FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[LeslieDJoyce]

Thank you for your input!  I don't mind the extra step of straining it.
At this point, now that you have mentioned the drier method, how do you keep the fermenting process going using this method? Do you leave behind some of the FF to give it a good start? 
In any case, would you have to leave the new feed in there for 3 more days or does the liquid/leftover FF make it just as fermented? I didn't read through all these pages because it's a little intimidating and I don't want to get confused with it. I just got the basics and went from there. 

It ferments just fine even when it is mixed drier.

Leaving behind some of the already-fermented feed when you refresh is called backslopping. That does help kickstart the fermentation process.

I would encourage you to read as much of the thread as possible. These questions get asked and answered a lot, and the more you read the more likely it is you'll find an answer that makes perfect sense to you. Sometimes when re typing similar things over and over (and over and over ) we miss a detail or aren't as clear.

 

[subhanalah]

It ferments just fine even when it is mixed drier.

Leaving behind some of the already-fermented feed when you refresh is called backslopping. That does help kickstart the fermentation process.

I would encourage you to read as much of the thread as possible. These questions get asked and answered a lot, and the more you read the more likely it is you'll find an answer that makes perfect sense to you. Sometimes when re typing similar things over and over (and over and over ) we miss a detail or aren't as clear.

Is there anyone willing to (and have the organizational skills/time to) make a thread with all that stuff, right up front? I say those with the most knowledge should blaze trail for us newer folks.

 

[Aacre]

It ferments just fine even when it is mixed drier.

Leaving behind some of the already-fermented feed when you refresh is called backslopping. That does help kickstart the fermentation process.

I would encourage you to read as much of the thread as possible. These questions get asked and answered a lot, and the more you read the more likely it is you'll find an answer that makes perfect sense to you. Sometimes when re typing similar things over and over (and over and over

) we miss a detail or aren't as clear.

Thanks! I started reading and within the first 60 responses have my questions mostly answered. lol

 

[Tikkijane]

We're referencing the study that measured the nutritional boosts gained from fermentation that I posted a while back and we discussed here a bit. That study measured the nutrition of grains that had been fermented for different periods of time compared to unfermented grains. They found a nutritional boost after 24 hours, more of a boost after 48 hours, and even more of a boost at 72 hours. But the study didn't measure past the 72 hour point.

A little history: There is a traditional fermented grain "recipe" which is often used to feed human infants in certain areas of the world. People worried about the nutrition of feeding this recipe to infants ran tests on it and discovered the nutritional boosts. 

If you "refresh" your batch every time you feed, then there are going to be different levels of "boosting" happening to individual morsels depending on how long the SCOBY has been working on them ... some fermented for 24 hours (if that's how often you refresh), some fermented indefinitely ...  but even after 24 hours there is a boost in the nutrients in the grains, and of course all the "good stuff" in the liquid. 

It's just a consideration for people trying to decide if they are going to have the never-ending/always-refreshing bucket, or separate "daily" buckets, or whatever system they're setting up. 

For example, I'm using a 5 bucket system, each filled with 2 gallons of feed (about 12 lbs) and about 2.25 gallons of water. I feed enough that I use an entire 5 gallon bucket of feed each day -- I completely empty it. Technically I could put out at least one more bucket for the number of birds I've got going, but I'm not organized for that at the moment. I "backslop" when I refill the bucket by taking a couple spoonfuls from the most-fermented bucket. I cycle through the 5 buckets in order, so my feed is fermenting for no more than 4 full days maximum.

I thought about setting up a huge batch of feed in a food-grade barrel so it could be "bottomless," but then it would be difficult for me to stir and I'd be upside down in the barrel every day ... I imagined that wouldn't work so well for me, though other people make it work just fine. 

Ah, gotcha. That was why I went the way I did- backslopping and refreshing every 3/4 days. Secondary ferment after refreshing is going to be good overnight if the initial ferment is solid, but I felt like they would get the most bang for the method-buck by not refreshing every single time I fed.

I got to the point where I didn't feel like I was mixing as well as what I wanted. Really, I thought a short canoe paddle would be about right.... ,) My local feed store stocks some commercial cookware. They had a long handled paddle. I made the offhand comment that the paddle was pefect, but the handle was too long. Lo and behold, a few weeks later, I saw a shorter handle paddle (really, they are soup/liquid mixers for the huge, commercial cooking pots that a person could drown in) and snapped it up. It wasn't cheap- around $20; solid stainless and *heavy,* but exactly the right tool.

And really-3-4 days is about what I can handle with the smell.

 

[22qZoo]

LDJ~ thank you for your response and time you put into this thread. I have to confess, I was waiting for one of my kids in the mini-van and flipping thru threads on my phone and sort-of having random thoughts.

I keep imagining someone who has to feed a large number of birds using a small cement mixer ,I wonder if anybody has ever done FF on a larger scale?.. (see, more random thoughts).

 

[Tikkijane]

Is there anyone willing to (and have the organizational skills/time to) make a thread with all that stuff, right up front? I say those with the most knowledge should blaze trail for us newer folks.

Not a sticky, but I did write about it. Will put that in another comment so it doesn't get lost.

 

[Tikkijane]

http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/im-using/

Not a sticky, but I did write about it. Will put that in another comment so it doesn't get lost.

 

[Tikkijane]

LDJ~ thank you for your response and time you put into this thread. I have to confess, I was waiting for one of my kids in the mini-van and flipping thru threads on my phone and sort-of having random thoughts.

I keep imagining someone who has to feed a large number of birds using a small cement mixer ,I wonder if anybody has ever done FF on a larger scale?.. (see, more random thoughts).

What's your definition of "larger?"

 

[Beekissed]

Kassaundra has been doing FF in a large trash can for the past few years, stirs it with a shovel when first adding fresh feed and then no more. The trash can would be hard for me as I am pretty short, but I think if I were doing large batches for lots of birds that one of those very large plastic totes one can get for about the same price as a garbage can would be ideal....just as big but not tall, with more dipping and stirring space and the ability to reach the bottom of the batch more easily.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I just ordered one of these ... http://www.homedepot.com/p/Mortrex-...204676674?keyword=Mortrex+concret+mixing+tool

It's a hand-powered concrete mixing tool designed to mix concrete in a 5 gallon bucket while standing upright over the bucket.

I just don't do well when I'm turned upside down. And my arms don't work great so get burned out mixing 5 buckets in a row.

They also sell big rubber troughs ... convenient for something like this because they have a drain.

Really big coolers also have a drain ...

I like the idea of something wider than it is high, so you can more easily mix to the very bottom of the feed.