Peanut Butter Spent Grain Dog Treats

Last spring, Jay and I began to brew all grain. All we were doing with the spent grain at the time, was throwing them in the compost pile. That wasn't a bad solution back then (since we were using the compost on our hop plants), but I needed to find something to do with them now that I am brewing at home again. It isn't practical to drive twenty minutes to dispose of spent grains, and just throwing them in the trash just seemed like a waste.



Even though I don't have as many grains any more since I've switched to only doing partial mash (I just don't have the time or space for all grain) I had to find something to do with them. I started to do some research and I read a couple of posts in forums about people making dog treats out of them. I have a dog and I have spent grains. Seems like a match made in heaven. I modified the recipes I found a bit since most of them called for an all purpose flour, which contains wheat and is a common allergen for some dogs, so I substituted a cup of brown rice flour and a cup of oat flour for that.

The recipe goes like this:
4 cups spent grain
1 cup oat flour
1 cup rice flour
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix all of the ingredients thoroughly and spread out on a cookie sheet coated in cooking spray. Cook for 15 minutes, remove from oven and cut into pieces, then return to oven for 15 more minutes. Lower temperature to 250 F and continue to cook for 2 more hours, or until completely dry. If the treats are not completely dry, there is a possibility that mold will grow.

Here are a couple pictures of what you can expect:





In the future I plan on trying a couple variations of this recipe, perhaps by adding some honey or carob chips. If it seems to turn out okay, and passes the Indiana test, I'll post the results up here.

Primary: American Pale Ale
Secondary: Rye-rish Red Ale