For the Dogs: Barley's Biscuits

Ross and I finally had time to brew another batch of beer.  Between his internship, classes and time at a local brewery and my never-ending work schedule, we have had the darnedest time trying to find a few hours to make this happen.  And what a tasty brew we have this time...a cococnut brown ale!  The coconut lost all of its flavor to the wort, so sadly I will not be concocting anything like I had with the pumpkin from our last brew. 

However, we did have some spent grain.  We still brew most of our beers with malt extract. Despite the encouragement from friends and fellow brewers, we haven't made the jump to all-grain brewing yet.  But slowly we are working in partial mashes.  One of the perks?  Spent grain.

This modified extract recipe included about a pound of specialty grains.  Once the grain is steeped there doesn't seem to be much use for it other than the trash or the compost. Or, if you are a brewery...cattle feed or mushroom farms.  However, after our last partial mash experience I walked into the kitchen to discover the previously trashed grains strewn all over the floor, and staining our pup's muzzle.  Apparently Barley loves the barley.

I didn't need to do much of a search to discover a dog biscuit recipe using spent grains.  Keep an eye out for the remaining malted barley to make another appearance...

Our spent grain included:
1/4 lb English Chocolate Malt*
1/4 lb Belgian Special B
1/4 lb Belgian biscuit
1/4 lb Breiss Special Roast

*chocolate in name only, does not actually contain cocoa

PLEASE NOTE   Do not use any grain to which hops have been added.  Hops are toxic to many breeds.  For this reason it is highly recommended not to feed your dog beer.

adapted from a recipe in Brew Your Own Magazine

yields about 100 small treats or 40-50 medium treats

The Ingredients:
4 cups spent grain
2 cups flour
1 cup cashew butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten

The Process:
Combine all of the ingredients into a uniform paste and press into an even layer on a cookie sheet.  Scour into treat-sized shapes.Scour deeply, this will make the biscuit easier break apart later. 

Alternatively, roll the dough out about 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick and cut out biscuits using a cookie cutter.  Re-roll dough as necessary.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. If you pressed the dough into one sheet, remove from oven and break up into individual treats. Rearrange treats in a single layer on two baking sheets and bake at 225 for 3-4 hours or until completely dry.

Store in an air tight container.