Help! Mash in the Trash! (Waste Removal)

[UltraMN]

Hi guys!

I live in a NYC apartment, and made my first batch of AG. (Actually It's my first brew, and I malted my own barley

Got an issue.....

How to get rid of the waste?

After Lautering, I put my mash in the trash, and it leaked.
I dug it out of the trash, and put it into two garbage bags triple bagged tied really tight. I went to bed.

THEN!!

I woke up, my trash bags are puffed up with CO2, the gosh darn mash waste has entered primary lambic fermentation. I am afraid they are going to explode.

So I just put them in the freezer, but am afraid this is only a temporary solution.
This is the dead middle of summer, so as soon as they melt, the ferment will begin again, they'll probably explode on the street before the garbage man picks them up.

Any suggestions? Should I go to the country and pitch it in the bushes, is that the only way?

Thanks!

 

[doghousechef]

try this:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/resources/prod_serv_composting_foodwastedropoffs.shtml

 

[Resto3]

Just put then in the garbage!! Don't worry about them exploding especially once in the garbage can poke a few holes in them with a knife. Next time brew the day before garbage pick up!!

 

[abrdnck]

I've done some research on making prison wine, which usually uses a garbage bag for a primary fermenter. It is recommended to attach some sort of escape method for the CO2, like attach a straw somehow when you tie off the bag. This helps prevent the bag from bursting.

I'm afraid that I can't share the recipe of my juice crystal/ketchup/strawberry jam/bread mold Merlot, though.

 

[UltraMN]

Thanks for the info on NYC food waste removal sites! That might just be the answer.

As far as brewing the day before pickup, afraid I can't (yet) go that route, it took me two full days of work (Sat/Sun) to make the brew I'm worn out, but until I get much faster this process (and maybe get a larger brewpot), it is going to be a whole weekend affair.

I have to work today, so I'm going to leave it in the freezer for a little while. I just had some ideas for my next batch, maybe I could roast the mash when I'm done with it, or perhaps just dump clorox in the mash.

I never even considered fermenting waste to be a problem, I guess things just pop up on your first time.

 

[bxtzd3]

its biodegradable. put it in a bucket dry it out and make a bird feeder or compost for house plants. it would be the best smelling plant around. or i wonder if you can reuse it to make bread? mmmmmm beer bread. on a more serious note, i used to work in the bronx, depending on your location, if there is a park you can put it there for the birds. it would make most parks smell better, some of the ones in the south bronx need it.

 

[donovanlambright]

Or know people with dogs? There are several websites/forum posts out there on making dog treats out of spent grains. Of course, you could make a LOT of dog treats from just one AG batch...

On a serious note, those sites are all careful to point out that you have to keep the spent hops out of the treats as they are potentially fatal for dogs if ingested.

 

[doghousechef]

If you want to dry it out do not put it in a bucket! Spent grains get pretty foul, pretty quick.

 

[dyqik]

Does anyone have a "design" (and I use the term loosely) for a way of draining and cooling the spent grains cleanlyl? I'm brewing in my garage of a rented house, and so I can't compost the spent grains, and although my trash pick up is on Mondays, I can't just dump them in a trash bag as the heat degrades the bags, and the weight of the water tends to split them. I don't want to leave them wet in a bucket until the morning of the trash pickup.

I'm mashing in a 5 gallon cooler, so the grains stay plenty hot right until clean up time.

 

[RmikeVT]

Does anyone have a "design" (and I use the term loosely) for a way of draining and cooling the spent grains cleanlyl? I'm brewing in my garage of a rented house, and so I can't compost the spent grains, and although my trash pick up is on Mondays, I can't just dump them in a trash bag as the heat degrades the bags, and the weight of the water tends to split them. I don't want to leave them wet in a bucket until the morning of the trash pickup.

I'm mashing in a 5 gallon cooler, so the grains stay plenty hot right until clean up time.

I dump mine in a gutter in the alley behind my house. Its a sewer gutter designed for rain run off, so its recessed into the street. It a huge drain pipe under ground. I can't think of any negatives to this or how spent grain would be any worse than the leaves, sticks, dead rodents that wash into this thing everyday.

 

[kh54s10]

I dump mine in a gutter in the alley behind my house. Its a sewer gutter designed for rain run off, so its recessed into the street. It a huge drain pipe under ground. I can't think of any negatives to this or how spent grain would be any worse than the leaves, sticks, dead rodents that wash into this thing everyday.

Except, I would suspect this is illegal in most municipalities.

You could also make a drier out of some 2x4's and screen and dry it, then dispose it in the trash.

 

[UltraMN]

I FINALLY have a solution (for me).

At work, they have a community garden with an open-air compost!
Tomorrow is bring your mash to work day

I'm glad I kept it frozen-solid, until I figured out what to do with it. Thanks for all the help!

 

[Jayslay]

I dump mine in a gutter in the alley behind my house. Its a sewer gutter designed for rain run off, so its recessed into the street. It a huge drain pipe under ground. I can't think of any negatives to this or how spent grain would be any worse than the leaves, sticks, dead rodents that wash into this thing everyday.

Except instead of dead rodents you will have hundreds of live ones just waiting for you to brew more AG! HA ha, a veritable army! If you feed them they will come.

 

[nianticcardplayer]

Except instead of dead rodents you will have hundreds of live ones just waiting for you to brew more AG! HA ha, a veritable army! If you feed them they will come.

And that's a for sure thing in NYC...

 

[DrunkleJon]

Easy. Throw them into your neighbors trash cans. That way when they spill/rupture you are not the one who has to clean out the stinky trash can.

Nothing to see here. Keep on moving...

 

[cjhammel]

Make sure that you break up the grains and mix into the compost. Grains that decompose in clumps have the smell of dead bodies. I made the mistake of using some spent grain as mulch in a large flower pot on my deck oh god the smell