This looks like such a great idea - linking homebrewers with those who can use their spent grain in a mutual exchange.
Kegs & Kluckers is an exciting community building event for urban chicken keepers, homebrewers, and the people who love them. This fun-filled event will include home-brewed beers, delicious local fare, Egg Olympic Games (at 8 o'cluck, yes we said "cluck") and appearances by NYC chickens.
This is a great chance for homebrewers (who generate a byproduct called spent grain) and chicken keepers (who can feed their chickens spent grain) to make connections to help create a more efficient and sustainable food system in NYC.
Kegs & Kluckers will raise money for Just Food's City Chicken Project which provides the training, coops and hens that schools and community gardening groups need to raise healthy chickens and delicious eggs. Chickens engage communities while increasing access to healthy food so please help us bring even more of them to NYC by supporting this project and event.
BJCP National Judge
BJCP Assistant Regional Director (North-East/Europe)
American Homebrewers' Association International Subcommittee
Organizer, National Homebrew Competition
CBA UK Competition and Training Coordinator
SamTait wrote:I've got chickens (and tbh, a fair amount of grain)
I assume youd have to dry it out to store it for any period, else it'd stink the whole garden out?
I'd worry less about the smell, but it will attract rats if left in the open. I have no idea how much grain a Chicken eats on a daily basis (although my Uncle assures me that it makes the eggs taste malty).
I'm going to find out in the coming months with my plans for chickens in deep darkest Wales.
Ali
BJCP National Judge
BJCP Assistant Regional Director (North-East/Europe)
American Homebrewers' Association International Subcommittee
Organizer, National Homebrew Competition
CBA UK Competition and Training Coordinator
BlueGiantSteve wrote:Spent hops are good for compost aren't they? Sure allotment users would be interested.
They've been cooked in the boil, so need to compost them in something that will keep the rats/foxes out.
Ali
BJCP National Judge
BJCP Assistant Regional Director (North-East/Europe)
American Homebrewers' Association International Subcommittee
Organizer, National Homebrew Competition
CBA UK Competition and Training Coordinator
Spent hops make great mulch too.
Rats aren't attracted by hops, but they definitely are by grain.
I dig a fair amount of grain stright into my allotment as a soil conditioner.
At the moment, I am taking spent grain of Matt's hands and keeping it in a metal bucket with a lid. It's all good, but I have found that you only have a few days to get it down the lovely layer's little necks until it starts to get a bit smelly and attract flies etc. Matt's batches feed 6 chickens for about a week and then what's left is added to our composter (most goes to the chickens).
It would be fantastic to start something up that links brewers and chicken 'farmers'. Start a thread on here - there must be a number of brewers with chickens already. Maybe I can start a blog, and link it some existing online resources in Bristol?