Grad student composts spent grains, grows greens

A plant biology graduate student at Ohio University is using spent grains from the Jackie O's brewing process to grow plants as a part of his final research project.

If grad student Josh Crosiers current hunch about the spent grains is correct, the research project for his master's degree could benefit farmers in the area looking for a new protein-rich source of organic compost.

Crosier said compost made from spent grains could go a long way toward keeping the materials used in local farming within Athens County. Were using a resource locally found here in Athens County to help Athens County farmers, he said. I dont want to see people shipping in nutrients from Missouri, or the carbon footprint associated with that.

Crosier, who owns his own landscaping business, started his experiment last year at OU's West State Gardens a research area near the OU driving range for student and faculty usage. He struck a deal with Jackie O's to use its brewerys unwanted spent rye, hops and wheat in exchange for some regular lawn work. He piles them, wet, into the back of his truck after brew cycles and slops them out at the gardens with a shovel. They smell like spoiled meat.

Crosier said his research could help find a use for whats essentially a waste product; the spent grains are a natural byproduct of the brewing process.

Last year, Crosier planted a few control patches one with animal compost, one with nothing, and a third composted with the spent grains, which had been mixed into compost with sawdust. That particular spent-grains patch didn't perform particularly well.

The plots with the spent grains didnt do as good as the control plots, so thats where the discussion on my thesis gets kind of complicated, Crosier said.

Then, this year Crosier got some advice from his mentor, Arthur Trese, an associate professor of plant biology at OU, who teaches a sustainable agriculture course at the West State gardens. Trese suggested Crosier mix the grains on top of the soil without the composting process.

When Crosier inspected plant plots a little less than a month ago each with a row of kale, turnips and beets the plants that grew out of the spent-grain-soil mixture were about 30 percent bigger than the control patches. That visual size discrepancy hasnt changed since.

The results arent in yet, but it doesnt take a biologist to tell you that these plants, Crosier said, gesturing at the spent-grain-soil mixture plot, are doing better than these plants, he said, gesturing at the control patches.

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Grad student composts spent grains, grows greens