Spent Grain Uses

[GlacierBrewing]

Just curious....
What alternative uses (besides feeding to livestock) has everyone encountered regarding using spent grain? Post any recipes you may have!
Thanks

[mfos]

I just had a baker stop by and obtain some spent grain from a porter I was brewing to make a "beer bread". He was quite excited about it and wanted other grain combinations when I brewed other beers. He is going to state on his label where he got the grain so at the very least will be a good source of free publicity, as well as a source of free bread. He only took 150 lbs or so but better than going to livestock. Maybe you have a bakery in your area that might be interested in free materials. Check it out.

[rudge75]

Shiitake Mushrooms.

Somebody out there grows them on spent grain for their pub. They must go through some sort of sterilization procedure for the spent grain, though. I'd hate to smell it if they didn't.

Can't remember who, sorry.

Dave

[GlacierBrewing]

Thanks to both of you!

[Ted]

I have a yak farmer and a soy sauce company picking up grain in
China

[oppigards]

A couple of years ago there were an article in the New Brewer Magazine about spent grain. They also talked about shitake mushrooms and they also talked about using spent grain as a help for earth polutions (gasoline leakage). If you don´t can get an on copy I can fax you that article if you wan´t (if I find it).

Cheers,

Bjorn Falkestrom

[oppigards]

During winter time I use to feed deers with spent grain which have it hard when it is cold and much snow.

[Chip Tate]

A few folks mentioned growing mushrooms on the spent grain. This does work especially if it's autoclaved (you need a BIG autoclave), mixed with hay and seeded with mushroom fungus right.

There was an environmental project 5 or 10 years ago that did this and then used the second hand spent grain to feed to cattle. Apparently, there's something is brewers grains that cattle have a hard time digesting. But after the grain is used for mushrooms, cattle have no problem with the spent grains and it's higher in digestible protein. Pretty cool.

CT

[tarmadilo]

I don't know how hard a time they had digesting it, but we gave our spent grain to a local dairy, and the farmer said that the cows absolutely came running when he'd pull up with the truck...

Cheers, Tim

[brewmonkey]

Originally posted by rudge75
Shiitake Mushrooms.

Somebody out there grows them on spent grain for their pub. They must go through some sort of sterilization procedure for the spent grain, though. I'd hate to smell it if they didn't.

Can't remember who, sorry.

Dave

Doesn't Great Lakes Brewing in Cleveland have mushrooms growing in the room by the brewhouse. I thought I saw that when we did the CBC there.

[Gael]

Spent grain makes great livestock feed, although it needs to be supplemented with something higher protein, as well as micronutrients (we use kelp meal). This is a great use, not "just" a use! In addition, it's wonderful for compost. It can also be pasteurized and used as a mushroom-growing bed. All of these have already been suggested, this is just a reinforcement! We use ours primarily for pig feed, using the remainder for compost, which gets used on the hopyards. Compost, by the way, is very much a value-added product!

[Moonlight]

Beyond spent grain, does anyone have great uses for spent hops/trub and spent yeast? Kettle trub is great fertilizer but the spent yeast seems to kill weeds.

[BeerActivist]

Gunter Pauli at the Zeri Foundation has done a lot of pioneering work on how to get efficient resuse value from spent grains. You can find one of his spent grain case studies on his website here:

http://www.zeri.org/index.cfm?id=projectBrewery&CFID=855748&CFTOKEN=76821448

Happy baking, mushroom growing and animal feeding.

Fermenting Revolution,
Chris O'Brien

[Sir Brewsalot]

Spent yeast: I've been working with a local bakery to see if he can use it for his bread. He's had a range of results so far: some with poor rising, some rising very well. Some carrying hop/beer flavors over, some not. Thinking of using the beer brand name on the bread too - a specialty craft baked product.

We're both committed to finding a way to make it work, so that helps keep it moving ahead.

[beauxman]

There is a previous thread regarding spent grain under the general discussion area that deals with nutritional values and impact on livestock and such....check it out.

[damoller]

I am going to experiment with feeding fish!
I know it works well as a mulch allowing water to flow through well but keeping weeds down.
Instead of adding kelp meal(which I use in my greenhouse potiing mixes) add the spent yeast into yhe spent grains there by increasing the protien and micronutrient level of the mix. You should kill the yeast first if used as animal feed.

[BeerActivist]

I saw an agricultural training school in Burkina Faso using dried out spent grain for fish farming. And we even got to eat some of the fish!

Cheers,
Chris O'Brien

[Gael]

How much nitrogen does the spent grain take up while it's decomposing? And is there an issue with spent yeast and soil micro-organisms? I haven't been using either directly on the soil yet, but composting both. Once composted, we use it all for soil mix and feeding the hops. I also find that spent grain clumps in the compost, requiring lots of turning and plenty of other compost additions. Fortunately, we have lots! I have been working on the assumption that spent grain would act like wood chips, taking a great deal of nitrogen out of the soil while it decomposes. I use kettle trub as mulch, however, since we use whole hops. It's a wonderful mulch - especially for garlic!

[abbymayou]

I have been baking bread with spent grains for years. Some loaves better than others but always a conversation started when I serve it. Last night I baked date/spent grain bars (oat.flour crust on bottom, a layer of dates, nuts and spent grain from a stout, topped by another layer of crumbs). Interesting!! Very edible but a different taste.

[Brewinfo]

There's a lot of discussion in the Malt Q&A as well.
http://probrewer.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=3644

[gitchegumee]

Spent yeast has uses in the food industry as "autolysed yeast protein" found in snack foods, etc. It provides a "meaty", umami taste. We found a processor in a larger city who came to pick up 55 gallon poly barrels of it. Saved us from dumping it. A small brewery might not have enough to make it worth while. Good luck!

[jason.koehler]

Posting about 'umami' is outing you and your 'asia in general' location gitchegumee :)

[gitchegumee]

OK! Been in Palau a while and it looks like a while longer, so I changed the ambiguous location in my profile! I would, however like to find work in a small Japanese brewery at some point in the future. If you come across any leads, I'd appreciate you letting me know. Thanks and Kampai!

[bbrodka]

Spent Grain Dog Biscuits
4 cups flour
4 cups spent grain (DO NOT USE SPENT GRAIN IN WHICH FIRST WORT HOPS WERE ADDED. HOPS ARE POTENTIALLY FATAL TO DOGS!!!)
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg

Mix with hands. Roll mixture onto cookie sheet to the desired thickness. They will not rise. Cut into shapes. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Remove from oven to cool. Bake again at 225° for 8 to 10 hours for complete drying. If they don't completely dry they'll spoil.

[AlexisScarlett]

I have a farmer who takes spent grain for buffalo and elk and she has goats too! She makes goat milk soaps, lotions, and beauty supplies. She dries the malt and husks for an abrasive in a gardener's soap and she is perfecting a soap recipe and lotion recipe for the yeast. Supposedly like antioxidants from more known sources, yeast stops you from the wrinkling. Rather drink the cure than rub it on my face though!

Composting in the hopyard is perfected by chickens. They scratch the clumps and contribute their own little nitrogen packages. We call it internal composting and the smell is no worse than compost pile. The amount of grain they can eat and distribute is impressive. The eggs are good too!

[GeorgeJ]

im gonna try making flapjacks with spent grain.
bit of oats, bit of dried, used grain.
bit of honey, fruit, chocolate etc...

[TheBarn]

Hey people,

I'm new here, so if this is an odd question, please forgive me.

What do you guys usually do with your spent grain? Do you have to pay to dump it? Do you sell it to people to use as feed? How much does a brewery usually produce?

I'd love to get a hold of samples of spent grain and spent yeast to try as a nutrient on my mushroom farm.

Thank you!

[Sulfur]

Ours is picked up for use in a biogas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogas) facility.

[bennybrew]

We compost the grain, trub and spent yeast together. That is used to help grow flowers and grapes.

[cmabeles]

Has anyone ever made a homemade version of vegimite with their old yeast? Is it even possible? As far as I can tell vegimite is just salted and consentrated yeast. great on bread and awesome for a hangover full of B-vitamins.

just a thought.

[Michael Murphy]

we have trouble getting rid of all our spent grains, the only farmers we have managed to keep coming back for more are the ones who pass by our town every day. They say its not worth their time and gas when they can get feed sent directly to them.
We create about 20 x 500 kg (wet) spent grain boxes per week, In the winter we get an open container and dump the excess, but once the weather gets warmer we have to pay a farmer to take the unwanted and dump it.
I think Id have to make alot of bread to use up the excess spent grains

Our other issue is finding someway to get rid of the yeast instead of draining it. I think I dump 1000-1500 liters of yeast per week. I have a container to collect 1000 lt in but I havent found anyone who wants it.

[Fred Scheer]

HI:

Man, you got your hands full........................

At 20X500 kg I think it would be economical (almost... :) ) to have
a spent grain drying equipment set up. You will get rid faster of dry
spent grain than wet.
In Europe (long time ago... :cool: ) we heated the spent yeast with
steam to about 150*F for ~ 20 minutes, than pumped the slurry
to the spent grain.
I know it's easier said than done.but.........just my 2 cents.

Good luck

Fred

[Moonlight]

Fred-
After cooking for 20 min, did it go to animal feed? Which animals?
I am nervous about causing animals harm. I once gave a rancher a barrel of malt dust and fines that he was going to use sparingly for certain animals like horses. His elderly and "pre-occupied" mother fed it to a herd of sheep killing about twelve.
I keep thinking about using a dehydrater for spent yeast...especially a solar one. Anyone doing this?

[Fred Scheer]

Fred-
After cooking for 20 min, did it go to animal feed? Which animals?
I am nervous about causing animals harm. I once gave a rancher a barrel of malt dust and fines that he was going to use sparingly for certain animals like horses. His elderly and "pre-occupied" mother fed it to a herd of sheep killing about twelve.
I keep thinking about using a dehydrater for spent yeast...especially a solar one. Anyone doing this?

Moonlight:

We killed the yeast, and after drying,we packaged the same in 50 Kg bags.
The farmers mixed the dry yeast at a rate of ~ 10% into the spent grain.
The spent grain/yeast mix than is used in conjunction with forage (hay, grass) and pelletized feed. The farmers use ~ 35 lbs of the spent grain/yeast mix in the feed mix per cattle per day.
You can get more info on the usage of spent grain by contacting
Bioremediation Cleanup Inc
157 Moreland St.
Worester, MA 01609
Phone (508) 757 - 7808

Hope this helps,

Fred

[Moonlight]

How did you dry it?

[Fred Scheer]

How did you dry it?


with a commercial dryer................
2500 Kg/ hr

I don't know if there are dryer with less hourly capacity are available.

Fred

[GarySped]

See how a large distillery deals with this issue or contact a company like Alltech, Inc. in KY as they have a lot of interest in making distillers and brewers grain as dry solubles for feedstuffs. It does need to be treated and enhanced (several papers around on the topic - e.g., in Process Biochemistry).

I'd suggest there might be potential here for someone to run with this as a small animal feeds business if you are located near several breweries to make the volumes worthwhile. Otherwise, like for yeast, it is not (unfortunately) usually a viable issue for a conpany like Alltech to take such small individual amounts off your hands.

Animal feeds, mulch/fertilizer, fiber -it is interesting that not many folks have taken this on as a business yet.

[Sulfur]

At my present brewery a farmer comes and collects the spent grain for his cows. He brought us some CHEESE a week later in appreciation - delicious.

[wildcrafter]

See how a large distillery deals with this issue

New options everyday. Check out this new info for fermenting brewer's waste into ethanol. (Isn't that the goal anyway?)

http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/scitech/release.cfm?ArticleID=1613

Waste not, want not.
One man's waste is another man't fodder.
Etc.......

[nwcw2001]

my dream situation is this: grow mushrooms with the spent grains, then feed it to the cows.

By using the spent grain as a mushroom substrate it will break the grain down further for the cows. The cows cant break down the grain far enough to keep from producing Methane.

That way I can have 2 revenue streams from one ingredient. Dare to dream


John

[beertje46]

my dream situation is this: grow mushrooms with the spent grains, then feed it to the cows.

By using the spent grain as a mushroom substrate it will break the grain down further for the cows. The cows cant break down the grain far enough to keep from producing Methane.

That way I can have 2 revenue streams from one ingredient. Dare to dream


John
Is it possible to grow mushrooms on spent grain? Do you make logs or something?

[SRB]

New options everyday. Check out this new info for fermenting brewer's waste into ethanol. (Isn't that the goal anyway?)

http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/scitech/release.cfm?ArticleID=1613

Waste not, want not.
One man's waste is another man't fodder.
Etc.......


Nice link Wildcrafter.......waste not want not is right. Plus less acreage hopefully sooner than l8r for those silly virgin feed stock sources!!

matt g

[nwcw2001]

Is it possible to grow mushrooms on spent grain? Do you make logs or something?

You only need longs to grow mushrooms like shitake that need the hardwood.

Button mushrooms, crimini and portobello and other "ground" shrooms LOVE spent grains. And because it comes out of the mash tun sterile, you spread mycelium you have happy mushrooms in no time.

[jeffjohnvol]

My brewer-in-law was thinking about binding the dried spent grain with wax and compressing them into logs to burn in his fireplace. Anyone tried that?

[Paulie Walnuts]

Spent yeast sediment also makes a great slug bait for organic gardeners. Living in the moist pacific northwest - slugs are hell on tender plant starts early in the season. I place a small dish of trub/yeast - or even just a dish of beer...slugs come from all around. they crawl in - they don't crawl out.

organic slug bait - no risk of poisoning your pets/kids and no poison on your organic garden. That cory's slug bait will kill your pet if it finds it.t

[nwcw2001]

My brewer-in-law was thinking about binding the dried spent grain with wax and compressing them into logs to burn in his fireplace. Anyone tried that?


Actually, Alaskan Brewing uses the spent grain to run their grain dryer, so it does work as a heat source. I think this might work because it is the same way they build Duraflame logs.

[wildcrafter]

Here is a new update on using spent distillers grains as mulch for gardening.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-07/asfh-ebp070208.php

"Waste not, want not"

[brewbong]

I read someplace that you can now teleport spent grain to Ethiopia, where people eat the stuff. Further, the people of Zimbabwe may also have an interest.

When third world nations compete, you win!

[wildcrafter]

Recent info about distillers grains for beef.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-10/taac-cfd102208.php

[Alex T]

Hey,

I don't know if anyone has mentioned spent grain combustion (biomass combustion). Several projects have been implemented. S&N have already done a project in the UK (think Royal Brewery in Manchester?) and I believe have another on the cards. Heineken also completed a projects in Nigeria and Austria.

Couple of different methods - either co-fire with wood chips, or press moisture out of the grain and then burn. Either way, the brewery takes a big step towards self sufficiency in terms of heat.

Food for thought.....

Cheers,

Alex

[Gregg]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned spent grain combustion (biomass combustion). Several projects have been implemented. S&N have already done a project in the UK (think Royal Brewery in Manchester?) and I believe have another on the cards. Heineken also completed a projects in Nigeria and Austria.

Couple of different methods - either co-fire with wood chips, or press moisture out of the grain and then burn. Either way, the brewery takes a big step towards self sufficiency in terms of heat.


I am interested in this sort of use, but I believe economies of scale would be required to make biomass worthwhile - capital and operational costs would probably be excessive for any typical small brewery - see Alaskan Brewery's project (http://www.probrewer.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=9411&postcount=11) for such a mechanism.

Having said that, there may be an ingenious solution for small-scale operations. Royal is just up the road from me - perhaps I will pop in there.

Gregg

[Matt L]

I've leased out half of my building to a Seattle startup, http://www.bluemarbleenergy.net/, that will take all of my waste products (grain, water, co2) and convert them into energy we will use to feed into the grid and spin our dial backward while netting a range of usable chemicals for their use and sale. Pretty slick arrangement although it's unique at this point to my location b/c they're a startup. You can follow our progress on the Fremont Brewing blog, http://fremontebrewing.blogspot.com/, and get a feel for how it plays out in reality.

Most of these biomass to energy technologies are far out of the range of what craft brewers can afford and we plan to use this technology to advocate for greater subsidies and state commitment to help small manufacturers come together and defray the initial capital costs of this type of technology.

President-elect Obama has made a commitment to support alternative energy technologies and we hope to make a play for some federal grant money also. Yes we can!

Cheers,

Matt
Fremont Brewing Company