garden beds, but it always ends up stinking up the place. Now i just scoop it all into garbage bags and straight in the bin. Really should give it to the neighbour's chooks, but afraid i'll get some pretty dodgy sideways looks.



A lot of chook breeders recommend feeding your chooks a 'mash' during autumn/winter to bump up the demands for extra nutrition during the moulting process. I'd offer it to your neighbours and explain what it is. If you get some eggs in return it's a win win. 

The chooks will eat the spent grain so fast it wont have to time to smell. 

If you grow hops ask for some chook manure, it's one of the best available as it's so high in nitrogen (chooks dont urinate so all the N is in their poo). Just make sure you compost it first.


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## billygoat (11/8/11)

My spent grain is fed to my chooks and also my goats like to have a nibble at it.
Baaaaaa


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## ekul (11/8/11)

I give it to the cows, they love it. Only one of them is brave enough to come up to the feed bin while i'm standing there, so only one gets most of it. The brahman heifers are getting pretty quiet too.

Actually if i have a keg thats not quite right and i got a fermenter back log i'll throw a few litres of beer in the feed trough, they love that too, really good for them too. I don't do that too often because they get too friendly after they've knocked back 10L of beer, plus i hate throwing away beer.

The dog likes spent grain too, he chewed threw one of my biab bags to get at it once. He has a little ritual where he eats as much as he can, then throws it up and eats it again, must taste better after he's marinated it. The dog doesn't get any beer, hops are bad for dogs apparently.


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## Hinji (11/8/11)

+1 for feeding the chooks.
Two of them get through ~5kg of grain in less than 24 hours - hungry bastards!
Cheers


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## drew9242 (11/8/11)

Chooks for me aswell. DrS that is interesting about feeding chooks mash to help them. Because out of 3 chooks i have got i am getting more eggs then someone with 5 or 6 at the moment.


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## mfeighan (11/8/11)

i use it for burley when i go fishing, stir in a little fish oil and it whips them into a frenzy!
if im not fishing that weekend it goes in the compost tumbler


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## going down a hill (11/8/11)

ekul said:


> The dog likes spent grain too, he chewed threw one of my biab bags to get at it once. He has a little ritual where he eats as much as he can, then throws it up and eats it again, must taste better after he's marinated it. The dog doesn't get any beer, hops are bad for dogs apparently.


Gold


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## Strutter (11/8/11)

I'm a lawn mowing man, one of my elderly customers gives me a dozen eggs every time i visit.....and so she should when i feed her chooks once a fortnight

Cheers

Strut


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## QldKev (11/8/11)

When I had chooks they had it, now its just compost. Got to keep the neighbourhood rats happy, and keep my cats fed somehow


QldKev


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## Golani51 (11/8/11)

Guinea Pigs devour it. Bit in pots. Rest in Bin. Some added to PracticalFool's vegie dishes to fatten up that skinny bastard.


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## jasonharley (11/8/11)

Yeah I feed mine to the Chooks also. Although I found that it tends to go off by the time they eat half way through it


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## pk.sax (11/8/11)

Golani51 said:


> Guinea Pigs devour it. Bit in pots. Rest in Bin. Some added to PracticalFool's vegie dishes to fatten up that skinny bastard.


I had a chew once but just didn't like em. Can't say I can survive on your usual rations R


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## Bribie G (11/8/11)

Apparently Galahs love it as well, if you live near a park or grassed reserve where they congregate. However it might take a bit of persuading a council ranger if he or she springs you :unsure:


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## Newbee(r) (11/8/11)

Compost. 

But my folks just built a palace of a chook shed so may trade my way in for free eggs from now on!


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## dcx3 (11/8/11)

I threw mine on the veggie patch.Then the mice turned up, quickly followed buy a brown snake that took up residence in a hole in the backyard.With four kids that was the last time i chanced it.I'll buy a compost roller soon and chuck it in there and leave it for a couple of months from now on.


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## fergi (11/8/11)

chook food, budgie food,then the top knots and doves come in .not good for your dog, mine eats it then throws it up all over the place so he doesnt get his share anymore.

fergi


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## Golani51 (11/8/11)

practicalfool said:


> I had a chew once but just didn't like em. Can't say I can survive on your usual rations R



It sure would put some meat on your bony butt though


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## BenH (11/8/11)

I've always dumped it on the garden as a mulch. That was until we got a labrador puppy, and unfortunately the first time (and last time) I did it, we were dog sitting her sister. So 2 labrador puppies ate through 9kg of spent grains in about 3 hours.   Boy, did they look bloated (but happy!)  .

Imagine the back lawn the next morning. I'm not joking, there were no less than 20 landmines, many of them just little grain piles! The dogs did look a bit uncomfortable for a while... :huh: 

Now I dump it in the FRONT yard where the dogs can't get it.


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## Charst (11/8/11)

Bribie G said:


> Lets face it, pine bark is sooooo Nineties
> 
> View attachment 47579
> 
> ...




I compost mine before i put it on the garden, I love the idea but adding it directly to the garden may cause nitrogen drawdown and lock up a lot of the grounds available nitrogen until the grain is fully decomposed, and the decomposition would happen much quicker if it was compost bin.


http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s2485140.htm


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## lastdrinks (11/8/11)

I did put the spent grain in the compost but now i get naked and roll around in it, then put it in the compost.


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## Cocko (11/8/11)

I shelve it! h34r: 


If not in that kind of mood, it goes in the garden bin..

Dumped in the yard for a while, apparently the birds in the area don't eat grain - but bush mice do! <_<


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## Doubleplugga (11/8/11)

if you have dogs and want really easy dog turds to clean up, then give them some spent grain. their turds end up kinda like weetbix and just disintergrate into nothing when hit with a hose!!!


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## proudscum (11/8/11)

my 8 chooks love it.


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## rotten (11/8/11)

citymorgue2 said:


> cant help myself
> 
> search 'spent grain'. there are at least 4 seperate threads on this topic



can't help myself

No new topics or posts, No forum

How's those pain killers goin?

back on topic: some go to chooks, most in the bin as they smell pretty quick.


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## DJR (11/8/11)

Chooks. 4 of them here and they get straight into it esp. when it's still warm with steam coming off it!

Spread it out with a rake, helps stop it smelling. I find if the efficiency is over about 80% there isn't a lot of sugar left for it to go really stinky


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## [email protected] (12/8/11)

Spent grain, hops and pommice ( from cyder making) go to my local farm. I get to eat it again later as good roasting joints of Glouster Old Spot and eggs. 

Jay


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## Marshman (12/8/11)

I'd reckon the local farm or chooks would be your best bet. A distillery I worked for had a deal going with a local farmer, spent grain for steaks and I know several commercial microbrewers that have deals going for eggs/meat.
It's apparently FULL of good nutrients for edible animals, like a vitamin rich porridge.


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## [email protected] (12/8/11)

All the spent grain from my local brewery ( Wychwood Brewery) go to animals for fodder, by the farm trailer load.


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## FNQ Bunyip (12/8/11)




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## pk.sax (12/8/11)

GFJ said:


> All the spent grain from my local brewery ( Wychwood Brewery) go to animals for fodder, by the farm trailer load.



Lucky Lucky SOB


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## Kranky (12/8/11)

I've got a big yard so I put it on my rose garden. I've got no idea if anything eats it though but there are lot animals around that might. Guess I might keep an eye out, I don't want to breed rats or mice.


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## Lecterfan (12/8/11)

lastdrinks said:


> I did put the spent grain in the compost but now i get naked and roll around in it, then put it in the compost.




I always thought that was the most sensible option.


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## manticle (12/8/11)

http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Awww....ont=spent+grain

I turn mine into a very smart dinner jacket.


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## Nick JD (12/8/11)

manticle said:


> http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Awww....ont=spent+grain


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## goomboogo (12/8/11)

Nick JD said:


>



But I'm not feeling that lucky.


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## ShredMaster (12/8/11)

manticle said:


> http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Awww....ont=spent+grain



Cool, thanks manticle for showing me how to search a site with Google, I had no idea how to do that. It will come in handy as I learn more.

Looks like alot of interesting uses for the grains, however we don't have chooks or cows. I will probably compost them for a while until I find somebody nearby with chooks to barter with. I know I'll get snakes and rats if I stick them on the garden though.

Cheers for the ideas!

- Shred.


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## BigDaddy (12/8/11)

Great in the compost - no trouble with mice in either bin - I think it gets that bloody hot in there that it may be too uncomfortable for them??


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## manticle (12/8/11)

ShredMaster said:


> Cool, thanks manticle for showing me how to search a site with Google, I had no idea how to do that. It will come in handy as I learn more.



The default search function is useless. The google search bar above it will search within the site using google search engine. Took me a couple of years before I worked that out.


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## Lecterfan (12/8/11)

manticle said:


> The default search function is useless. The google search bar above it will search within the site using google search engine. Took me a couple of years before I worked that out.



...yes, but how long to make the jacket?


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## manticle (12/8/11)

11 months and 4 hours. Most of the work was in the lapel trimming although the cuffs were also problematic.


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## Lecterfan (12/8/11)

Now we're getting to the good stuff...


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## chefeffect (12/8/11)

My calf and sheep love them, especially when they are still warm, hopefully they absorb the flavour :icon_drool2:


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## sim (12/8/11)

im still trying to get a decent loaf of bread with 50% spent grain, the rest is sealed up in paint pails till i make a hot compost heap. theres reckon theres potential for mushroom farming, and one day il do this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upflow_anaero...anket_digestion

...and, naturally, take a bath in it.


sim


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