SPENT GRAIN POTENTIAL
TURNING SPENT GRAINS INTO CASH W R I T T E N B Y K U R T A . R O S E N T R AT E R
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s the alcohol industry continues its explosive growth, not just in the U.S., but throughout the world, there are many questions to ask and challenges to be overcome, for example: How do I deal with government regulations? How do I improve the quality of my spirit? How do I optimize yield from my grain? How do I improve the distillation operation? How do I better control my systems? No matter the size of your distillery, these challenges are common. One particular area that most alcohol producers either neglect or have not adequately considered is what to do with their spent grains. Many operations will choose to give the spent grains away to local farmers, landfill the solids, or dump the spent grains and process water into the municipal wastewater system (fines and surcharges vary by location, and can be quite expensive in some places). But all of these options are lost opportunities for your operation to make money, because spent grains contain proteins, fats, fibers, minerals, and yeast cells, making them a valuable source of nutrients for any animal diet. In fact, for more than 100 years spent grains (both wet and dry) have proven to be excellent animal feeds, and they are in high demand throughout the world by livestock producers. Dry spent grains are most often sold as Distillers Dried Grains (DDG) or Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS). Wet spent grains are sold as Distillers Wet Grains (DWG) or Distillers Wet Grains with Solubles (DWGS). Over the years, U.S. livestock producers have proven that maximum levels for dietary inclusion of spent grains can be nearly 40 percent for beef cattle, 30 percent for dairy cattle, 50 percent for swine, and 15 percent for poultry. Of course successful use in livestock diets will
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