Barley Biscuit Experiment

I like to experiment with cooking! I like to try new things. In February I got the awesome chance to go to a brewery (Signature Brew, based in Leyton) and help them brew a new beer for a festival they would be attending. Here I am with the brewery team.

When it came time to remove the cooked barley malts from the mash, I was stood there looking at the skip full of used barley and thinking it looked like oatmeal. Now, most industrial brewers send them off to local farmers as horse feed, therefore not wasting anything. When my partner and I do a small home brew, however, we do not have anywhere to put them, so they go in the bin. I wouldn’t be guilty about this but since we don’t have a garden I can’t compost them and since we don’t have a food waste collection they can’t be turned into anything else useful. S I set about thinking what else I could do with them.
In the end, I decided to do a bit of a cookie based experiment. I used the same base ingredients as my chocolate chip and butterscotch oat cookies, but instead of adding the dried oats, I added large spoons of cooked barley one at a time until it had reached the desired consistency.

Unfortunately, they didn’t turn out so great. I mean they are edible, but not terribly enjoyable. I think the problem is because they were wet, they added an extra amount of liquid that I did not account for. I think the dampness of the oats contributed also to the excess of starch – they have a very starchy flavour.

I think for a first experiment, they were ok. I think I will have a bit of a noodle around on the internet and see if I can find a way to dry them out. Then maybe I will try again with more success!
Do any of you home brew? Got any tips or tricks? What do you do with the by-products. Let me know in the comments!