Spent Grain Flour

Spent grain can often be a hassle but it can have many environmentally friendly uses. It might not be the easiest or lowest effort way to reuse spent grain, however, turning the grains into flour can be rewarding, interesting and tasty!

PSA: Before you attempt this be prepared for a long drying time, upwards of 8 hours even.

Procedure
Collect as much grain as you can to cover, with a 1/4 inch layer, as many baking sheets as you can fit in your oven. Place them in the oven at 170 to 200F. A food dehydrator may work as well but I am guessing your oven is larger. If you have a convection oven, good for you, it will most likely take much less time. The grain will need to be mixed after a few hours and then a couple more times as it begins to fully dry.

Once your grain is dry, collect and grind it as fine as you can. I used our spice grinder but a grain mill might work, I will try that next time. The spice grinder required me to do many batches and take breaks to avoid overheating the grinder. I am not sure it is possible, at home, to grind the grains in to a true powder, so expect to see a fair amount of grain slivers - they are allowed.

q
Two baking sheets worth of grain was just enough to fill a 32 oz mason jar

A very rough estimate of how much flour will be produced is; about 2 cups per large baking sheet. That is not much but it sure smelled good and will be a great adjunct in my next flour based experiments.

Good luck and happy grinding

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