I'm back a few pages trying to catch up from the weekend, but what did you use for the coating?
They come with a white coating inside the gutter that protects the metal from rusting...some kind of baked on stuff, I'm assuming. Whatever it is stays on even with the FF being fed in it since early spring.
I've found that the best way to keep the FF cooking well is to leave a quarter of your amount, add two to three scoops more food, then add enough hot water to have about two inches over the food. I stir that up, and its real soupy, letting it cook for about two hours and getting real bubbly. Then I add another scoop or so of food, let that thicken up and the chickens love it. It took me a while to figure out my own method, but I've found that if you keep it real thin at first it starts to cook faster.
I've also noticed that the longer the batch lasts, the thinner it gets. I tried making more at once, but by the fourth or fifth days it just grosses me out. So now I make enough for three maybe four days, and by the last day it's pretty soupy, but the chickens still love it.
I'm still happy with the FF. Even with it being colder out it's still worth it to me. There is no smell in the coop, or the barn, and all my birds look beautiful.
Y'all are making fresh batches each time you make FF?
I didn't realize that!
Not for you in particular, Ash, but I was wondering why everyone was having such a time with getting the smell, the amount of ferment and consistency right...it seems so simple to me but on this thread it seems very, very difficult and time consuming.
I was wondering why all the fuss and muss with strainers, soupy and sloppy messes, wondering if it was fermenting, etc. Seems like a lot of equipment being used out there for something so simple. I guess I wasn't reading the posts closely or I would have realized that folks were trying to repeat the FF ritual every 3-4 days and maybe that's why it has become such a complicated thing.
Then someone new to the thread PMd me awhile back and was sort of chuckling about all the complicated maneuvers folks were getting into in order to get with this FF and was laughing about the fact that he and I seemed to be some of the few that had stuck with the simple and original game plan. I guess he had been making FF for years and did it much like I had started out with...and have continued with, as it seems the most simple, cleanest and effective way to produce the FF.
The very simple 2 buckets of the same size being nestled down, one within the other, to keep equipment and questions simple. You folks do realize that they make 1, 2 and 3 gal. buckets that are easily found and cheaply purchased for those who are making smaller batches? Or, you can just make a partial bucket full if you already have the 5 gal. on hand. That two bucket system was handy for draining out large amounts of feed for CX but the system is still useful when not picking up the top bucket for straining...you can use the system to keep a reservoir of the properly cultivated ferment in the bottom bucket. It's useful in both ways...no need to keep trying to find different bowels, totes, colanders, strainers and set ups that aren't messy in your laundry room to have successful, consistent, non-messy FF. Mine is sitting in my bedroom, neat and non-smelly, easy to access, easy to maintain.
I guess what I'm trying to ask was what was so difficult about containing the mess into the space that a bucket occupies, just adding to your mix of FF with fresh feed every other day to keep a running batch of FF that~when kept in a cool but not cold room~yields just the right amount of fermented cultures in the mix. When it gets too strong, water it down with fresh water additions each time. If it's smelling not pickley enough, add a glug of ACV with your water every now and again.
The reservoir in the bottom bucket is a really good place to regulate the strength of the fermented fluids and it stays pretty constant if you just roll your fermented mix along in this manner, not stopping and starting fresh batches every 2-3 days.
You really don't have to keep the mix submerged and soupy all the time to avoid molds. I never keep mine submerged and will have a light skiff of grey mother on the top of the feed mix each day but that kind of mold doesn't disturb me. It also doesn't seem to affect the chickens. It's easy to keep the feed at the right fermentation by keeping a rolling mix, fresh feed added every other day, fresh water along with that, keeping it at a mortar-like consistency and even have a scoop that has holed drilled in case it still has some juiciness in it that needs dripped out and my trough has holes drilled in it as well to let out any excess moisture.
Feeding of a morning consists of scooping out feed into a small bucket that gets toted up to the coop, placed in the trough, fresh and dry feed taken from the feed barrel and into the small bucket, carried back to the house and placed back into the FF bucket, water is added, stirred well with the scoop and the lid is replaced. Takes all of 3 min. to accomplish and doesn't take draining, slopping, restarting fresh batches, etc.
Just saying..it doesn't have to be this messy, complicated process that one has to think much about to keep it of a consistency that isn't messy and consistently fermented well.
She's gone shopping today, maybe I'll beat her home and she'll never know. Let's keep this our little secret.
