Hi Balloonjuice, I think Beekissed has evolved into a one bucket system. For a 5 gallon bucket pour in 2 gallon water and start adding 12# feed. You can use a glug of Mothered ACV or even some of your EM-1 liquid. No molasses necessary. Stir and sit a few min Add up to 1/2 gallon more water if necessary. To make a thick oatmeal. Then wait 2 or 3 day stirring daily. Ready to feed. When it gets to about 3 inches from bottom add water again and stir. Then add feed. Done overnight.
There are MANY different ways to ferment just about anything. Different processes and ingredients will create slightly different results. If you do use EM-1 (I use it and recommend it but it's not the focus of this FF thread), as LindaB said, you don't need to add molasses, I would add...if you plan to use it within a few days. Not because it will go bad after that (it won't) but because if you plan to ferment it longer, you will get even greater fermented benefits...and molasses will enhance those. The molasses gives the microbes a quick yet nutritious (lots of minerals) food source to get them muliplying to a level where they can actually start better fermenting the contents of the feed, whether it is simply grain and legumes are also includes some fish meal (or other animal protein). Blackstrap molasses is even higher in minerals and lower in sugar. After a couple weeks, most of the sugar in molasses has been consumed anyways. I usually feed my FF after fermenting (with molasses and EM-1) for about 7-10 days, but longer is okay as well. It won't go bad...at least not for a long time (weeks or months, depending upon conditions stored). PM me if you want to learn more about using EM-1 not only to ferment chicken feed, but in water and as a spray down to spread healthy probiotic bacteria in the litter, roosts, nests and all coop surfaces. I wrote a small book on it, which I am offering for free for now in exchange for sharing a testimonial of your experience (after you've use it for a while) using the practices recommended in the book.
Disclaimer...you DO NOT NEED to use EM-1 or other special microbial "starters". Bee has done the world of (BYC world, at least) small chicken farmers a great and wonderful service of teaching folks how to simply ferment feed using a bucket, feed and water. Nothing complicated. IT WORKS! I use EM-1 because I use it for a lot of things (personal, chickens three different ways, gardening, cleaning) and I enjoy the "mad scientist" aspect of turning the mother culture into new and different concoctions. Right now I am enjoying a fermented turmeric brew (for me, not the chickens) that is just simply wonderful, but I digress...
Yes, you can ferment meat. It's riskier to do so and I wouldn't recommend it. If you do, I'd place no more than 5% by weight of meat in the ferment. You might also want to start your ferment without the meat at first (or a very small amount) and be sure to use a "starter", which could be as simple as backslop from a previous batch of FF. After 3-4 days, or once the ferment is going strong, add in more of the meat, perhaps half, then wait another few days before adding in the rest. You could also marinate the meat (assuming it is raw) in some ACV for a few hours to a day before adding it.
That said, our feed does contain fish meal. The fish meal is preserved with a natural antioxidant, which helps prevent putrefaction from setting in. I've had no problems or bad odors from fermenting the Scratch n Peck feeds. The feeds also contain a lot of "fermentation products" which I am not clear if those are actual live bacteria or just pasteurized fermented stuff. I guess I have yet another question for SnP feeds!
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