J. Knife

[JacktheKnife]

Guys,

I know about malted grain,
and I ain't gona use this idea so don't worry.
But, as far as just alcohol...?
Making alcohol...
Just something to drink...
What would happen if I used feed?
Horse feed, oats, corn, or chicken feed?
Scratch...
Does the grain need to be malted in order for the yeast to eat it and excude the alcohol and oxygen...
and why so?

Cracked corn is less than .10 cents a pound.
I don't mean beer or ale,
I could name it something else.
????????????????????

But couldn't something...
An alcoholic drink made from feed be possible.
Rather than a dollar per store bought beer,
I can make homebrew for a dime!!
If I could use 'feed' I could make a beer or an ale for a penny???
+yeast, & hops


What am I overlooking here?

Thank Ya'll


J. Knife

 

[Turricaine]

Even if you could feasibly make a cheap as **** brew, would you actually want to put that stuff into your body??

 

[Sir Sudster]

Guys,

I know about malted grain,
and I ain't gona use this idea so don't worry.
But, as far as just alcohol...?
Making alcohol...
Just something to drink...
What would happen if I used feed?
Horse feed, oats, corn, or chicken feed?
Scratch...
Does the grain need to be malted in order for the yeast to eat it and excude the alcohol and oxygen...
and why so?

Yes you can do it buts a lot more work.
You'll have to step mash the grains.

I don't know about the Horse feed .
Chicken feed has ground bugs in it doesn't it?

Cracked corn is less than .10 cents a pound.
I don't mean beer or ale,
I could name it something else.
????????????????????

Well, Jimmie cracked corn and he didn't care!

But couldn't something...
An alcoholic drink made from feed be possible.
Rather than a dollar per store bought beer,
I can make homebrew for a dime!!
If I could use 'feed' I could make a beer or an ale for a penny???
+yeast, & hops

Yes, but I don't believe your going to like it. So why bother.

What am I overlooking here?

Thank Ya'll

J. Knife

Jack, if you just want something cheap then try making a fruit wine.
You can probably buy a bunch of cheap fruit at the farmers market .
Feed for animals probably has some things in it that wouldn't be good for humans. -Viruses ..Bacteria...Molds ....
Just not a good idea Jack.

 

[sudsmonkey]

Sorry to jump into this. I've wondered the same thing about horse feed. It has corn and oats and molasses. I agree with the point of not knowing about all of the ingredients, or whether or not there's mold or bacteria in it that could be harmful. Perhaps if you mashed and fermented it and then distilled it ( just to filter out the potential impurities) it might turn out O.K. Of course, you don't want to explain that to your local judge after you're picked up for operating a still.... Better to stick to brewing as we know it. You could buy grains from the local farmers. Hell, they'd probably give you enough corn and wheat to brew for a long time. Sure, DME costs more by volume than a bag of feed, but the manufacturer makes sure it's safe for human consumption.Better safe than sorry. If you do try it and live, be sure to post.

 

[DuallyBrew]

Don't forget about the rodents...

There's a reason every farm in the world has cats galore. You can't keep rodents out of feed. You want that, or more specifically, what's left behind, in your brew/body?

Hmmm You might be able to do SOMETHING about it. Remember tortilla factories are allowed a PPM value for rodent parts/droppings... So we all get "something" I guess ;-)

 

[homebrewer_99]

Don't forget about the rodents...

Remember tortilla factories are allowed a PPM value for rodent parts/droppings... So we all get "something" I guess ;-)

The same goes for almost every processing plant we get food from. Not just tortillas.

 

[Dark_Ale]

The same goes for almost every processing plant we get food from. Not just tortillas.

One way to tell get some sweet feed give it a shot. I dont think you would have to worry about about it being harmful. Just for an experiment I took just dark corn syrup made a one gallon trial batch. It took for ever to ferment, I brewed it just like a good brew, boiled for an hour using cascade 1oz 60min then 1oz at the end of the boil. I tasted at bottleing time was pretty bitter but anyway I am gonna try it tomorrow see what it taste like after some bottle conditioning

 

[JacktheKnife]

Boy ! That one got lots of 'feed' back.

 

[JacktheKnife]

Now yes, feed has bugs and mice turds in it, dirt whatever... but anything boiled will be sterile.

Knife

 

[Dark_Ale]

Now yes, feed has bugs and mice turds in it, dirt whatever... but anything boiled will be sterile.

Knife

Mice Turd Ale??????

 

[JacktheKnife]

A brilliant new name for an ale.
Mice turd ale, a good one.

Yeah, Hey.. ya'll, its clean... I boiled it real good!

Knife

 

[tnlandsailor]

I think it runs counter to homebrewing in general to make something from scratch that you "tolerate" because it's cheap. If it's bad, it's bad - I don't care if you got it for free. You can ferment just about anything, potato peelings, old fruit, hell, you can leave orange juice in the refrigerator for a month or two and get alcohol, but there's a reason it's not very popular - it tastes like ass.

If cheap is the goal, there are ways to get grain cheaper. Our club does bulk grain buys about twice a year from North Country Malt. Our last order was just a shade over 1700 lbs. The cost, including shipping, was about 50 cents a pound.

 

[JacktheKnife]

Thanks,

All of ya'll have given me ideas,
but as I sit here waking up from bottleing last night,
your idea of 'bulk purchasing' is really exciting.
I used to pay $2.25 a pound for syrup,
till I saw a 33lb container of pale syrup for $2.00 lb.

.50 a pound syrup is what is really getting my mind going this morning.
{Hmmm...}

My question about 'feed' was hypothetical anyway,

A big bulk purchase is the way to get ones ale cheaper.

I'l talk to Kelly and Gary at the 'store' and see what I can come up with.


Thanks J. Knife

 

[El Pistolero]

Now yes, feed has bugs and mice turds in it, dirt whatever... but anything boiled will be sterile.

A sterile mouse turd probably still tastes like a mouse turd, wouldn't you think?

 

[JacktheKnife]

Yup I recon it would,
but think...
In Deer season, 50 LB sacks of corn are $4.00
And their ain't no mouse turds in it,
or I didn't see any in my sacks last year.
And I would pick out the mouse turds anyway,
and one can always wash the 'stuff '.

However my question about 'feed' was hypothetical anyway,

Yesterday I went to the homebrew headquarters,
and asked old Gary about cheaper buys...
I can get a 300 LB barrel of pale syrup for about a dollar a pound!
Thats less than half of what I have been spending.

300 LB of syrup will brew 2,000 beers
That in turn would last me well over six months.
{Like seven}

I sure enjoy this forum, as it helps me in so many ways.
Like old Dan the master bladesmith,
I can learn more talking to him for 15 minutes...
than I can hammering on hot steel in my knife shop,
for a year.


Welp...
Coffee is all drank up...
Time for a homebrew

Later Yawl


J. Knife