Does anyone feed their chickens spent grains from beer brewing?

[Kitty&Eva]

We just started home brewing and are making our first batch of India pale ale right now!

Brewing 5-6 gallons of this recipe produces a pound or so of spent grain - malted barley, which is barley that has been germinated, then dried (and now is wet after steeping them)

I just gave a little bit of the malted barley to the chickens and they love it! I read online that big breweries give or sell their waste for cattle feed, but haven't seen anything about feeding it to chickens.

Has anyone done this? I think it must be fine for them, as long as it's not rotten.

I have heard that spent hops (used in brewing for flavor) can harm dogs - so I won't take any chances on feeding that part to the flock!

 

[healingdeva]

I have in my notes (from who knows where) that it is acceptable to give those grains to the chickens. I would make sure they still had a balanced diet with the grains, knowing that some of the nutrients are now in the beer. Otherwise, there would be nothing wrong with them so long as they are fresh from the brewing process.

Victoria

 

[fullhouse]

I don't think chickens can have hops, but I don't see why not the rest.

 

[Kitty&Eva]

thanks for the replies!
they have been enjoying the spent barley in moderation... and hopefully we will be enjoying our beer in a few weeks!

 

[Jashdon]

I haven't had a chance to brew a batch of beer since we've had the chickens, probably because I'm so busy feeding and cleaning up after them, but I was thinking that it would be a great way to get rid of the by products. I usually just compost it but processing it into chicken poop would be even better. Let me know how it goes, I was curious about this as well!

 

[Eggseronious]

Dried brewers grains are a medium level protein feedstuff used in various animal feeds. They are an excellent source of high quality by-pass protein and digestible fiber. Dried brewers grains have a good amino acid, mineral and B-vitamin content. If it contain around 3% dried hops the feed will run something like this. Crude protein 24%, fat 5%, fiber 15%, calcium .6%, phosphorus 1%, Total Digestible Nutrients 70%, Net energy .72 mcal/lb. The small amount you are feeding should be no problem.

 

[The Rancho]

My husband home brews and we give it to our chickens. They love it! We do avoid the hops. we actually dry the grain out after brewing so we can mix it w/other grains for r own blend of scratch. It works great and saves money.

 

[Krisbean]

I just received some spent grain from a local brewery. Im trying to dry some of it out in my dehydrator but, I am wondering how anyone else is drying it out???? I only picked up a small bucket full but, would love to pick up more if I can dry it out

 

[karlamaria]

We get spent grain from the man who lives across from us, and my girls go nuts! Been feeding it to my girls as a treat for over a year and there very healthy and happy. I get a five gallon bucket of it and i freeze it and open a 1 gallon bag at least 4 days a week for my girls. First there feed, then the goodies,

 

[ronmauldin]

Bet it makes a delicious bread for people, too.