Spent Grain - A Use Other Than The Bin?

[Gout]

As all AG brewers there is a lot of wet yuck grain to rid of and i normally bag it and bin it. however i am about to try a veg garden (small) and the soil here is basicly grey sand, and i was going to buy some better soil to plant in a garden bed. however as i empty my mash tun i wonder if i dug it into the sand it might help?

others are telling me not to as it will attract mice etc but if i can get something out of it i would be happy to use it in the soil. saves me throwing it out and bagging it and saves me getting soil in - hopefully the veg enjoy it?

I did a search as i thought i had seen it before but came up with nothing

is it worth it or a silly idea?

 

[Fourstar]

I use mine on the front garden all the time, keeps the religious types at bay too!

Get interested in breadmaking and save some your spent sweeter grain from the bottom of your mashtun for wholegrain breads. Thats what im about to start doing. Beer in the monring, malted barley bread in the arvo! :icon_drool2:

 

[white.grant]

I wouldn't use them directly on a garden, much better if you can process them through a chicken or a cow first. Lacking both the chickens and the cow, I compost my spent grains with the other kitchen scraps and it makes a nice compost whcih I can then use on the vegies.

cheers

grant

 

[Fents]

not a silly idea at all. ALL my grain goes on the garden as mulch (sometimes as much as 20KG at one time.). sometimes on the vege garden sometimes on the front garden. mice? pffft i have a cat.

seriously it does make good mulch. can stink a bit for the first few days but it dies down pretty quick...also make sure you spread it out in a thin layer dont just dump it in piles... Im no landscaper so i wouldnt know if it will improve your soil conditions but what have you got to loose? Grain will defiantly decompose over time.

 

[reVoxAHB]

Farm animals love it... cows, chooks, pigs.

edit: slow behind grant ^_^

 

[lastdrinks]

I chuck it in the compost bins. seems to work well.

 

[apd]

others are telling me not to as it will attract mice etc but if i can get something out of it i would be happy to use it in the soil. saves me throwing it out and bagging it and saves me getting soil in - hopefully the veg enjoy it?

It will attract mice if you just stick it on top of the soil but if you have a good compost bin or worm farm it shouldn't be a big problem. Having a proper compost system going (decent size to help generate a good amount of heat - say, 1 cubic metre) will mean the material breaks down quickly.

Or if you don't have room for a compost bin, you could do trench composting.

Andrew

 

[canon1ball]

I wouldn't use them directly on a garden, much better if you can process them through a chicken or a cow first. Lacking both the chickens and the cow, I compost my spent grains with the other kitchen scraps and it makes a nice compost whcih I can then use on the vegies.

cheers

grant

My chicken doesn't eat it! A bit of scratching in the heap, that's all.
Can't blame the chicken, not much left to eat after I extracted all goodies!

c1b

 

[Steve]

Mine gets evenly spread onto the vegie patch, the birds come down and eat it, they poo on the vegie patch, after a couple of weeks the soil gets turned and then start again. I used to put it in the compost bin but when its in a big non aerated lump it really does start to smell. Dont stick it in the bin, chuck it on the garden.
Cheers
Steve

 

[apd]

...but when its in a big non aerated lump it really does start to smell.

If you give your compost a turn or even a 'fluff' (jab a stake into it and give it a jiggle) you'll get a bit of air into it and stop the smell. Also, a bit of slotted pipe down the centre of the pile can help get air down to the bottom.

Andrew

 

[3G]

I put mine in the garden once. I sat down at the dinner table one night and looked outside and saw a mf big rat going forward and backwards to the grain for about 30 mins. Needless to say the grain goes straight in the bin now.

 

[staggalee]

Can`t miss a chance like this to hire out my miniature Fox Terrier Samson.
Feared by all rodents across the land. :lol:

stagga.

 

[geoffi]

Four chooks make very short work of it. Get eggs AND beer...excellent arrangement. Before that it went into the compost bin.

 

[3G]

My Schnauzer should chase mice, she is too lazy.

 

[Steve]

View attachment 28617

That reminds me. Gout if you have a dog (even if it has no legs like staggas :lol: ) you could make dog biscuits out of the grain. They love em!

 

[Supra-Jim]

I put mine in the garden once. I sat down at the dinner table one night and looked outside and saw a mf big rat going forward and backwards to the grain for about 30 mins. Needless to say the grain goes straight in the bin now.

Mmmmm... grain fed rats, fully of malty goodness, I can hear our cat salivating now.

Cheers SJ

 

[brendo]

As others have said, mine go to my FIL who feeds them to the chooks.

Apparently they go ape shit for it.

Brendo

 

[Bribie G]

Here on Bribie the soil is almost pure sand but I've got my small veg garden growing beautifully thanks to kitchen scraps and spent grain (over 30 brews have gone into it so far). I just fold the grain into the soil along with the veg scraps and turn it once a week, seems to attract earthworms as well. Spent hops are great fertiliser as well, and the trub from the urn goes round the eggplants and they are going berserk at the moment.
However I dont use the yeast out of the fermenter for anything as it attracts fruit flies.

 

[staggalee]

:lol:
but you`ll never catch him if he doesn`t want to be caught.
Too fast!

stagga.

 

[brettprevans]

spent grain dog buscuits. actually ive eaten them too and they are nice. lots of roughage!

yup compost them or dig them straight in. When we lived in our own house i composted them. whilst at a rental i chuck the grain straight in the garden.

edit:
I chuck the yeast/trub into the garden as well. all good nutrients. spent hops be careful if you have dogs. hops can be poisonous to dogs. i mixed mine into the compst to make sure the dogs werent going to eat them.