ACV for Cattle

[The Idaho Herd]

Hello!! I would like to continuously brew ACV for my livestock. I have a 55gal food grade drum that I would like to brew in. Anyone else does this? I have a whole mess of crab apples if like to use. It has to be possible! thanks

 

[hottpeper13]

I don't know about ACV, but The Big Book of Kombucha states that feeding the scoby to horses it helped keep the flies down. There's always extra scoby and you can drink the tea and give it to the herd.

 

[Yooper]

Remember you have to do the alcoholic fermentation first, then add your acetic acid bacteria, so the acetobacter (and other bacteria) can convert it to vinegar instead of alcohol . You don't want drunk cows! (Or maybe you do, but that's not the point!).

So you'll want to add yeast likely, to make sure fermentation happens, and use an airlock to keep it clean, and then introduce your mother of vinegar once the alcohol fermentation finishes.

The reason is that acetobacter turns wine/fermented juice into vinegar by 'eating' the alcohol and then producing vinegar and water. If you have the means to do that, it should work with some time.

 

[Closet Fermenter]

Hello!! I would like to continuously brew ACV for my livestock. I have a 55gal food grade drum that I would like to brew in. Anyone else does this? I have a whole mess of crab apples if like to use. It has to be possible! thanks

Wow! I can’t imagine processing that many crab apples. Do you intend to press the crab apples, or do a ferment with the fruit?

Some folks core their apples before grinding and pressing; others don’t. I would definitely core them if you intend to ferment any length of time with the fruit. All seeds of fruit in the apple family contain cyanide. Honestly, I don’t know how soluble it is, but I wouldn’t take any chances.

 

[day_trippr]

All seeds of fruit in the apple family contain cyanide.

I wonder if it amounts to enough to be harmful. I once lived on a property with an extensive orchard that deer would pillage on the regular...

 

[Closet Fermenter]

I wonder if it amounts to enough to be harmful. I once lived on a property with an extensive orchard that deer would pillage on the regular...

Critters have a way of knowing their limits; those that don’t get eliminated from the gene pool.
I had a college professor whose son vomited and passed out from eating cheery plums, seed and all, from the trees that lined the street on his walk home from school. When he was late getting home, the professor went out and found him and saw the seeds in his vomit. Being a botanist, he recognized the issue right away and rushed him to the hospital. The folks where astonished when he insisted that he was suffering from cyanide poisoning, but quickly listened to his story and did so. The boy responded and recovered.
I have heard all my life that if you ever cut down a cherry tree, make sure your cows don’t have access to the leaves and tender stems. After they wilt a bit, they become lethal to cattle which eat it.
In fact, you can’t even raise a cherry tree in a flood plain. If the root zone stays saturated for even a few days, the trees undergo anaerobic respiration, something many trees can do short term, but with the cyanide in their cells, it hydrolyzes and is lethal to the tree itself.
Of course, cyanide is simply a single carbon triple bonded to a single nitrogen. Our bodies can break down small amounts over time as long as you don’t ingest too much too quickly. Lima beans have cyanide as well as well as most of the seeds of fruits in the Rosacea plant family.

My guess is, most seeds would pass through an animal undigested if they are just eating some of the fruit. My concern is if you were to chop/grind/etc and “mash” them in great quantity, like in the 55 gallon drum OP mentioned, you might get undesirable results. I wouldn’t risk my cows without getting more definitive information first.

 

[Agent]

Critters have a way of knowing their limits; those that don’t get eliminated from the gene pool.

Do we though? I spent many afternoons of my youth foraging chokecherries to the point I could barely swallow anymore. Then I'd crack open the pits and chew up all that intense cherry/almond goodness until my mouth went numb.

Too bad the chokecherries in my current area just don't have consistent yields.

 

[Closet Fermenter]

Do we though? I spent many afternoons of my youth foraging chokecherries to the point I could barely swallow anymore. Then I'd crack open the pits and chew up all that intense cherry/almond goodness until my mouth went numb.

Too bad the chokecherries in my current area just don't have consistent yields.

 

[hottpeper13]

My buddy ground the apples in a garbage disposal(new) then pressed them. The cider tasted good,was crisp and if you had enough to get a buzz you got a hammering hangover the next day. I thought it was from the seeds.
Boy that booch is looking pretty good.