Oh you let the water absorb away at the top? I was thinking I had to keep it under water so I would keep adding water. Then it just would not drain when I wanted to use it. Hmm....
Yep...not necessary to keep it constantly submersed in water. I do that when I add more mash/feed/grain and by morning it is pretty much absorbed and, if it's chick starter, it will have a peanut butter or mortar consistency, which is easy to dip out and dispense.
The mash and whole grains comes out looking like meal and will drain off better because it doesn't absorb all the liquid like the pellets or crumbles.
The reason I submerge the feed is to get all the cultured liquid from the bottom bucket into all areas of the feed so that the fermentation process is happening evenly throughout the mass. I also give it a good stir or two to make sure the feed is all moistened and integrated into the already fermented feeds. This way I have some grains/feed that has had more fermentation, some that has had less...that is the benefit from keeping a constant and ongoing mash of the FF going instead of starting out fresh each time. Makes all the newly added feed ferment more quickly and also adds new food for the active yeast cultures to feed upon.