Short answer: Wet brewery spent grain and pito mash are cheap by-products some Ghanaian farmers use for poultry. Both sour and spoil within a day or two in the heat, and both carry hygiene risks that dry feed does not. Once dried, they can supply useful protein and fibre in small shares. Keep chicks away from them, dry them thoroughly, and build the ration around a plan.
Key takeaways
- Wet spent grain and pito mash spoil within a day or two in Ghana's heat, so arrange the drying before the load arrives.
- Pito mash is a sour, fermented residue that varies from batch to batch, and its hygiene depends on the water and containers used.
- Dried spent grain gives useful protein and fibre, but its energy is modest, so it is a partial ingredient and not a replacement for grain.
- Keep chicks off both by-products, and keep adult birds to small, tested shares.
- Introduce any new by-product one pen at a time, and record intake, droppings and output so you know what it does.
- Ask the seller how the material was made, held and moved before you load anything into your cart.
What we mean by spent grain and pito mash
Brewers' spent grain is the solid material left after the sugars have been drawn off the malted grain in beer making. It is usually barley-based, and it comes out of the mash tun hot and very wet. Pito mash is a different residue. Pito is a traditional beer brewed mainly from sorghum or millet, most often in the northern parts of Ghana, and the mash left after the liquor is drawn off is the by-product farmers ask about. It is sour, often grainy, and sometimes loose and watery.
Both are cheap, both come in large quantities, and both can be useful. Neither is a sack of grain. They are wet residues with a short life, and their feed value depends on what happened during brewing and what happens to them afterwards. For the wider picture of keeping birds on a budget, the poultry farming in Ghana overview is a useful starting point.
Where each by-product comes from and how steady the supply is
A brewery is a steady source. Output follows a production schedule, so the material is available on a predictable basis, and a farm that buys from the same plant can learn its rhythm. Pito mash comes from households and small groups, and supply follows brewing days. A seller may have a heap in the morning and very little by the afternoon. Plan around the source you actually have, not the one you wish you had.
Whichever source you use, the material leaves the brewing point with its heat and moisture still in it. The clock starts there, and the first decision you make about it is usually the most important.
Souring and the fermentation you did not plan
Wet spent grain is roughly three-quarters water, and it still carries sugars and starches that bacteria and moulds feed on. Within a day in a warm yard it begins to smell sour, and the smell is a sign that fermentation has already moved some way. Pito mash is sour before it reaches you, because the brewing process itself is a fermentation. A sour wet mash can reduce a bird's appetite, and it can upset the gut when it is fed in quantity.
Some farmers feed sour material on the view that the birds still eat it. That is not a safe basis for a flock of valuable birds. A sour trough can hide a rise in microbes that the flock does not show until later. If the smell has turned sharp, or if the material is slimy, grey or mouldy in patches, it should not be fed to any bird.
Protein, fibre and what is left in the grain
Dried brewers' spent grain can carry a useful amount of protein, often in the range of about 20 to 28 percent on a dry matter basis, though it varies with the malt and the brewing process. Its fibre is high, commonly 15 to 20 percent or more, and that fibre dilutes energy. Birds on a ration with a lot of dried spent grain need to eat more to meet their energy needs, and young birds cope with it poorly.
Pito mash is harder to pin down. Its protein depends on the sorghum or millet used, how much of the grain was extracted during brewing, and whether the mash was pressed or sieved. In general, it tends to be lower in usable protein than dried brewers' grain, and some sorghum varieties carry tannins that reduce how well the protein and energy are digested. Treat any figure you are given for pito as a rough guide, and check the material against a test batch before you rely on it.
Pito mash and the hygiene question
The biggest difference between pito mash and a brewery by-product is hygiene. A small brewing operation may draw water from an open well or a container that is not cleaned between batches. The mash is then left to stand in pots or basins, where flies, dust, dogs, goats and scavenging birds all have access. Bacteria from unclean water, containers and hands can build up in a mash that has been left out overnight.
Good practice does not need expensive equipment. Ask the brewer to hold the mash in clean covered containers, to draw water from a clean source, and to keep animals away from the heap. Collect the mash in your own clean sacks or bins, not in the seller's dirty drums. Keep the material away from the drinking water, and never let it touch the trough where birds drink.
Getting the water out before the heap heats
Drying is the step that makes either by-product workable. For wet brewery grain, the first job is to drain it. Spread it on a clean sack or a sieve and let the free water run off for a few hours, then press out what you can by hand or with a board. The material should feel damp, not wet. Spread it in a thin layer on a clean floor, a tarpaulin or a raised mat, and turn it several times a day.
Pito mash needs the same treatment with one addition. Sieve out the lumps and coarse grain first, so the material dries evenly. In the dry season a sunny spell can bring a thin layer to a crisp in two to four days. In the rainy season, the same layer may take much longer and can go mouldy before it dries. Cover it at night and whenever rain threatens, and bring it indoors if the weather turns. Once the material crumbles in the hand and feels dry at the centre, bag it and store it off the floor.
Never pile wet material into a heap to wait for it. A heap heats from the inside, sours faster, and can become a mould problem within a day.
Limits by bird and by form
The table below sets out cautious shares for each form and each bird. The figures are starting points drawn from common practice for well-dried material of reasonable quality. They assume the material was tested on a small group first and that the rest of the ration covers energy and protein. A feed formulator should set the final share.
| Material | Chicks | Growers | Broiler finishers | Layers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dried brewers' spent grain | Avoid | Up to about 5% | Up to about 5% | Up to about 8% |
| Dried pito mash | Avoid | Avoid, or up to about 2% | Up to about 2 to 3% | Up to about 3% |
| Wet spent grain, same day only | Avoid | Avoid | Avoid | Up to about 5%, fed the same day, with a formulator's approval |
| Wet pito mash | Avoid | Avoid | Avoid | Avoid |
The most common error is to treat these figures as a target. They are a ceiling. A flock that is off colour, short of energy, or recovering from a disease should get no by-product at all until it is back on a stable ration.
When you add a by-product to the ration, work through the figures with the poultry feed calculator so you know the grams per bird per day. A small share in a large mix can still need extra energy to keep the bird's intake on target.
Introducing a by-product one pen at a time
Introduce any new by-product gradually and in one pen first. Start with about a third of the target share for three or four days, then move to the full share if the birds eat well and their droppings look normal. Watch the feed trough, not only the bag. Feed that is left over in the trough tells you the birds do not like the taste or the texture, even when the numbers on paper look right.
Change one thing at a time. If you add a by-product and switch the brand of maize in the same week, you will not know which change caused any problem. Keep the old ration on hand so you can go back quickly if the flock reacts. A farm still setting up its feed plan can follow the order of steps in the how to start poultry farming in Ghana guide.
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Questions to put to the seller before you load the cart
A good seller can answer a few plain questions. Ask how the material was made, what grain went in, how long it has been sitting, and how it has been held overnight. Ask whether it has been dried, and if so, for how long. Ask what water was used and what the containers are. A seller who has not thought about these things is telling you the material will be inconsistent.
Ask whether anything has been added to the mash. Some residues are cleaned or preserved with products that are not meant for animal feed, and you need to know that before you feed anything to a flock. If the seller cannot say, do not buy. Pay for a small quantity first, use it in a test pen, and only then commit to a larger load.
Hygiene from the vessel to the trough
Hygiene does not stop at the point of purchase. Clean the bins, sacks and scoops you use for the by-product every time you use them, and keep them separate from the bins for maize and premix. Wash your hands before you handle the feed and after you clean the pen. Keep the store closed against rats, birds and insects, because they carry the same bacteria you are trying to keep out of the trough.
Remove leftover feed from the trough each day, especially if the material is damp or warm. Leftover by-product left in a trough overnight is a common source of sour smells and flies. Do not let the drinking water and the feed trough share a bucket or a tray. More notes on keeping feed and water clean are in the Halaal Farms blog.
What to watch in the flock and in the bin
Keep a simple record for every pen on a by-product. Note the date, the share, the feed eaten each day, the water taken, the droppings, the activity level, and any bird that stops eating. Weigh a sample of birds at the start and again after a week or two. For layers, record eggs laid and any drop in shell quality. Records make a problem visible early, when a change is still easy to reverse.
Loose or unusual droppings, sudden weakness, huddling, or a rise in deaths are reasons to stop the by-product and call a vet or the district veterinary officer. Do not try to treat a sick flock on your own. A regular vaccination and health plan keeps the flock stronger against the diseases that can look like a feed problem, and the poultry vaccination schedule calculator helps you set the dates.
Where these by-products are a poor choice
Both by-products are a poor choice for chicks, for breeders, and for any flock that is already under disease stress. They are also a poor choice for a farm with no clean drying space, no way to store dry feed, and no one to check the material when it arrives. For those farms, a cheap by-product can cost far more in lost weight and lost eggs than it saves on the bag.
If you need to restock with healthy birds before changing the feed, the broiler chicks for sale page explains what we supply. Before you decide, put the numbers into the broiler profit calculator or the layer egg profit calculator. The saving on the feed bill has to survive the drying time, the extra energy you must add, and any drop in growth or output. If you are costing a new flock from scratch, the day-old chicks cost calculator sets out the starting outlay so you can compare it with the feed saving over the life of the birds.
Questions farmers ask
Can I feed wet brewers' spent grain straight from the brewery?
It is best not to. Wet spent grain sours and spoils within a day or two in Ghana's heat, and it can upset the gut when fed in quantity. If you use it at all, use it the same day, keep the share small, and only with a formulator's approval. Dried material is a much safer route.
Is pito mash safe for chicks?
No. Chicks need a tightly controlled starter ration, and pito mash carries hygiene risks and variable quality that they cannot tolerate well. Keep chicks off it completely and introduce any by-product only to adult birds that are already on a stable ration.
How do I know if spent grain has gone off?
A sharp, sour or rotten smell is the clearest sign. Slimy texture, grey or mouldy patches, and a warm heap are other warnings. If in doubt, leave it out. A bird eating less of its ration after a change is also a reason to stop and check the material.
Does dried spent grain replace maize in the ration?
Only in part. Dried spent grain has useful protein and fibre but lower energy than maize. A ration with a share of spent grain needs an energy source to make up the difference, so the formulator should rebalance the whole mix before the change is made.
How do I dry pito mash without it going mouldy?
Sieve out the lumps, spread the mash in a thin layer on a clean surface, and turn it several times a day. Cover it at night and in rain, and bring it indoors if the weather turns. Dry it until it crumbles and feels dry at the centre, then store it in a dry, closed bag off the floor.
What share should I use for layers?
Dried brewers' spent grain can go up to about 8 percent in a layer ration, and dried pito mash is best kept to about 3 percent or less. These are ceilings, not targets. Start low, test the material in one pen, and watch egg output and feed intake before raising the share.
What should I do if the flock falls ill after a new by-product?
Stop the new material at once and go back to the last ration the flock handled well. Call a vet or the district veterinary officer, and keep samples of the feed and the bag or container it came from. Do not treat birds on your own without advice from a qualified person.
