Spent Grain What To Do With It ?

[The_Duck]

Worm farm, compost and or the greenwaste bin depending on how full everything is.

Right now, after the weather Melbourne has had in the last few months, my grass doesn't need ANY encouragement to grow. But come summer when it all dies off and goes brown, I might spread some spent grain lovin on my lawns.

Also.. possibly explains why I have a couple of patches of REALLY green grass. It is where I throw the little bit of beer out when I clean my glass out when switching brews from the taps. :blink:

 

[dpadden]

It is where I throw the little bit of beer out when I clean my glass out when switching brews from the taps. :blink:

You do what!!!???

 

[The_Duck]

You do what!!!???

Fear Not !! There is method in what appears to be utter madness.

The glass gets drained and maybe a "nip" of beer goes into the glass from another tap. As my keg fridge lives in the garage, I have little control of who or what decides to sample my brew's.

I have had a few nasties that decided to move if for a session, come out of my taps :icon_vomit:

So sacrificing a small amount just to be sure nothing is in there is no big deal for me.

Duck

 

[Banshee]

Porridge for the kilds.

 

[fcmcg]

I've bought a live piglet...
It's called Dennis....
It's geting fattened on spent grain....
When he gets to the right size.......
Straight into the wood fired oven...Roast Dennis !
Cheers
Ferg

 

[praxis178]

Chooks, have 9 and get 7-9eggs per day, and they will turn 6kgs of spent grain into ~one 2L ice-cream tub of guano in 24hrs, which after composting goes on my hops. Now THAT is the circle of life! LOL

 

[Acasta]

Chooks, have 9 and get 7-9eggs per day, and they will turn 6kgs of spent grain into ~one 2L ice-cream tub of guano in 24hrs, which after composting goes on my hops. Now THAT is the circle of life! LOL

haha nice one! i wonder what you could do with spent hops? Maybe use them to fertilize a barley field? Thats a circle my man. You have a 3/4 circle.

 

[haysie]

but chooks shit everywhere, foxes come from nowhere in search of the dumbasses, the pig thing ferg is just terrible but then i seen the hats you wear, the lawn?????? it stinks to high heaven and screws it. Dont feed the shit to your dogs, grain isnt part of their natural diet.
Chuck it in the bin makes more sense.

 

[HoppingMad]

Used to put my grain in the backyard dug in - following suggestions of some well meaning folk on this forum.

Then climbed into my roof space a month ago and found spent grain bits everywhere. Bloody mice grabbed it, then took it into the rafters for a feed! The husks they didn't eat then became nesting material. Never had such a mice problem until I did this. Have been rat baiting like crazy this winter.

Not the people that recommend this idea's fault - but I guess I have a few more critters around near me than they do.
Now I bag it and bin it. Not very enviro friendly, but mice pooping in the roof space ain't either.

On the pig idea be careful ferg. Spoke to Jeff Whyte (Brewer at Jamieson's Brewery) a while back and he told a tale of
donating some spent grain to a pig farmer and it killed some of his stock. He said now he only gives grain to farmers
in the area that's within a few days old. The older grain can do evil things to the belly of some beasts.

Hopper.

 

[bricho]

I had a similar experience to HoppingMad, dug it into the garden, but then had a couple of mice digging tunnels through the mulch and top layer of soil to get to it. The mice seemed to be out there every second night looking around for new deposits.
I then dumped it in the reserve garden over the road to try attract the mice over there, which has seemed to work ,as i haven't seem them again.

 

[wakkatoo]

I've bought a live piglet...
It's called Dennis....

Love it! Nothinmg better than naming an animal that will end up in your freezer As a kid we had a pet lamb - we named her Chops. I'd have a pig if I had a little more space. At the moment the grain get shared between the chooks, veggie garden, compost and worm farm. From there it ends up either around the hops or fruit trees.

 

[jonw]

Mine goes on the compost, but that encourages the local rat population. I think I'll try the lawn trick, because I have clay soil too, and the grass is struggling. Hope it doesnt just expand the rat playground.

 

[Bretto77]

Yeah my chooks are a bigger fan of brew day than me. They love it, all goes back into into healthy eggs too. Prior to having chooks a put it in the compost as long as its in a contained bin of burried a bit (keeps the flys away) composts very well adding much needed nutrients to the soil, a great benefit for those that grow hops as hops are very nutrient hungry.

Cheers
Brett

 

[staggalee]

Mine goes on the compost, but that encourages the local rat population. I think I'll try the lawn trick, because I have clay soil too, and the grass is struggling. Hope it doesnt just expand the rat playground.

I can hire this bloke out to you, was 12 when this pic was taken, 16 now and still going strong.
Deadly on vermin.

[and chooks} :lol:

stagga.

 

[Fents]

does anyone know a farmer or anyone who owns animals on a property close to Heidelberg that wants about 200KG+ of spent grain for nothing? has to come collect from our brewery when its ready.

 

[Uncle Fester]

I'm hoping that waiting overnight before letting the chooks loose on it will not allow it to ferment too much.

Cant see it being very handy giving it to them whilst it is hot, and anyway, 90% of my brewing is done after tea, when the girls are all roosting anyway.



Fester Out.

 

[QldKev]

I'm hoping that waiting overnight before letting the chooks loose on it will not allow it to ferment too much.

Cant see it being very handy giving it to them whilst it is hot, and anyway, 90% of my brewing is done after tea, when the girls are all roosting anyway.



Fester Out.

If your brewing late, and then dump it in the morning I do not think you will have any issues

QldKev

 

[WarmBeer]

I'm hoping that waiting overnight before letting the chooks loose on it will not allow it to ferment too much.

Cant see it being very handy giving it to them whilst it is hot, and anyway, 90% of my brewing is done after tea, when the girls are all roosting anyway.



Fester Out.

I dump about 10+ litres of cold tap water in the mash tun after I've completed sparging.

This brings the temperature of the grain right down to about ambient, then I let that drain out overnight. The grains are cool, and ready to go to (a friends) chooks the next morning.

I once made a mistake of not cooling the grain down, and closed the lid on my esky. Next morning the smell almost made me retch :icon_vomit:

 

[Nick JD]

My local Bluetongue likes it.

 

[punkin]

does anyone know a farmer or anyone who owns animals on a property close to Heidelberg that wants about 200KG+ of spent grain for nothing? has to come collect from our brewery when its ready.

You need a method of drying the grain, it's perfect for animal feed then as we only take the sugar but leave the protiens.



Might make the difference between getting rid of it for nothing or even a little cash recovery and paying to have it disposed of.





Some kind of tumble drying system. :unsure: