Old grains, now what?

[goatee]

i tried searching forums for an old thread but I found nothing. I must be doing something wrong because I find it hard to believe it hasn’t come up before.
What are they good for? Anyone nearby want mine?

 

[FrostyBeach]

how old are they? How were they stored? Are they crushed?

 

[goatee]

I just finished brewing. They were shipped to me milled

 

[J A]

Chicken feed.
Any milled grains over a few weeks old are better left unused.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Just to buck the trend brulosophy has tested old grain in a side by side exbeeriment which proved in significant.

But id err on the side of caution too and as JA said give the chooks a treat

 

[thunderwagn]

I've used milled grains that I've had for months and made great beer.

 

[Steve SPF]

Wondering if we are talking 'spent' rather than 'old'?

My spent grain goes to a farm and back into the food chain as cattle feed, I really like closing that loop and the cows seem to enjoy it too; particularly if the grains are still warm when I get them there.

 

[goatee]

yes, spent

 

[Bubba Wade]

I feed it to the local possums.

 

[J A]

The "milled" part threw me off...
Spent grains are a different issue. Not the best chicken feed, at least not if you're intending to get eggs. There's some protein and a lot of the carbs are gone but except for a scratching treat, they probably shouldn't be used for the bulk of the feed...layers need a specific diet. Cows, pigs, etc, definitely.

Bake dog treats with them. Put them in the compost pile - they break down pretty quickly.

 

[thunderwagn]

Different scenario now. We feed our spent grains to our chickens and goats. The horses may get a small nibble here and there, and I've made dog treats a few times also. More times than not though the spent grains end up in the composter.

 

[Craigerrr]

We have a "green bin" program here for organic waste. They either compost it, or more likely, they sell it. Anyway, I have an extra bin, in the bin they go, and the dude/dudet pick it up the Wednesday after brew day.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

When I had chickens I would give spent grains to them, they like them best fresh, after they got cold, they ignored them. Now I throw them in the woods for compost, I have caught some rooster pheasants go through them in the woods.

As far as "old" grain, that can be made into a starter wort. I make a 1.080 wort or so from old grains and freeze it in .5 liter and 1 liter containers. When I want to make a starter, I thaw out the wort, dilute with equal parts water and make a starter. It's way cheaper than using DME.

 

[Hawkbox]

Spent grain goes either to livestock, compost, or dumpster really.

 

[Craigerrr]

It's kind of ironic really
We divert all of our organics, and our yard waste away from the landfill site.
This way you see, it is only the really evil and toxic sh*t that goes to landfill.
We somehow need to reverse this procedure!