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5 ways to re-use your spent grains

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General

Brewing can be a pretty expensive hobby and not to mention damaging on the environment. Once the brew day has finished and the cleaning begins, I constantly find myself trying to come up with ways for re-using some of the products such as yeast and grains. I've not yet tried harvesting yeast but that will come soon enough. However, I have tried reusing some of my grains in some food products thanks for Brooklyn Brew Shop and their amazing recipes. 

We've searched high and low across the web for 5 of the most exciting ways to re-use your spent grains at home. Whilst the majority of these are food based, don't let that limit you, as you'll find out, many people are re-using their grains in some amazing ways.

1) Waffles

I'm yet to find anyone who doesn't like waffles. Whether it's for breakfast covered in bacon and syrup or with some fried chicken for lunch, these waffles are amazing and these come courtesy of Brooklyn Brew Shop.

What you need

  • 1/2 cup of Spent Grain Flour
  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 4 eggs (separated)
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

What you do:

1. Heat waffle iron.

2. Combine flours, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.

3. Whisk together egg yolks and sugar. Add milk, vanilla extract, and melted butter, whipping to combine.

4. Using an electric mixer, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form.

5. Combine wet and dry ingredients until just blended. Fold in egg whites.

6. Cook in waffle maker until outside is crispy and interior is cooked through (about 4 minutes). 

Check it out


2) Soap

With many of the larger craft breweries jumping on the soap bandwagon such as Dog fish headStone , it's about time the home brewers joined in. Whilst I haven't tried to make our own soap just yet, the guys over at Never Lacking Zeal have provided a well documented process to help you create your own soap. 

Soap Recipe


3) Spent Grain Pasta

What you need:

What you do

  1. Mound flour mixture in the center of your work surface (a wooden table or cutting board works great). Make a large well in the center of the mound (so it looks like a volcano). Break your eggs into the well and add your olive oil.
  2. Using your fingers (or a fork) break the yolks and and stir gently to start incorporating the flour. Keep stirring to incorporate the flour - and keep one hand at the base to maintain the mound shape. When dough starts to form knead to incorporate the rest of the flour.
  3. Once all flour in incorporated knead for an additional 6-8 minutes until dough is elastic.
  4. Cover in plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
  5. Roll out and shape as you wish. Enjoy!

Check it out


4) Bread

Nothing beats the smell of bread baking in the oven but not only does it smell great, it tastes amazing too. It'll take you a few moments to find a spent grain bread recipe but the recipe from food52 is quite possibly the best i've tried so far. 

Check it out


5) Pizza Dough

Ok, so you're having some buddies over for a few beers and you need to knock up some food. Regardless of the beers you have, you'll be able to put together some beautiful flavour combinations with next to no effort. 

Once again, the guys from the Brooklyn Brew Shop have created a beautiful recipe to make a lovely crispy pizza dough. 

What you need:

  • 1 package active dry yeast (sorry, not ale yeast)
  • 1/2 cup warm water (around 110 degrees F)
  • 1 1/2 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup spent grain, wet
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • olive oil

What you do

  1. In the bowl of a standing mixer, gently mix yeast into water just to combine. Let sit for five minutes and it should start to bubble.

  2. Add the rest of your ingredients to the bowl and knead with a dough hook for 8-10 minutes. (Alternatively, you can use a regular medium sized bowl, simply mix the dough by hand in the bowl, and transfer it to a clean, floured work surface for kneading.)

  3. Remove the dough from the bowl and add a small splash of olive oil to your bowl. Place the dough back in the bowl and turn to coat in olive oil.

  4. Cover with a towel and let rest in a warm spot for 2 hours.

  5. Punch down dough and let rise again for 30 minutes. In the meantime preheat your oven to 475 degrees F (or as high as it will go).

  6. Remove dough from bowl and place it on to a half-sized sheet pan. Using your hands, manipulate the dough to stretch it evenly over the sheet pan surface. Then, finish with sauce, cheese, and other desired toppings.

  7. Bake for 20 minutes, or until crust is evenly browned on the bottom. (Use a spatula to lift up edges of the dough to check.)

 

Check it out