Spent Grain 'Shelf Life'

[alwilson]

Hi Guys,

I'm thinking of putting up an ad on freecycle, in case anyone wants my spent grain... but 5kg at a time hardly seems worth it, can the spent grain be stored, if so how long for? so that the person can pick it up, say monthly, rather than weekly?

Alex

[boingy]

If you leave it lying around wet and at garage temperatures it will be mouldy within days. I think the only way to keep it for a month is to dry it or freeze it. The one attempt I had to dry it by spreading it out on a tarp on a warm day just seemed to accelerate the mould.

Now I freeze it all in small bags to feed to my chickens but it does take up quite a bit of freezer space. And the chickens love it.
5kg is not much for pigs or cattle but will feed quite a few chickens so you should be able to find someone happy to collect it pronto.

[Invalid Stout]

And it will stink to high heaven long before it goes mouldy. Don't keep it about any longer than you have to. I try to get rid of mine within 24 hours, especially in summer.

[Kev888]

I tried spreading some out on the garden after a brew, thinking it could be a sort of mulch. But even though it was in fresh air it had thick candyfloss-style white mould growing all over it within days - not pleasant at all.

Cheers
Kev

[smdjoachim]

I put the add on freecycle a couple of days before brewing,when i get a reply i tell them to come round on brewday to pick the grain up.

[Beer O'Clock]

I put an add in Freecycle and got no takers. In the meantime the rats had got to it and I had an unholy mess on my hands.

Lessons learnt ?

1) Put add in before brew day.
2) Don't store in a garbage bag alone.
3) Store somewhere else.

[Wolfy]

No need to give away your spent grain if you can use it to power the brewhouse:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/03 ... n=daily_nl