Spent Grains

Voodoo 6 · Oct 18, 2017

Every morning when I pass the brewery, I see this guy pulling a horse trailer behind an old truck loading up 55 gallon food barrels from the brewery. I am assuming these are the spend grains.

Does anyone know what uses spent grain has? Do they use it as feed? I am hoping not because there is probably zero nutritional value left after extracting the sugars. Any thoughts?

hogleg · Oct 18, 2017

Maybe compost?

Ozzy2001 · Oct 18, 2017

Animals eat it. I think they mix it with oats and other stuff too.

Grass Snake · Oct 18, 2017

I threw my spent grains in the garden this year. No idea if the the plants benefited from this but it didn't seem to do any harm. Appears to break down quickly...

Grass Snake · Oct 18, 2017

Ozzy2001 said:
Animals eat it. I think they mix it with oats and other stuff too.

read somewhere people like to make dog treats with spent grains.

Voodoo 6 · Oct 18, 2017

so its like a inert filler?

austin87 · Oct 18, 2017

It can be made into bread https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/bread-from-beer-grains/

Voodoo 6 · Oct 19, 2017

wonder if there is any nutritional value to spent grains, have to look into that. if there is no value to it wouldn't it be like eating saw dust?

ronaldo_fanbelt · Oct 19, 2017

I use to give mine to a pig farmer, he would bring me a few roasts when he would slaughter one. Much better than just throwing it in the compost bin.

peppamang · Oct 19, 2017

"The protein concentration and high fiber concentration of spent grains support rumen function and animal production. Wet spent grains are a good source of protein with a crude protein content that ranges from 25-34%."

Nutritional Value of Spent Grains | Lolo Peak Brewing Company

Voodoo 6 · Oct 19, 2017

Thanks! Some good info here.

Bicycle808 · Oct 25, 2017

It doesn´t surprise me that there´s still a decent amount of nutriment left in spent grains; mashing and lautering are intended to extract converted starch as well as some flavor, aroma and color, but they aren´t intended to get every bit of nutritional value out of the mash...

I used to homebrew a lot. I just wasted my spent grains. Now that i keep some wormbins, i´m kinda curious how it would do as worm food....

D3monic · Oct 25, 2017

Was reading that blackhog brewing trades their spent grains to local hog farmers for a whole hog for their annual roast.

Voodoo 6 · Oct 28, 2017

All the meats here sold in the supermarkets are really fatty. I remember meat back in the day being much leaner. So I was wondering.