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B-Rad13

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So I was curious if I could brew a drinkable beer from animal feed grade grains. So I went to my local mill and bought the following at 50 pounds each. Whole oats crimped oats, wheat and barley.
My recipe consisted of 5 pounds of each
2 row
Wheat
Barley
Oats
Crimped oats.
10 gallons of water
I cooked it for a couple of hours and used some enzymes to convert. I got an initial gravity of 1045
I used Gemini and cashmere hops and the English ale I forget the name. It's currently fermenting away. I will post updates
Has anyone else tried this before
 
If grains are sold and labelled as unfit for human consumption, it's usually because they are unfit for human consumption. Either as a drink or as solid food.
 
I was just curious and wanted to see if I can make a beer from unmalted grains
It's possible, but it's tricky to manage the enzymes in a way that doesn't result in full attenuation or under attenuation. Also it will taste differently than beer from malt.
 
Eh I'm sure it won't kill me I boiled the crap out of it. Will see what happens
There are many things that wouldn't kill me but that I still avoid.

I'd be worried about pesticides, fungicides and other grain treatment that wouldn't be permitted for human food. This stuff will still be there after boiling.
 
It's possible, but it's tricky to manage the enzymes in a way that doesn't result in full attenuation or under attenuation. Also it will taste differently than beer from malt.
This is what I was curious about to see if unmalted grains would taste anything like a beer
 
used some enzymes to convert
Which ones?
5 pounds of each
2 row
Wheat
Barley
Oats
Crimped oats.
10 gallons of water
That's a lot of grain just to find out if it would work. I'd have probably gone to my local health food store and picked up half a pound of each of a few whole grains and done a one gallon batch.
 
There are many things that wouldn't kill me but that I still avoid.

I'd be worried about pesticides, fungicides and other grain treatment that wouldn't be permitted for human food. This stuff will still be there after boiling.
It's the same stuff we feed our chickens that we eat the eggs from. And we feed our horses with it too they are more sensitive to bad stuff than cows for what it's worth
 
Most feed grain is simply grain that hasn't had weed seeds removed from it. I have taken wheat and rye from my bins and used them to make beer. 2 row malted barley has sufficient enzymes to convert the starches in unmalted grain up to or over 50%.
It had a lot of straw particles and stuff in it. So do you think the 5 pounds of two row would be enough to convert the 15 pounds of other grains
 
Which ones?

That's a lot of grain just to find out if it would work. I'd have probably gone to my local health food store and picked up half a pound of each of a few whole grains and done a one gallon batch.
Go big or go home! joking this was like a whim thing I was getting feed for our horses and chickens I'm like what the heck I think it cost me 30 bucks and worse case I feed the rest to my animals
 
Ask yourself this: would a feed provider knowingly sell toxic feed to the owner of a horse worth two million dollars? To people whose livestock are pets? To people whose livestock go on to be eaten by human beings?

As a lawyer, I really hope they would!

I don't think they would, though. They have lawyers telling them not to.

The fact that a person can't digest a product doesn't mean it's full of dangerous chemicals. I can't digest grass. I can't eat bird seed. Hay is useless to me. Goats love weeds with thorns, but I can't eat them.
 
Ask yourself this: would a feed provider knowingly sell toxic feed to the owner of a horse worth two million dollars? To people whose livestock are pets? To people whose livestock go on to be eaten by human beings?

As a lawyer, I really hope they would!

I don't think they would, though. They have lawyers telling them not to.

The fact that a person can't digest a product doesn't mean it's full of dangerous chemicals. I can't digest grass. I can't eat bird seed. Hay is useless to me. Goats love weeds with thorns, but I can't eat them.

Different animals process things in different ways. We've actually had a discussion on this before in Debate. I gave you the example of how, while cows and horses have a similar diet, a product like rumensin, which is a feed additive for bovines on high grain diets, is pretty toxic to horses.

I don't know how that might apply to someone attempting to mash livestock feed and ferment/drink the resulting liquor, but it's a handy thing to remember as we go through life.
 
I think Bracc would have tried to brew tumbleweed and a pile of pine cones, given enough time... :mug:

Emoji Pour One Out GIF by GIPHY Studios 2022
 
So I was curious if I could brew a drinkable beer from animal feed grade grains. So I went to my local mill and bought the following at 50 pounds each. Whole oats crimped oats, wheat and barley.
My recipe consisted of 5 pounds of each
2 row
Wheat
Barley
Oats
Crimped oats.
10 gallons of water

Without cereal mashing the un-malted grains your efficiency will be low.

Assuming you milled (crushed) each grain? Raw unmalted wheat is very hard to mill (and hard on the mill!), especially a small homebrew mill.

Did you strain the mash using a BIAB, or some type of cooler mash tun?

I cooked it for a couple of hours and used some enzymes to convert. I got an initial gravity of 1045

1.045 for what volume?

I used Gemini and cashmere hops and the English ale I forget the name. It's currently fermenting away. I will post updates
Has anyone else tried this before

This has been done before and is fairly common practice to use small amounts of unmalted grains in a mash. The ratio of unmalted to malted grains (20 lbs of unmalted to 5 lbs of malted - 4:1) in your recipe is quite high and may result in a dextrinous (i.e. thick) beer with low efficiency in the mash.

To mitigate this you can add amylaze or amyloglucosidase in your mash (or fermenter) to continue breaking down the starches.

Malted grains are washed and then steeped, where-as the grain you purchased was most likely not washed. This might result in more bugs, stones, chaff and straw in your mash (not-a-big-deal).

Levels of mycotoxins for feed grains depends on their intended targets and type of grain (beef cattle, chicken, etc...) and might be slightly higher than malted grains which tend to decrease through the malting process.

25 lbs of grain for a 1.045 OG won't be cost effective.

In then end it's an interesting exercise and a learning experience. Let us know what you come up with.
 
Extra protein to ensure a tall head on your beer?

Instead of rice hulls?

I took time to screen my grain and used a fan to blow the straw and chaff away. I still got some bug parts.

Fanning mills do remove most of the debri but some still sneaks through. Not quite as clean as the steeped malt. But yeah, as I stated and you seem to already know, it's no big deal.
 
if you have the ability to make all grain beer, then its already cheap as it is.

i think sacks of grain are on sale like a dollar a pound if you buy bulk. hops dollar an ounce if you buy by the pound sometimes much less.

you likely already have water if your mashing now.

yeast isnt bad if you repitch. cellar science are like 4 dollars a pack and you can repitch over and over again,

even using new yeast everytime. i can make a 5 gallon batch of beer for under 20$

thats less than a dollar a bottle.
 
If you want to go as cheap as possible and can trust your feeding grain to be fit for human consumption, then I would suggest the following.

Buy yourself chit malt. This one is extremely high in enzymes. You can safely use it at a rate of 30% of the grist and the rest as unmalted grains. I've done that with spelt flour (search for "hazy cheapskate"), it works like a charm. I bet you could further reduce the amount of malt if prolonging the mash time at the same time.

This way, you can make sure that you don't run in over- or under attenuation that easily.
 
Yeah... boy did my heart jump when i read this title! It's like the spirit of Braccy has returned!
Remember- he would get bulk livestock feed BUT he then would home malt it... usually in an oven, but there was my favorite thread where he was refurbing an old dryer.... ahh, the memories.

@Kent88 ... you read my mind. Great post.

@B-Rad13 search for his posts.. (i'm on my phone and tied up for time, otherwise i'd link them). He gave MANY guides and ideas on this same topic.
His cost was about $0.05 or less per ounce of beer... and he was always working on getting it cheaper!
 
His cost was about $0.05 or less per ounce of beer... and he was always working on getting it cheaper!
Cheaper yes. Better? Maybe not so much. His primary goal seemed to be maximum alcohol for minimum cost. Lots of fun reading though if you've got the time.
 
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You might consider that stuff is probably infested with grain beetles, which will spread to every accessible grain store you own.
 
You might consider that stuff is probably infested with grain beetles, which will spread to every accessible grain store you own.
OP says he got the idea while getting feed for his horses and chickens, so he's going to have that problem to deal with whether he brews with the stuff or not. I would assume that someone who has enough space for horses and chickens also has enough space to keep the feed grains far away from other stores.
 
I wouldn't be afraid of feed barley, but wouldn't be inclined to use it either. There was a push a few years ago to promote malting-grade barley here in Ohio. I knew a few farmers who planted barley for a couple of years, but their harvests were often downgraded to feed level (and not profitable) primarily due to excessive protein levels.
 
Eh I'm sure it won't kill me I boiled the crap out of it. Will see what happens
Most bird/animal feed is treated with fungicide. I'm not sure what kind of fungicide, and it probably won't kill you, but not knowing what it is would bother me.
 
Unfortunately my local feed mill doesn't carry barley. They do have plenty of corn, wheat, and rye.

I home malted the wheat and rye which adds quite a bit more effort, but greatly improves its usability. I've used the corn numerous times, but the oil in the germ does affect head and the grain didn't store well. It's fine for spirits though...

With corn at $0.12/lb, wheat at $0.25/lb, and rye at $0.40/lb, you can certainly cut ingredient costs.
 
Without cereal mashing the un-malted grains your efficiency will be low.

Assuming you milled (crushed) each grain? Raw unmalted wheat is very hard to mill (and hard on the mill!), especially a small homebrew mill.

Did you strain the mash using a BIAB, or some type of cooler mash tun?



1.045 for what volume?



This has been done before and is fairly common practice to use small amounts of unmalted grains in a mash. The ratio of unmalted to malted grains (20 lbs of unmalted to 5 lbs of malted - 4:1) in your recipe is quite high and may result in a dextrinous (i.e. thick) beer with low efficiency in the mash.

To mitigate this you can add amylaze or amyloglucosidase in your mash (or fermenter) to continue breaking down the starches.

Malted grains are washed and then steeped, where-as the grain you purchased was most likely not washed. This might result in more bugs, stones, chaff and straw in your mash (not-a-big-deal).

Levels of mycotoxins for feed grains depends on their intended targets and type of grain (beef cattle, chicken, etc...) and might be slightly higher than malted grains which tend to decrease through the malting process.

25 lbs of grain for a 1.045 OG won't be cost effective.

In then end it's an interesting exercise and a learning experience. Let us know what you come up with.

Fanning mills do remove most of the debri but some still sneaks through. Not quite as clean as the steeped malt. But yeah, as I stated and you seem to already know, it's no big deal.
Good enough for my chickens good enough for me. Honestly this is what makes it fun for me just winging it following recipes and rules takes the fun out of it for me. So far I have done pretty good I haven't thrown away anything. The only thing I might throw away is the quick brew stuff I bought from more beer that stuff was no good well to be fair one was ok but one sucked don't ask me which was which
 
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