Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[tjo804]

I have a question

with FF do you add vitamin/electrolyte powder or other supplements like B complex or Vit E Omegas?

if not is there a reason?

 

[enola]

The only thing I add to my FF, is alfalfa pellets. I can't free range my hens.

 

[Robert M]

I'm just sitting here musing...
I make my own wine and if I feel like taking a day, I make my own beer.

Yeast is very, very inexpensive, (I get mine at GerapeStompers.com - Montrachet), and I wonder if anyone ever used yeast to start their FF?

O' course, Granny takes care of the still (Beverly Hillbillies) ROTFLMAO!

If you make 5 gallons in a bucket, and ferment it and use all bit about a gallon, then refill your container, stir it up good, what's left will re-start your fermenting.

(A little trivia: That is sorta how sourdough bread was made "in the gold rush days". They saved a bit of the dough to make the next batch. It was a very precious thing that got carried on by the bakers of the day, and some of that original "recipe" is still around today and very protected by the owners. Read James A. Michener's Alaska...).

So, has anyone used yeast? Maybe Fleishmann's bread yeast would suffice, since you're not making a connoisseur wine... ?

 

[Robert M]

I just read the link posted by Mr. Lantry. (Well, duh, I shoulda read it when it was posted).

That research is very informative, and if you'll notice the reference to "sourdough" it goes along with Michener's history of Alaska and what I've studied on preserving your yeast cultures.

If you get a good culture you are satisfied with, it can be kept in the fridge for later use. It wouldn't hurt to read up on storing LIQUID yeast Brewers do this.

 

[lazy gardener]

When I just started fermenting, and only had 5 chicks, I rotated quart containers of it, and if it got ahead of me, I did stick it in the fridge to slow it down. Excellent article by the way. I want to share it with my friends, to perhaps give them the motivation to start fermenting. In spite of the big difference between my flock and theirs, they are reluctant to try it. I've even given them some fermented feed to try!

 

[Beekissed]

I have a question

with FF do you add vitamin/electrolyte powder or other supplements like B complex or Vit E Omegas?

if not is there a reason?

I can't imagine a reason TO add those. If you are feeding a balanced ration and then fermenting it to augment the existing nutrition therein, then it should be sufficient. Adding this or that in the hopes of making it better when it's already doing great is personal preference but it complicates things and adds expense.

FF is about taking something good and making it better and that's working under the assumption one is already working with something good.

 

[Robert M]

I can't imagine a reason TO add those. If you are feeding a balanced ration and then fermenting it to augment the existing nutrition therein, then it should be sufficient. Adding this or that in the hopes of making it better when it's already doing great is personal preference but it complicates things and adds expense.

FF is about taking something good and making it better and that's working under the assumption one is already working with something good.

I agree. The only addition I could see would be to start with a package of yeast, dissolved in 105° water to "start" it. From then on, the culture will take care of itself, if you save about a quart for the next batch. No need to add more yeast, unless you use up the whole batch. And BTW, yeast has its own healthy rewards.

 

[Beekissed]

No need to add yeast at all unless you live in a very arid type place that doesn't have wild yeasts to capture. Just leave it open to air and it will do all the work. Even if you add yeast, the wild yeasts will inoculate the mixture and take over the batch eventually anyway so it's just a waste of yeast in the long run.

 

[Robert M]

I understand, but for a quicker start, I'll go with a less than 50 cents pack of yeast.
When we leave anything set around here in this humidity, it rots!

 

[shortgrass]

No need to add yeast at all unless you live in a very arid type place that doesn't have wild yeasts to capture.   Just leave it open to air and it will do all the work.  Even if you add yeast, the wild yeasts will inoculate the mixture and take over the batch eventually anyway so it's just a waste of yeast in the long run. 

Just curious, you mentioned arid places...what about altitude? High altitude could possibly affect the petformance of the yeast? Probably not really noticeable I suppose, but yeast needs oxygen, and high altitude....??? I don't know lol, i was just curious