| Author |
Message |
    
Roger Herpst
New Member
Username: Roger456
Post Number: 6
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 09:15 pm: | 
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Hiya
With regard to dispensing of used grain, how many people here compost? Should any special care be taken with regard to procedure?
My only concern is with any remaining sugar, but I don't imagine that there would be enough to pose a problem.
R |
Denny Conn
Senior Member
Username: Denny
Post Number: 4275
Registered: 01-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 09:24 pm: |
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we tried just adding the spent grain directly to the compost, but for some reason I don't recall it didn't work out too well. Now, we put the spent grain in a separate pile and mix a few shovelsfull into a wheelbarrow of compost. My wife (the heavy duty organic gardener in the family)loves the stuff so much, that sometimes she asks me to brew just to get a new batch of spent grain.
LIfe begins at 60...1.060, that is.
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David Woods
Advanced Member
Username: Beericon
Post Number: 512
Registered: 02-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 09:26 pm: |
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My friend does it and he says you got to cover it or it will mold. Other wise, he also says it works great the next year on his tomato plants.
David |
Craig Henry
Member
Username: Sail
Post Number: 169
Registered: 04-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 09:33 pm: |
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Compost it all! I have a bin to keep our the rodents. An active compost pile gets to 180F anyways. Works great. Keep turning the pile you'll have dirt in a less than a year if you keep it turned and balanced. Just don't add meat or bones. I even add all my old coffee grounds and filters. In no time they are gone leaving just dirt. |
Doug Pescatore
Senior Member
Username: Doug_p
Post Number: 1191
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 09:35 pm: |
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I compost just on the other side of my property line. No idea how it is actually working.
-Doug |
Craig Henry
Member
Username: Sail
Post Number: 170
Registered: 04-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 09:36 pm: |
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Keep in mind you have to mix the green and brown to help balance things and promote decomposition. Keep turning it or it will stink and mold. |
Busted Still Brewery
Advanced Member
Username: Brewlabs
Post Number: 717
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 09:46 pm: |
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I threw some spent grains on my garden and it molded like crazy! |
J. Steinhauer
Advanced Member
Username: Jstein6870
Post Number: 506
Registered: 03-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 11:24 pm: |
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I tried it once in Birmingham. It stunk up the whole neighborhood within 48 hours. I started doing it again here, and the local wildlife has it taken care of in 48 hours. |
Mike Mayer
Intermediate Member
Username: Mmayer
Post Number: 372
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 12:08 am: |
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I do 10 gallon batches, and compost every last bit of grain. My only problems are:
1. My 3 golden retrieivers break into the compost bin and eat the grain. This translates into regularity problems.
2. My wife get's mad when I dump the grain in when it's still hot. She likes it to be used as compost, but believes that the hot grain kills all the critters that do the composting. I've done it enough now to know it's not true, but when she's home, I just make sure everything is cold.
3. Skunks love grain....not a problem unless the dogs are out there with the skunk |
Jeff Preston
Junior Member
Username: Jeffpreston
Post Number: 58
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 04:13 am: |
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As long as you turn the pile you should be fine. |
Joe Alf
Intermediate Member
Username: Joea
Post Number: 259
Registered: 08-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 04:16 am: |
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Good one Doug'
I use it as a mulch,spread it real thin so it drys before it starts to stink. |
Jonathan Koehler
Junior Member
Username: Santium
Post Number: 37
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 05:07 am: |
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I compost the hot grain straight from the mashtun and it works great. The last time I brewed, I just dumped in the whole wet mess and forgot about it for a couple of days. When I opened the lid to the composter, it smelled like tennessee whiskey...not to mention the incredible number of worms wriggling around in the stuff. After I stirred it in to the rest of the pile, it seemed normal. I'll make sure to incorporate it into the old stuff from now on. |
Joe DiBenedetti
Junior Member
Username: Docwino
Post Number: 35
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 12:50 pm: |
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My father-in-law recycles his grain through his chickens. Chickens will eat anything---no muss, no fuss, no composting. A word of warning, when using chicken manure in the garden use it sparingly----It's hot! |
Paul Edwards
Advanced Member
Username: Pedwards
Post Number: 588
Registered: 03-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 01:26 pm: |
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I dump spent grains and spent hops into our compost pile. We compost all our leaves in the fall, and add vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc, from the kitchen every couple of days.
My wife has some sort of compost turning tool she uses on the pile every so often to keep things mixed up. |
Dan Listermann
Advanced Member
Username: Listermann
Post Number: 904
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 02:02 pm: |
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I compost grain from my 1.5 BBL system. This means about 85 pounds at a time. I found out that I have to work it into the existing compost and sprinkle powdered lime on it or it will stink of carrion. It get so bad one time I could smell it inside a building about 100 feet away. I don't need a neighbor calling the police to complain about a dead body smell.
The lime and bury treatment seems to work fine.
Dan Listermann |
Joseph Listan
Advanced Member
Username: Poonstab
Post Number: 541
Registered: 03-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 02:56 pm: |
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>>I don't need a neighbor calling the police to complain about a dead body smell.
Why? Are you hiding a dead body?  |
Arthur
Junior Member
Username: Arthur
Post Number: 50
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 03:15 pm: |
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Buy a heifer or a piglet and fatten it up for October slaughter. A cattle ranger friend of mine has a neighbhor whose cattle consume spent grain from the nearby Anheuser-Busch brewery. Weird...I wouldn't think there is much nutritional value left in spent grain. |
davidw
Advanced Member
Username: Davidw
Post Number: 926
Registered: 03-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 03:25 pm: |
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Protien and fiber. |
Bill Pierce
Moderator
Username: Billpierce
Post Number: 2421
Registered: 01-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 03:59 pm: |
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Arthur, most brewery spent grain is recycled for animal feed. As davidw notes, it has quite a bit of protein and a lot of fiber. All of the brewpubs and microbreweries I know have a relationship with a local farmer or rancher.
(Message edited by BillPierce on February 24, 2005) |
Pete Mazurowski
Junior Member
Username: Pete_maz
Post Number: 54
Registered: 07-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 05:25 pm: |
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mmmmmmmm...just what most cows need. More FIBER! |
Ken Anderson
Advanced Member
Username: Ken75
Post Number: 723
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 05:32 pm: |
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This might tie in with that clean-up poll thread, but sometimes I compost in my mashtun. |
Adam W
Intermediate Member
Username: Adam_w
Post Number: 425
Registered: 03-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 05:45 pm: |
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News flash:
Spent grain doesn't really have that much protein. It's mostly fiber.
Cows have mutiple stomachs for a reason, they are basically a microorganism production line. All the "critters" in their stomachs break down the fiber into metabolizable products.... |
Joseph Listan
Advanced Member
Username: Poonstab
Post Number: 542
Registered: 03-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 06:12 pm: |
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And here's where it ends up when the cows are done with it:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050223/ap_on_fe_st/manur
e_pile |
Roger Herpst
New Member
Username: Roger456
Post Number: 7
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 06:35 pm: |
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Well, I had a pile sitting in the yard for a rainy week, and added to it last weekend. When I went to mix in some fresh soil on tuesday, it was pretty stinky but not overwhelmingly so and a bit o mold.
I mixed the grain in with an equal amount of top soil and let it go.
Is the mold a problem for composting? |
Craig Henry
Member
Username: Sail
Post Number: 172
Registered: 04-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 08:04 pm: |
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Mold is part of composing. |
Chumley
Senior Member
Username: Chumley
Post Number: 2799
Registered: 02-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 09:06 pm: |
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I probably compost about a third of my grains. Too much grain overwhelms my wife's compost pile. Maybe I brew too much.
It is worthy to note that if you dump your grains in the trash, they will end up in a landfill. Adding compostable material to a landfill is a good thing (better than plastic, glass, metal, and other things that don't break down.) |
Wayne Faris
Junior Member
Username: Bugeaterbrewing
Post Number: 67
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Friday, February 25, 2005 - 03:30 am: |
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I guess I have to begin composting now. Our pigs went off to slaughter earlier this week. My problem is that February in Nebraska is a bad time to begin composting. |
Paul Hayslett
Advanced Member
Username: Paulhayslett
Post Number: 662
Registered: 02-2002
| | Posted on Friday, February 25, 2005 - 04:28 am: |
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I compost it all. As others have said, it attracts skunks, which stink up the yard, and my dog, who then stinks up my office (ain't nothing worse than sharing a small office with a flatulent greyhound). And all by itself it stinks to high heaven if just dumped and left in a pile. But a good mixing into the rest of the pile solves all problems, plus turns the pile into a freaking worm factory. My wife's garden has never looked better. |
Roger Herpst
New Member
Username: Roger456
Post Number: 8
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Friday, February 25, 2005 - 05:58 am: |
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Helpful thread. Thanks everybody. I'm going down to the bait shop this weekend for bait and compost worms, so I should be getting some nice dirt this year. All the weird tangents that come up in this hobby are pretty amazing...
R |
Brews and Views Archive 2005 
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