Beer from Horse Feed?

[RubenAlonzo]

Hi all, I was watching a video the other day on how to go about making moonshine and the fellow used horse feed (Onate Feed Co.) sweet feed. He cooked it with water for an hour then let it cool, strained it, added sugar and yeast then set it aside to ferment. Ten days later it had stopped fermenting, he then went about the extra steps to making shine.

MY question is this: Couldn't we just just take that and bottle it at the stage where it actually stops fermenting and bottle it? Would it make some kinda of "beer" at this stage after conditioning for 2 weeks or so?

This is not a prank question, I am really curious if anyone has done this and how it has tasted or if there is some reason this liquid gets cooked into shine rather than just getting bottled. Is it the ABV 'proof' they are after besides the obvious "I made 'Shine!" or is it simply not drinkable?

 

[Bobby_M]

Cooking corn and adding sugar does not make wort.

 

[passedpawn]

No idea what horse feed is, but one of the shampoos my wife uses is some horse mane and tail stuff. So if she can use a horse product, maybe you?

Go ahead and make beer from it and report back here. I don't have high hopes for you, and frankly I don't understand the motivation, but I've got this wife...

 

[BigMack]

I really am struggling to find the motivation behind this. You know what makes great beer? Malted barley. That I know for a fact.

 

[ChefRex]

No idea what horse feed is, but one of the shampoos my wife uses is some horse mane and tail stuff. So if she can use a horse product, maybe you?

Go ahead and make beer from it and report back here. I don't have high hopes for you, and frankly I don't understand the motivation, but I've got this wife...

PP, are you married to Sarah Jessica Parker?

 

[AkTom]

It would be something. Typically beer is made with malt and hops, so i don't know what you'd call it. Try it and let us know.

 

[Allenk]

Looks like someone has tried it before. I would suggest that you get 1/2 dozen brews under your belt before venturing into experimental ingredients. Also, hops are used for preservative properties & to suppress souring bacteria.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=279707&page=4

 

[Aristotelian]

The horse feed appears to be made mostly of oats and barley. That's good. However, the horse feed isn't malted, so you are going to have a lot less diastatic power than your typical 2-row base malt. I am guessing it will end up sweet and starchy without much alcohol. Maybe use the horse feed as you would flaked barley or flaked oats?

 

[RM-MN]

Add in about 30% by weight of malted barley for the diastatic power it has and you can get the horse feed to convert. Collect the wort and boil it with hops and you have beer. You might not know exactly what kind of beer you have but it would be drinkable. I've taken raw wheat and raw rye from the bin on my farm and used them as ingredients in my beer. Works out fine.

 

[RubenAlonzo]

Thank you all for the advice and tips. I'll stick to regular old brews.

 

[ChefRex]

Thank you all for the advice and tips. I'll stick to regular old brews.

Chicken

 

[BansheeRider]

Cooking corn and adding sugar does not make wort.

Tell that to Budweiser

 

[Magnus314]

Couldn't we just just take that and bottle it at the stage where it actually stops fermenting and bottle it? Would it make some kinda of "beer" at this stage after conditioning for 2 weeks or so??

Yes, and it's GROSS.

 

[Oginme]

As someone who raises livestock, I really have to say that making a wort out of livestock feeds is a really bad idea. While the main components may be something like corn, oats, and/or barley, there are usually a lot of other trace materials added such as minerals, vitamins, biologicals (which are currently under scrutiny by the USDA), trace metals, etc. While these may or may not affect you directly, there is no way to determine how much concentrating them in a boil will bring them up to a level which are not safe for consumption.

 

[ToddStark]

As someone who raises livestock, I really have to say that making a wort out of livestock feeds is a really bad idea. While the main components may be something like corn, oats, and/or barley, there are usually a lot of other trace materials added such as minerals, vitamins, biologicals (which are currently under scrutiny by the USDA), trace metals, etc. While these may or may not affect you directly, there is no way to determine how much concentrating them in a boil will bring them up to a level which are not safe for consumption.

Completely agree with the information above. Animal feed does not have the same guidelines as food for human consumption so you could have a lot of additives that are not even on the label.

 

[The_Professor]

Hi all, I was watching a video the other day on how to go about making moonshine.....MY question is this: Couldn't we just just take that and bottle it at the stage where it actually stops fermenting and bottle it? Would it make some kinda of "beer".....

I wish you would have posted a link to the video you are talking about. I have seen a number that do something like you describe. Supposedly making "moonshine" using a lot of sugar and unmalted corn or cornmeal.

Good whiskey like you would find in the store is made with malted grains and decent moonshine would be made with malted corn or grain as well. You would be correct that you sort of have beer before the distilling starts. I had read somewhere that is why making beer was kept illegal. Until you distill the mash you just say you are making beer. Although the whiskey "beer" may not be all that tasty.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTiSc5-EWbA[/ame]


[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61bam5ZrEH4[/ame]

 

[JimRausch]

Better watch out for somebody's big eyeball peeking in here. Priceless!

 

[Clearbeer1]

In South America the Peruvians make a beer from fermented corn called Chicha. Here is link to check it out. I understand it is pretty Harsh drinking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicha

 

[Magnus314]

You can sprout and ferment corn. It makes terrible beer.

You can also use malted barley and a little bit of corn or cornmeal and make beer out of it. It's ok.

But if you use horsefeed it tastes horrible and you wouldn't want or be able to drink it.

 

[jonny24]

I've taken raw wheat and raw rye from the bin on my farm and used them as ingredients in my beer. Works out fine.

I'm curious about this. Did you leave them raw and include them in the mash?
My dad works at a grain elevator so I have access to all the raw wheat, rye and corn I could ever want. The only processing they do is crushing though.

 

[RM-MN]

I'm curious about this. Did you leave them raw and include them in the mash?
My dad works at a grain elevator so I have access to all the raw wheat, rye and corn I could ever want. The only processing they do is crushing though.

Yes, I only cleaned out the weeds, straws, and grasshopper parts, then milled them with my malted barley. 2-row malted barley contains enough enzymes to convert a little over twice its weight in unmalted grain. I used about 60% wheat in a wheat beer, hit my OG and FG with that much. I wouldn't suggest you try that much unless you use a bag for your mash tun liner or BIAB because milling wheat or especially rye that fine to get good conversion will most likely give you trouble since neither of those grains have husks to form a filter bed. You might be OK with rice hulls but I just did my batches BIAB. I've also used cornmeal and white rice in a beer where I wanted a very light color.

 

[Mismost]

Feed Store around here sell Racehorse Oats and Racehorse Wheat...I have no idea how the beer would turn out, but....it has a cool built-in name already...Racehorse Beer!

 

[BGBC]

St Somewhere used 20% horse feed in their Cheval