recycling spent grains??

beechwood · Jul 19, 2015

Anyone tried reusing spent grains after a brew? I was thinking if I was to keep back the spent grains from say a single malt brew (a 2 gallon bitter or pale ale) then re-mash them with some fresh speciality malts and perhaps some DME to beef in out, I should get and fairly good 1 gallon brew (say a mild or stout)

I guess it depends on how efficient my sparging was in the first brew, anyone got any thoughts? :whistle:

McMullan · Jul 19, 2015

My dog absolutely loves these:

http://byo.com/hops/item/2368-grains-to-treats-last-call

Crystal_Ball · Jul 19, 2015

Reusing grains for another brews is along the lines of a "small beer" I think??

stevej · Jul 19, 2015

The ducks in my village go crazy for them :lol:

clibit · Jul 19, 2015

I sometimes stick a cup of spent grains in a loaf in my breadmaker. Makes a nice change.

Making a second batch of beer from a mash will depend on what sugars are left in the grains. This is generally done when making a strong beer, because sparging all the sugars out creates too much pre boil wort for the strong ale, and lowers the gravity.

So I reckon you could make your second beer if your first beer is quite strong. Be aware that the last spargings won't taste as good as the first spargings. But you can add extract, or you can add some fresh grain to the mash, probably the better option.

Tony1951 · Jul 19, 2015

I'm putting them in my compost bin at the bottom of the garden and will use them to improve the soil where my hops will be planted in the winter, so I will be recycling them into hops for starters. Don't know where the rest will go in future, because you do get quite a lot of material to chuck away if you do a few brews. I used to keep hens and they would have gone bonkers for stuff like this and then recycled the grain into eggs.

Favershambrewer · Jul 19, 2015

I've been wondering whether I could use the grains to feed the birds (sparrows and such) that visit my garden. I'll give it a go.Though obviously the sparrows will recycle into a less desirable product...

DoctorMick · Jul 19, 2015

My chickens get mine, they love it.

HisDudeness · Jul 19, 2015

I'm also feeding my chickens with spent grain, it's amazing how quickly 4 of them can clear a few kilos up!

HebridesRob · Jul 20, 2015

Heave mine over the fence. The sheep eat them. Not my sheep you understand.

Covrich · Jul 20, 2015

Craigtube made a video of how to make dog biscuits out of them.. although to be honest I have only ever seen him munch on them himself.

clibit · Jul 20, 2015

I bet you could make a half decent chocolate hobnob clone using spent grains. :thumb:

Tony1951 · Jul 20, 2015

clibit said:
I bet you could make a half decent chocolate hobnob clone using spent grains. :thumb:

With all that husk? Pretty rough eating that.

I think there is probably a good reason why barley is almost entirely used in brewing and animal feed. Having said that, my mother used to add barley (refined) to vegetable soup and it was good.

clibit · Jul 20, 2015

Spent grains are good in bread.

Cwrw666 · Jul 20, 2015

The wife's horses go mad for mine.

clibit · Jul 20, 2015

Maybe I'm a horse. They taste good to me. ;-)

Tony1951 · Jul 20, 2015

clibit said:
Maybe I'm a horse. They taste good to me. ;-)

Neigh - surely not.

Walk on....

ochiburi · Jul 20, 2015

YES - but on the same brew day only - google "parti-gyle"

AND - assuming you dont raise mash temps at the end to kill off the enzymes.

I did this recently after brewing a strong Imperial IPA (9%). I also added a kilo and a half of fresh grains including some dark crystal to change the malt and make a different style of wort and to boost the available starch, though this is not essential. It all depends on your original grain bill, how much sugar is still available in the second runnings, and what you want from the second brew. Mine became a nice session bitter at 3.5%

Wilfy · Jul 20, 2015

Might give them dog biscuits a try next weekend.

Goodcat · Jul 20, 2015

Chicken Food. Quite funny seeing them trying to eat hot spent grains, but they manage.

recycling spent grains??

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