Does Chicken Feed=Brewable Grains?

[copper2hopper]

I have someone who I work with who owns chickens and is looking to get rid of some sacks of chicken feed. She brought me in a sample in a ziplock bag with "barley" written on it knowing that I am a home brewer and wanted to know if I want the sacks of grain. I told her I have no idea if designated "chicken feed" could also be used as brewing grain. Am I just retarded here or can these be used interchangeably. I know people use spent grains to feed their chickens but can it be used the other way around?

 

[Otis1031]

Taste it and see it is fresh. I would take some to your LHBS and compare it with what they have. Shouldn't be a problem brewing, just make sure its only barley and hasn't been treated with something.

 

[thumpersk_a]

Last i knew chicken feed had calcium and other minerals in it to help with eggshell integrity. Just my thoughts. I wouldnt use it.

 

[ghohn]

It would need to be malted first.

 

[Malt]

Never use feed grade barley in a mash.

The barley is not clean nor is it malted!

The barley needs to be cleaned, first with a fanning mill and then before malting it is literally washed with water.

It is very, very dirty and may not even be worth trying to malt.

Raw grain is covered in all kinds of nasty things. I don't recommend tasting it either! (Unless it's fresh from the field/combine!)

 

[wardens355]

From Wikipedia: "Modern feeds for poultry consists largely of grain, protein supplements such as soybean oil meal, mineral supplements, and vitamin supplements." I wouldn't use it because I wouldn't know exactly what was in it, and if it needs to be malted as stated above, too much work for me when I can buy relatively cheap grain. Plus, its animal food so its probably not up to human standards...

I consider the grain to chicken exchange a one-way street. They can have my spent grains, but I don't want their leftover feed.

 

[Kirkwooder]

What about cracked corn? Can it be cooked and added to the mash in place of flaked corn? Cracked corn runs around $8 for a 50# bag around here, and flaked maze is like $1.89 #.

 

[1977Brewer]

What about cracked corn? Can it be cooked and added to the mash in place of flaked corn? Cracked corn runs around $8 for a 50# bag around here, and flaked maze is like $1.89 #.

As long as it's Jimmy (tm) Brand cracked corn, I don't care.

 

[copper2hopper]

well here's the brand they have and are willing to give to me

http://www.lacrossemilling.com/food/nutritionalinfo/Compliance info BARLEY pg2.pdf

It seems pretty clean to me

 

[Yooper]

well here's the brand they have and are willing to give to me

http://www.lacrossemilling.com/food/nutritionalinfo/Compliance info BARLEY pg2.pdf

It seems pretty clean to me

How are you going to malt it and kiln it?

 

[copper2hopper]

do i need to?

 

[Psylocide]

do i need to?

In order to brew with it, yes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malt

 

[BowAholic]

I have raised chicken commercially for over 25 years and have never seen barley used for chicken feed...except for trace amounts. That looks like planting barley seed, which would be a strange chicken feed. Regardless, it needs to be malted to use it and that's a lot of work.

 

[GHBWNY]

It would need to be malted first.

^^^This

 

[trentm]

Well, you could crush it and cook it. Then use it as an adjunct. But that's not much fun. I've just finished the new book "Malt: A Practical Guide From Field To Brewhouse". It has me itching to try malting at home. The author give a primer on home malting at the end of to book. It can be done with very little equipment on a small scale (>15 lbs) but it's seems like a lot of work is involved. Regarding the rest of the book, he emphasizes the need for quality grain throughout. Regarding feed grade barley, he seems to indicate that malting quality barley is very sought after in today's market, so anything feed grade has probably been rejected by the maltsters. Considering the work involved, I think if I were to try home malting, I would seek out the highest quality barley I could find.

 

[Oginme]

As a member of the agricultural community, I would say don't use it.

reasons:

(1) The barley is unmalted. In order to breakdown the starches into usable sugars, the barley needs to be malted to make the enzymes available for use.

(2) Many feedstock items for agriculture are treated to prevent biological and enzymatic activity to happen when in storage. If not treated, moisture could promote bacterial activity which would lead to excess heat produced (leading to potential hazards) and/or mold growth.

(3) Grains used for animal feed tend to be of different quality (higher protein varieties) than what is used for malting, brewing and distilling.

To me it would not be worth the risk and expenditure of effort.

 

[trentm]

As a member of the agricultural community, I would say don't use it.

reasons:

(1) The barley is unmalted. In order to breakdown the starches into usable sugars, the barley needs to be malted to make the enzymes available for use.

(2) Many feedstock items for agriculture are treated to prevent biological and enzymatic activity to happen when in storage. If not treated, moisture could promote bacterial activity which would lead to excess heat produced (leading to potential hazards) and/or mold growth.

(3) Grains used for animal feed tend to be of different quality (higher protein varieties) than what is used for malting, brewing and distilling.

To me it would not be worth the risk and expenditure of effort.

Do you have suggestions for barley sources for someone wanting to give malting a try. I would like to find the best quality malting barley possible. Expense is not really a concern (to a point). I think that going through the process would help me better understand malt and improve my brewing. Searching the internet, only two sources are available, feedstock and seed. It seems like organic seed barley from a proven malting variety would work. Thoughts.

 

[Oginme]

Do you have suggestions for barley sources for someone wanting to give malting a try. I would like to find the best quality malting barley possible. Expense is not really a concern (to a point). I think that going through the process would help me better understand malt and improve my brewing. Searching the internet, only two sources are available, feedstock and seed. It seems like organic seed barley from a proven malting variety would work. Thoughts.

I would recommend checking with commercial seed companies. I know that Johnny's Select Seeds has malting barley in their catalog. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/search.aspx?searchterm=barley&isusersearch=1

 

[Kirkwooder]

I would recommend checking with commercial seed companies. I know that Johnny's Select Seeds has malting barley in their catalog. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/search.aspx?searchterm=barley&isusersearch=1

Between $5 and $6 a pound for the seed that you need to malt or less that a buck for barley already malted. Pretty easy math.....

 

[Roman1776]

If its just barley, you can use it. You have to malt it first. Does it look clean? An or is it all broken up?

 

[Roman1776]

I bought barley from my local feed mill, i malted it by putting it into my mash ton, let it soak in water 4to 8 hours drained it an let it sit for another 4 to 8 hours with out water. Then just repeated the process til the barley started to chit. Then i placed it in a pail on its side and let it sprout for bout 2 to 4 days (turned the pail every 4 to 6 hours or so and kept it moist). Once that was done i placed it into a pillow case, and put it in the clothes dryer for 3 to 4 hours (took out the lint catcher). Then done

 

[ghohn]

Just as Roman said, malting it isn't all that difficult. Just a few days and probably about an actual hour of real work. I never went as far as using a clothes dryer (I didn't have one in Korea) but I malted barley for about 3 years. Unkilned I believe this is called 'wind malt'. Makes for grainy beer but it was the only beer I drank for 3 years so it wasn't that bad. FYI I averaged about 50% brewhouse efficiency with it (compared to 80 - 90%). Maybe I was doing it wrong, IDK.

 

[BlkWater_brewer]

Quick and easy answer is NO. The in depth answer is also NO. Could you end up with something resembling beer, maybe but sometimes free isn't free. Animal feed grain is not the same as brewing barley. I have 5 gallons of feed molasses, not meant for human consumption, but it's still molasses.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

Do not get the seed form a seed company. Find where it grows and go to the man who grows it. Purchase the barley from him on the farm. This is where you can get the best deal. I know a guy who use to raise barley here and he would have given me all I needed by the bushel. My grand dad use to cut barley in CO on the harvest. Might be able to purchase some from a coop or other grain buyer's where ever it is grown.

 

[BobBailey]

As long as it's Jimmy (tm) Brand cracked corn, I don't care.

Them young city boys never heard of Jimmy Crack Corn and I don't care either

 

[Rowdy50]

Well I've learned that spent grains are not a complete chicken food. My 5 girls love the spent grains, but I gave them too much of it last brew-day and ended up with some soft-shelled eggs.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

I doubt that the one day did that. Sounds like you need some oyster shell or some laying mash. Our birds get all the spent grains and I never have soft shells. Most of the time ours get twenty pounds of spent grain a week.

 

[vanishingpint]

Copper have your friend give you some chickens,feed them the barley,have eggs for breakfast.

 

[MaxStout]

I wouldn't brew with that. Not a chance. You don't know if it's clean, you don't know what additives are in it, and it's not malted anyway.

Put it in your bird feeders.

 

[RM-MN]

I live on a farm and I raise grains. While it is possible that your grains have been treated it isn't real likely. Grain buyers either won't take grain that isn't dry or they will dry it before putting it into a bin. Dry grain doesn't need treatment to keep. It won't mold.

Unmalted grain does have its sugars locked up inside but mixing it with malted grain in the mash provides the necessary enzymes to convert the starches in the unmalted grain to sugars for fermenting. I do that every year with some of my grain. Pale malt can convert about twice its weight in unmalted grain. Go ahead and put some of the chicken feed into the mash (milled of course). Don't worry about how clean it is, you're going to boil the wort which will kill the bacteria and then you'll leave the beer in the fermenter until the yeast settles which will take any dirt that was on the grain down to the bottom with it. If you were raising grain like I do you would displace the pale malt that sells for a dollar a pound with unmalted grain that sells for 10 cents a pound.