Spent-Grain Dog Treats

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All-grain brewing generates spent grains, and it can be a challenge to deal with them outside of tossing them in the trash. Composting the grains seems to be the best course for my household, although during times of frequent brewing that’s a lot of grain going into the compost barrel. Spent-grain bread is unsatisfying to me, too, because the husks make the product coarser than is really appetizing. So, dog treats are my go-to kitchen use for spent grains.

Hazel, Brew Dog Number One, expectantly awaiting a fresh spent-grain dog treat

First, some notes. Hops are very toxic to dogs, so you should never use the grains from anything that had mash-hopping or any other cases where hops might have gotten mixed in with the grains. Second, a little bit of spent grain goes a long way in this recipe. So, dog treats will never be a primary destination for spent grains resulting from a typical batch, unless you are making industrial quantities. Think of it as a fun novelty and something to do as a post-brew activity. If you have kids around, they might love helping!

This recipe is identical to others floating around out there; my version is based on one posted by the Crafty Beer Girls, hosted at the Red Rock Brewing website. The original version creates a ridiculous quantity, so I halved it and still got more than 40 individual treats. Although these are relatively healthy, we try not to load our dog up with too many treats, so a single batch lasts a long time for us.

Spent-Grain Dog Treats

  • 2 cups spent grain
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour (plus extra for rolling out the dough)
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 1 egg

Procedure

  • On brew day, I set aside a few cups of spent grain. The grains will keep for up to a week or so in the fridge, but shouldn’t be held longer than that.
  • I preheat the oven to 350°.
  • In a large bowl, I mix the ingredients by hand until the texture is uniform. Then, I split the dough in half and roll each half out on a floured counter or baking mat. The peanut butter makes things somewhat sticky, so the flour is definitely a must.
  • I roll the dough fairly thin, between 1/4 and 1/2 inch max.
  • Using a cookie cutter, I cut out the treats. I like a medium-sized bone shape, but it doesn’t much matter. I do like to avoid any shapes that have sharp edges or corners, just to make them easier or the dog to munch on. It all depends on the size of the dog that will be doing the eating!
  • I place the treats on a baking sheet; these treats do not expand during cooking, so you can place them super close together. There is no need to grease the baking sheet, either; the peanut butter takes care of that.
  • Any scraps left after cutting can get combined and re-rolled, to use up all of the dough.
  • Bake the treats at 350° for 30 minutes, before dropping the oven to 225° and baking another 2 hours. This dries out the treats and gets them ready for storage.
  • Once the treats are done, pull them from the oven and let them cool. They’re ready to eat now! Extras can be kept in an air-tight container or freezer bag. I store them at room temperature, and they keep for months.
  • Depending on the size to which you cut the treats, you can get 40 to 60 pieces out of a single batch.

Images above show my most recent batch of treats from mixing (upper left), rolling (upper right), waiting to bake (right), and a few examples of the finished product (bottom). This particular grist was from a pilsner that was 96% pilsner malt and 4% CaraFoam.

Spicy Brown Mustard

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When I think German beer, I think German bratwurst…and then I think sauerkraut and mustard. I’ve never been completely satisfied with store-bought mustard, even the fancy stuff, and so have perfected my own recipe over the last few years. The result is in-your-face, with a fantastic spicy kick from the mustard seeds. I find it interesting that it comes across as horseradish-like, without a single bit of horseradish root.

The recipe is heavily based on a version from The Spruce Eats, but subbing in all brown mustard seed instead of a mix of brown and yellow. I took additional inspiration in the spicing from a recipe at Serious Eats. On the one hand, it’s a fair bit of ingredients; on the other hand, the spices give a complexity that straight-up mustard seeds would not give. I used to add the spices to the simmered liquid ingredients, but for my latest batch I just put them in with the mustard seed and mustard powder. I think I like this revision a bit better, because the aromatics from the spices don’t boil off as much.

The recipe yields around a pint of processed mustard; the mustard seeds swell a surprising amount! The mustard keeps very well in the fridge.

Spicy Brown Mustard

Add to bowl:

  • 1/4 cup + 3 tbs brown mustard seeds
  • 1/4 cup dry mustard powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Boil for 10 minutes:

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
  • 1 small onion, coarsely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

Pour the hot liquid over the mustard seeds and mustard powder; stir, cover, and let this mixture sit for 24 hours. It will swell and increase in volume a fair bit. Next, blend the mixture to preferred consistency (I use a stick blender), put it in jars, and refrigerate. Let the mustard sit for at least two days before using (three is better); the mustard has an initial unpleasant bitterness that disappears pretty quickly.

Levitation Ale Homage

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I like my session beers, and I’m always looking for something creative and interesting. This is the core philosophy of Stone Brewing, so I was excited to see a recipe for their Levitation Ale. I’m not sure I’ve ever sampled it “in the wild,” but a session amber ale sounded pretty neat.

A few versions of Levitation Ale are floating around, and I used a version from Jennifer Talley’s Brewing Session Beers book. My version is a parallel rather than a clone, with some different hops and malts. The original recipe called for crystal 75, so I mixed crystal 60 and crystal 80, tilting towards the former because I was running low on the latter. I also adjusted the hops, so that I had Mt. Hood and Mandarina Bavaria, rather than Simcoe and Crystal. I also dropped the black malt, because it made the beer too dark. Finally, I used WLP001 versus an English ale yeast. With all of those changes, I should definitely deem this an homage (a la Denny Conn) rather than a clone. Either way, it was an interesting beer.

Levitation Ale Homage

  • 8.5 lb. 2-row malt (Briess)
  • 12.5 oz. caramel malt 60L (Briess)
  • 12 oz. caramel malt 120L (Briess)
  • 1.4 oz. caramel malt 80L (Briess)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB (mash)
  • 0.7 oz. Magnum hop pellets (12.6% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 oz. Amarillo hop pelletrs (10.4% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Mandarina Bavaria hop pellets (6.7% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
  • 1 oz. Mt Hood hop pellets (4.0% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
  • 1 pkg. American West Coast Ale Yeast (Lallemand BRY-97)
  • 1.5 oz. Amarillo hop pellets (10.4% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

  • 1.046 s.g., 1.011 f.g., 4.5% abv, 48 IBU, 15 SRM
  • Full volume infusion mash, held at 154° for 60 minutes and 165° for 10 minutes
  • Claremont tap water adjusted to hit 72 ppm Ca, 12 ppm Mg, 87 ppm Na, 127 ppm SO4, 110 ppm Cl, 156 ppm bicarbonate, RA=69

Procedure

  • I started with 7.75 gallons of water, treated with a Campden tablet and 4 g gypsum, heated to 159° before mash-in. I added the BrewTanB just before adding the grains, and then added 6 mL of 88% lactic acid to adjust the mash pH.
  • I held the mash at 154° for 60 minutes, with recirculation, before raising to 165° for a 10 minute mash-out. Then, I pulled the grains and brought the runnings to a boil.
  • I collected 6.9 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.039, for 72% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops and other finings per the schedule. The boil was 90 minutes long total, so the first hop addition wasn’t until 30 minutes in.
  • After the full 90 minute boil, I turned off the heat and added the whirlpool hops, whirlpooling for 10 minutes at just below boiling. Of course, it chilled down into the 180s relatively quickly.
  • After the whirlpool finished, I removed the hops and continued chilling.
  • I transferred the wort to the fermenter, chilled down to 68°, and pitched the yeast.
  • Starting gravity was 1.050. I brewed the beer on 24 August 2024.
  • I kegged the beer on 4 September 2024, with a final gravity of 1.014 for 4.8% abv. I added the dry hops in a bag, intending to remove them after a few days and add gelatin. Unfortunately, I forgot that they would sink, and so I couldn’t recover them. Ah well.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Deep amber beer with moderate haze; persistent but thin ivory head
  • Aroma
    • Light caramel malt notes with a good dose of citrus. a touch of pine
  • Flavor
    • Medium caramel malt flavor, against a strong orange/citrus and moderate pin character from the hops. Delicious! Medium-high bitterness.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light body, moderate carbonation, slightly dry, somewhat thin finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This is a wonderful session amber ale, bursting with hop flavor and aroma. The haze is a minor flaw, but the flavor and aroma totally make up for it. I would love to try this with the original malt and hop combos, to see how it is. I might also add the black patent back in, to darken the beer. The malt body comes across as a little thin, so for a future version I might try Vienna or Maris Otter instead of plain 2-row, and/or mash at a higher temperature. Overall, this is a very drinkable beer!
  • Overall
    • 8/10

Beam Me Up Pale Ale 2024

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I love pale ales, and I love this recipe! I made this last year and decided to give it another try. I upped the hops a touch to get a little more bitterness, and the malt brands are slightly different. Either way, it’s basically the same beer – simple grist, simple hops, simple yeast.

Beam Me Up Pale Ale

  • 12 lb. 2-row pale malt (Briess)
  • 0.5 lb. Viking caramel 100 (crystal 40) malt – (Viking)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, in mash
  • 2.0 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.5% estimated alpha acid), 60 minute boil
  • 1.0 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.5% estimated alpha acid), 15 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 2.0 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.5% estimated alpha acid), 5 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. BRY-97 (Lallemand)

Target Parameters

  • 1.057 s.g., 1.015 f.g., 5.5% abv, 55 IBU, 6 SRM
  • Full volume mash, 156° for 60 minutes, 168° mash-out for 10 minutes
  • Claremont tap water adjusted with lactic acid

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 7.6 gallons of water at 162°, to hit a target rest of 156°. I added 5.5 mL of 88% lactic acid to adjust the pH.
  • I recirculated for 60 minutes during the mash, raising it to 168° for a 10 minute mash-out.
  • After the mash, I removed the grains. In total, the mash yielded 6.6 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.047, for 67% mash efficiency.
  • Once the runnings were boiling, I added hops and kettle finings per the recipe. After 60 minutes, I turned off the heat and chilled to 82° and transferred the wort to the fermenter. I continued chilling down to 66° before pitching the yeast, holding the fermenter at 66° for the primary fermentation.
  • I brewed the beer on 17 August 2024. Starting gravity was 1.057.
  • I kegged the beer using a closed transfer, on 1 September 2024. Final gravity was 1.013, for 5.8% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Deep gold beer, clear, with a fairly persistent white head
  • Aroma
    • Slight caramel malty note, and a moderate citrus aroma. It has a very orange-like quality.
  • Flavor
    • Medium bitterness, with a floral orange quality. Light caramel maltiness. This is a tasty beer!
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, moderate level of carbonation, smooth and slightly dry finish.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • This is a wonderful American pale ale recipe! I see no need to make any changes – it’s just plain tasty. The citrus character is fantastic!
  • Overall
    • 10/10

Alstadt Altbier 2.2

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I love it when I have honed a house recipe, and altbier is one of my annual favorites. This is largely similar to what I made previously; the 2024 version is my fifth brew of the recipe! Compared to last year, I altered the CaraMunich addition to include a blend of Caramel Munich 60L (Briess) and Caramunich II, versus just Caramunich I as I did last year. Because the 2023 version was a bit harsh on bitterness, I swapped out the Magnum hops and went with Spalt alone for the hop additions. Finally, I used a blend of K-97 and Köln dry yeasts; sadly, Köln’s days are numbered in my brewery, because it has been discontinued by Lallemand.

Alstadt Alt 2.2

  • 6.5 lb. pilsner malt (Rahr)
  • 1.5 lb. Munich I malt (Weyermann)
  • 1.5 lb. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 lb. Caramel Munich 60L (Briess)
  • 0.5 lb. Caramunich II malt (Weyermann)
  • 2 oz. Carafa Special I malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 2.0 oz. Spalt Spalter hop pellets (4.3% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1.0 oz. Spalt Spalter hop pellets (4.3% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Köln Kölsch Style Ale Yeast (Lallemand)
  • 1 pkg. SafAle German Ale yeast K-97 (Fermentis)

Target Parameters

  • 1.048 s.g., 1.011 f.g., 4.9% abv, 35 IBU, 14 SRM
  • 60 minute infusion mash, full volume, 152°
  • Claremont tap water treated with Campden tablet

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 7.5 gallons of water at 157°, to hit a mash temperature of 152°. I added 4 mL of 88% lactic acid and held the mash here (with recirculation) for 60 minutes, before raising to 168° for the 10 minute mash-out.
  • After removing the grain basket, I had 6.5 gallons of wort with a gravity of 1.043, for an efficiency of 71%.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding malt and finings per the recipe. After the 60 minute boil, I chilled to 80° and transferred to the fermenter. I let it chill a bit down to 60° in the fermentation chamber, before pitching the yeast and setting the fermentation temperature to 64°. I ended up using a mix of yeast, because the K-97 was a year past expiration.
  • I brewed the beer on 11 August 2024, and it had a starting gravity of 1.051.
  • I let the beer free-rise to 66° on 22 August 2024, when I started fermenting a pale ale. Finally, I let the beer finish at ambient on 22 August, around 75° to 80°.
  • I kegged the beer on 23 August 2024, and it had a final gravity of 1.011. This works out to 5.3% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Deep copper color, very clear, with a fine and reasonably persistent ivory colored head.
  • Aroma
    • Bread crust malt aroma at the front, along with dark caramel. A slight touch of spicy hop aroma.
  • Flavor
    • Relatively bitter beer; malt flavor is of dark breadcrest and rich mattiness. I pick up some dried fruit character, from the malt/yeast interplay.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, medium carbonation, slightly dry finish.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • This remains a wonderful althier recipe, despite slight tweaks over the years. It took a bit of time to clear, but is now fantastic! I love this beer!
  • Overall
    • 10/10