ok to feed spent grain from brewing beer

[margaritamama]

My spouse and I own a brewery and we always have a lot of spent grain from brewing beer. Can the chickens have some of the spent grain and hops to eat? Thanks for any info!

 

[terimay]

I work at a brewery and bring home spent grain for my girls, THEY GO CRAZY OVER IT. I have to ration it because they will eat too much and get runny poop. To keep it from souring, I just separate it into smaller containers and freeze it, when one container is almost gone I put one from the freezer into the fridge to thaw. My girls come running when they hear the container open, It is their favorite treat...It is also good for the compost if it does sour, your not wasting it if you throw it into the compost pile. I have also heard it is great to toss it right onto the garden, but I have not had any left over to try that, the girls gobble it right down.

The brewery I work for donates their spent grain to a local farmer for his pigs, one of the brewers takes some for his Chickens and I take some for mine. If you have a local brewery, you should ask them about it, if their not donating it, it will end up in the land fill when it could be making your chickens very happy. I am sure they will be very happy to give it to you if they are not giving it to someone already.

 

[wakulla bill]

Took me a while to go through this topic. And maybe I missed a couple things said, but don't give your chickens spent hops. And if for some reason you are adding hops to your mash, don't feed them that grain. Rarely do any recipes call for hops before the mash, so usually no worries. Many vets will say hops are bad for pets. So many varieties of hops to know which might be harmful, no need to risk it.

But the spent grain, oh yeah! And I just freeze it in grocery bags after the mash has cooled, in plastic grocery bags or something. Give them the whole frozen grain ball on a hot summer day, grab a beer and watch some chicken soccer. They will peck at the frozen grain ball, roll it around, chase it around, bits flying off as they peck and the less aggressive chickens will follow and pick up the bits. Takes them a while to work a good sized frozen grain ball. Fun to watch.
~Bobbi(the other half of Bill)

 

[Wonky Woods]

you have the recipe for those doggie cookies? do you refridgerate them after baking or are they shelf stable?

Dog Cookie recipe:
It was 4 cups of spent grain, 2 cups of wheat flour, 2 organic eggs, including the egg shells which I washed before adding to the mix and 1 cup of organic peanut butter. Mixed well in my kitchen aid mixer till the egg shells broke down to little pieces. Roll out small portions using a little flour to keep it from sticking to the counter and rolling pin. I used christmas cookie cutters and placed the dog cookies on cookie sheets (do not spray the cookie sheets). Baked at 350 for 30 mins then turned down the temp to 225 and bake for an additional 2 hours til dry. ( it will depend on how thin or thick you make the cookies as to when they are completely dry) I have them stored in an air lock container and they are nice and crunchy and the dogs love them. I was able to make 160 cookies, some small ones for my chihuahua and some larger ones for my Shiba Chow mix.

 

[Clay Mudd]

It's fine. In fact, I plan to pick some up from my local brewery soon.

http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/ilri/x5490e/x5490e0y.htm

http://www.fao.org/ag/aga/agap/frg/afris/Data/468.HTM


https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=242947

 

[AyeUpChuck]

It's totally fine and no there's no alcohol as you're using grain that's been sparged or steeped to start your wort. No alcohol comes into play until after first fermentation.

 

[dirtbath]

If you need to get rid of some old beer, I know my fridge is always open to that, loL!

 

[Oregon Blues]

Because it is wet, it will spoil quickly. So it needs to be well dried in order to store it.

If you have a brewery, you might need to get a couple of pigs, too, since you are probably producing a lot more grain than your chickens can eat.

There is a local group that raises cattle on brewery grains and sell for premium prices, using clever advertising about how premium their beef is because of the diet.

 

[Marty1876]

 

[Beekissed]

one thing i have noticed is that my hens seem to prefer the grain wet, straight from the brewer over the dried grain. they almost fought each other when i brought it home, they still like it but nowhere the same enthusiasm. any ideas as to why? wondering if i should freeze it instead of drying it

http://www.ajol.info/index.php/ajb/article/viewFile/60378/48610

You really don't have to dry it out before you feed it. If you are storing large amounts, it might be prohibitive to keep it as a moist feed but if you are receiving it, then feeding it, it should be even more beneficial. Read the article for a study done on feeding wet, fermented feeds to pigs and poultry...it's an eye opener.


Quote: The advantages of fermenting feeds can be summarised
from the table as follows;
i.) Reduction in the level of anti-nutrients within the feed.
ii.) Improved bioavailability of minerals (e.g. P, Ca, Mg
and Cu).
iii.) Increase in protein contents (lysine, histidine and
methionine).
iv.) Breakdown of indigestible carbohydrates.

Research on the use of fermented moist feeds on the
performance of chickens is limited. However, some studies
have shown that wet feeding increases the feed
intake and growth rate of chickens (Yalda and Forbes,
1995; Yasar and Forbes, 1999; Mai, 2007). Pre-soaking
of broiler feeds for 12 and 24 h significantly increased dry
matter digestibility and body weight gain in male broilers
(25 - 40 days of age) compared with dry feed (Yalda and
Forbes, 1996). Bacterial fermentation of barley and wheat
whole meal flours with -glucan-degrading LAB has
improved growth and early feed:gain ratio in broiler
chickens (Skrede et al., 2003).