Note: this post includes a lot of links to The Home Brewery Store, which is our local brew store--like, it's literally a block from our house. But they also sell online through their website and Amazon. We don't receive any compensation from them, we just really like all of their products, and think they are great people. Their kits are all fantastic and will make you a great batch of beer.
The Hubs recently made the switch to all-grain brewing instead of extract brewing. If you're not a brewer, here's the nutshell version:
You need malt to make beer. Malt is created by pulling the starch out of grains and converting it into fermentable sugar. In extract brewing, someone has already soaked the grains to make malt, and then condensed/dehyrated it into a bag, that you can just add to water with your other ingredients.
This method is quicker (total brew time of about 2-3 hours with sanitization and cleanup), but more expensive--because you're paying for convenience. For example, the last extract brew we did was a replica Schlafly Pale Ale, and all the ingredients cost us about $75, for 5 gallons (roughly 50 bottles of beer, or $1.50/each, just in ingredients). Most home brew stores sell kits that include malt extract, and the kits range from $25-$50 for 5 gallons worth of beer.
In all-grain brewing, you buy grains (cheaper), grind/crack them, and then soak them yourself to make your own malt. This is less expensive, but your total brew time (with sanitization and cleanup) goes up to about 5-7 hours. Since switching to all-grain, our average cost per 5 gallon batch is closer to $20, and you have a lot more freedom in customizing how you want your beer to look/taste, vs. using a kit.
And...it also means you now have about 10-12 pounds of "spent" (used) grains to get rid of, once you've gotten all the sugars you need from them. And you're left with this:
Note: this is a mix of barley and corn, for a light lager.
Damp, high-fiber grains with most of their natural sugars removed--but most of the protein does NOT leach out of them in the cooking process, so they do still have some nutritional value.
What do you do with it?
Well, if you have chickens, or friends who have chickens, you can put the still-damp grains into gallon freezer bags, freeze them, and thaw as you need to use as chicken feed. You do have to keep them cold or frozen otherwise they'll go rancid. I've been giving most of our spent grains to my coworker and she says her chickens went NUTS for it.
Or, you can spread the grains on a cookie sheet and dry them in a low-temp oven (200F) for a few hours, then put them in a blender or food processor to make spent grain flour that can be used in all kinds of recipes. This sounds like a great idea, but because it involves multiple steps, and I'm lazy, I've not done it.
OR...you can scour the interwebs for recipes that use fresh, still-damp spent grains, no extra processing needed. And find one. This one.
FYI, I love these cookies SO much. They're soft and moist and a little cakey, but with lots of flavor and texture from the coconut and pecans. And the spent grain makes them high in natural fiber and gives them a little extra protein. (Note: recipe below has been modified slightly from the original.)
INGREDIENTS:
- 5 Tbsp butter, softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses or Steen's Cane Syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1.5 cups damp spent grain
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup coconut
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Cream together the sugars and butter, then add the egg and vanilla. Then add in the dry ingredients. Fold in the pecans and coconut last using a spatula.
Scoop onto a lined cookie sheet (I like these silicone cooking mats, but parchment paper works just as well) and bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool and enjoy! (These are great warm or room temp). Store in an airtight container for up to 7 days.
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