Spent Grains after on-grain distillation

[klattig]

So we've been lautering & sparging our whiskey & bourbon in our combo tun for about a year now, and are tired of all stuck mashes & low yields.  We're ready to look into fermenting on-grain, and possibly distilling on-grain.  But, we have a nice deal going with a local rancher who takes the spent grains off our hands & feeds them to his cattle.  We're concerned that the cows will not go for grains that have been fermented (no more sweet taste).  And it seems like the grains after distilling would just be nasty after all that cooking.

Are others out there still able to re-purpose their spent grains after fermenting on-grain, or after distilling on-grain?

Thanks!

 

[Hudson bay distillers]

dont worry they will eat the spent grain and drink the stillage just fine , spent grain is usually mixed with fresh grain and silage they wont even notice the difference . 

tim 

[Silk City Distillers]

Distillers grains, wet distillers grains (WDG), distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) - when you are talking about distilling grains, it's nearly always assumed to be post-distillation.

I've eaten a handful.  It's pretty sour.  It's hard to get past the sour.

It might take them a little while to switch over if they are used to eating that candy, usually when they get hungry enough.

[klattig]

1 hour ago, Hudson bay distillers said:

dont worry they will eat the spent grain and drink the stillage just fine , spent grain is usually mixed with fresh grain and silage they wont even notice the difference . 

tim 

Cows drink the stillage?  Seriously?  That stuff seems really nasty!  We've been running it down the drain (after neutralizing the acid & cooling).  What's the nutritional value of it?

[klattig]

1 hour ago, Silk City Distillers said:

Distillers grains, wet distillers grains (WDG), distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) - when you are talking about distilling grains, it's nearly always assumed to be post-distillation.

I've eaten a handful.  It's pretty sour.  It's hard to get past the sour.

It might take them a little while to switch over if they are used to eating that candy, usually when they get hungry enough.

So you don't do any treatment to reduce the acid of the distiller's beer?  We've been boosting the pH a little using CaCO3 - mostly to keep the yeast happy, but also because we don't want pH < 3.0 in the copper still.   A side benefit would be to make the grains a little more palatable for livestock...

 

[indyspirits]

8 hours ago, klattig said:

We've been running it down the drain (after neutralizing the acid & cooling).

Interesting. Our local utility explicitly forbids sending spent grain to waste.  

[Silk City Distillers]

8 hours ago, klattig said:

So you don't do any treatment to reduce the acid of the distiller's beer? 

Pre-distillation?  No, that would directly impact the character of the distillate, by causing ester hydrolysis.  I mean, it might be beneficial in a neutral spirit, but it would mute esters some in a flavored spirit.  We do adjust the pH of the liquid stillage after separating it from the solid stillage, as required by our local sewerage.

[klattig]

3 hours ago, indyspirits said:

Interesting. Our local utility explicitly forbids sending spent grain to waste.  

To be more clear - we lauter out the grain, so we're only putting (treated) liquid stillage down the drain.

So, if we were to distill on-grain, are you saying that livestock will eat both the spent grains & liquids leftover in the still?

[klattig]

On a slightly different topic, how are you cooling the mash before pitching the yeast?  We've been using a "Brutus Pro" counterflow chiller - it works OK, but is slow for our 200-gallon batches, and only works if we have completely grain-free wort.  We've thought about making a really big version of a counterflow ciller, but wondering if there's a better method?

[bluestar]

On 11/3/2017 at 9:40 AM, klattig said:

On a slightly different topic, how are you cooling the mash before pitching the yeast?  We've been using a "Brutus Pro" counterflow chiller - it works OK, but is slow for our 200-gallon batches, and only works if we have completely grain-free wort.  We've thought about making a really big version of a counterflow ciller, but wondering if there's a better method?

We use a much larger stainless version of a counterflow heat exchanger (2"), with a 60 gal/minute centrifugal pump. We use this to both heat and cool a 150 gallon mash. Works okay, should work better with wash than mash, and rye mash is most challenging. The longer the heat exchanger, the more efficiently it runs. Probably still slower than jacket-cooling the mash tun.

[Hudson bay distillers]

ya for sure cattle will drink stillage so do pigs ......google poundmakers agventures 

[Falling Rock]

That was a great reference HBD! Thank you...My cows are literally yards from my distillery and I've been fretting giving them wet stillage verses drying it. Some of the ref says wet is better and at 4.2 ph. I need some dedicated hose...

[HottyToddy77]

my farmer says his cows love the stuff. i only recommended it for his pigs.

another farmer didn't think it was worth the effort so who knows.

[AdriftDistillers]

We store our stillage in totes and let the grain settle for a day or so and siphon off as much liqhid as we can. Then our pig farmer picks up the totes and mixes in dried beet pellets to lower the moisture content. We grind to a cream of wheat - ish consistency. 

[Silk City Distillers]

The beet pulp pellets are a pretty brilliant idea.

[Michaelangelo]

Where are you buying beet pellets?

[AdriftDistillers]

6 hours ago, Michaelangelo said:

Where are you buying beet pellets?

We don't, personally, our farmers buy their own stock. I'll ask them next pick-up, but I'd guess a regular old feed supply store. Sugar beets are a super common crop here in WA.

[Dehner Distillery]

The stillage is super high in protein. Thats why they sell WDG & DDG on the open market. 

[Still_Holler]

We lauter, feed the grain to the cows, then mix the spent stillage with the corn cobs to add fiber (kind of like a soup) in big feeder and cows eat that too.  I guess that only works if you shell each batch of corn like we do.