Uses for spent grains

[Joeman48]

Hello all. Hope I'm not rehashing an old topic, but would like advice on uses for spent grains. Been composting, however been noticing changes to my garden vegetables. Mostly blight on tomato plants. Unrelated issue? Anyone else have issues, or advice on other uses for spent grains? Thanks for your time!

[seamusm53]

Hello all. Hope I'm not rehashing an old topic, but would like advice on uses for spent grains. Been composting, however been noticing changes to my garden vegetables. Mostly blight on tomato plants. Unrelated issue? Anyone else have issues, or advice on other uses for spent grains? Thanks for your time!

I have also thrown spent grains in my compost pile. True to form they're 'spent' - even the bugs seem to ignore them. I could imagine plant damage given how acidic this material is if you directly used this around growing plants but I am not sure chemical injury is properly called blight. In my own currently growing compost pile I won't likely spread it around (mixed with coffee grounds and myriad other organic material) for a year or two but I have lots of space and time to waste.

[Pikey]

The old boys never used to allow tater peelings on the compost heap for fear of blight. Blight begets blight - it is fungal. I would expect it comes from composting blighted plants. WHere it came from in the first place, I don't know but to avoid it you now shoud use fresh ground.

I don't know whether the potato and tomato blights are the same organism, but tomato and potato are the same family.

I don't think your spent grain is implicated here

[zapata]

I compost spent grains and am a bonafide compost nerd. Might know more about compost than I do distilling. Blight doesn't come from composting grains, 100%.

Now, I did have a bad year for tomato blight myself. Pretty much only 3 good approaches; resistant hybrids, rotation and soil sterilization. This year I know it's my fault. I've done 2 good years of maters in the same patch, but this year I pushed for a third. And I only grow heirlooms which have shit resistance. So I'm either swearing off this patch for 3 years, which sucks because it's my favorite place to see tomatoes, or I'm solarizing the soil AND skipping it for a year. Haven't quite decided which, if I get the free time I might try to solarize soon, but it's a little late in the season for it and it ties it up for my other favorite thing to see here, a fall lettuce patch.

Here's an interesting tidbit. Best thing you can do for soil after it's been sterilized is make sure it has a healthy micro herd. And the best way to do that? Lots and lots of good living compost, including composted spent grains.

Blight, at least fusarium, prefers acidic soil, so your grains are acidic, and if your compost is acidic, it certainly won't retard it. But ph management is necessary for any compost, any soil, any plant, so I don't think it's a problem specific to grain. You can readily test it and adjust with whatever suits. I throw a lot of egg shells and a fair bit of oyster shells in my compost and don't usually need to do much else to it. But when I hit up coffee shops for all their grinds to get a pile going good and hot I do make sure to add some lime too.

But for the most part, grain are a very small part of a compost pile. For a good hot pile, you need a MINIMUM of a cubic yard. Most grains after mashing should only have about 20-30% of their starting mass leftover. It's a drop in the bucket to the other pile ingredients unless you have a commercial distillery.

[dukethebeagle120]

i give mine to cattle down the road
they love it

[still_stirrin]

Interesting bit zapata. Thanks for that insight.

I have very sandy soil here, so I incorporate spent grains into the "beach" to help build organic material. I also incorporate leaf clippings (finely chopped by the mower), so the acidification of the spent grains is beneficial to help break down the materials. I know earthworms love it...huge and populated. That's a good sign the soil pH is in the proper range, right?

Who'd have thought that we would learn farming while we learn brewing? And distilling...
ss

[Joeman48]

Thanks for the great info. Have considered solarizing soil as well. Sorry if this is off topic...

[pounsfos]

spent grains make good bread.

Good chicken/ farm feed

if your hunting, put a pile somewhere and wait for the animals to show up, easy hunting

lots of uses

[Pikey]

spent grains make good bread.

Do they ?

[der wo]

spent grains make good bread.

Do they ?

Yes. But you need a trick:

[Truckinbutch]

I spread my spent grains in many different places on the farm with various benefits .
I also shove solid copper wires in the soil around my tomato plants to combat blight . That seems to help .

[panikry83]

If you have dogs, spent barley grains and peanut butter can be combined and baked into treats for them - in moderation. I'd imagine with some additional ingredients, they'd make decent cookie bars for humans as well.

[bilgriss]

https://brooklynbrewshop.com/blogs/them ... ie-recipes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Joeman48]

Thanks for the link! Gotta try a cpl of those.

[Reverend Newer]

I used spent grains to feed the chickens, have a trough I pour it into... chickens will eat anything, including meat.

Usually plants are short of a vital nutrient to fall prey to disease. We've always added magnesium, calcium and phosphorous to our compost to our compost mixes, but adding more sulfur to the soil and as a direct spray to tomato plants could help. Potash from a wood fire is a wonderful source of potassium and a great addition to the compost heap if possible. Heirloom genetics rather than a severely-hybridized tomato plant could help thwart disease as well.

Best of luck on all fronts!