Sweet Feed Mash - No sugar added

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River Rat
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Sweet Feed Mash - No sugar added

Post by River Rat »

I didn't do it.... yet. Looking for advice/opinions and there's plenty of that around here!
Using the search I was able to find one old dead thread about this but nobody seemed to ever try it.
I'm thinking of mashing some sweet feed with a little 6 row malt and making an "all grain" sweet feed whiskey. By all grain I just mean not adding any additional sugar. Anybody ever try it?

Would you get it hot enough to gel the corn (and possibly pull unwanted flavors from husks and such in the feed) or just mash around 150 and take whatever sugars you can get from the other grains?
Any issues with running molasses-coated grain through a roller mill?
I'm always game for some experiments, just wondering if I'm missing something here seeing as how nobody seems to do it. Seems to me you could treat it like any other AG recipe you've just got the added benefit of the molasses sugars and flavors.
I thank you all for any input.
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Re: Sweet Feed Mash - No sugar added

Post by Prairiepiss »

I wouldn’t put sweet feed through my roller mill. LoL
I would just do a all grain mash and add some molasses after the mashing.
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Re: Sweet Feed Mash - No sugar added

Post by 8Ball »

Make your own sweet feed with good corn, oats, and malted barley. Add the molasses afterwards as suggested earlier.

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Re: Sweet Feed Mash - No sugar added

Post by River Rat »

That's certainly an option and would keep from gumming up the roller mill. But I kind of like the "one stop shop" idea of buying sacks of sweet feed to make a good AG whiskey. Again, using the "all grain" term loosely. At that point the only thing I would have to get shipped in would be malted barley. I haven't gone down the malt your own grain rabbit hole just yet. Sweet feed is plentiful around here and molasses, surprisingly, is not.
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Re: Sweet Feed Mash - No sugar added

Post by Prairiepiss »

Most feed store sell cob and wet cob (sweet feed). So you can get it dry without molasses. And many feed stores sell molasses.
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Re: Sweet Feed Mash - No sugar added

Post by SassyFrass »

A long time ago I used an old hand cranked sausage grinder to sorta grind store bought sweet feed for an "AG" sweet feed likker. I seem to remember it did ok, but nothing to write home about. I assume it had a better taste but less product than adding sugar. I cant remember the numbers and I cant find my notebooks.
Sounds like it would be a worthwhile experiment and sweet feed will always be one of my favorite drops. The older I get, the better I like it.
Just my ramblings and .02
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Re: Sweet Feed Mash - No sugar added

Post by River Rat »

SassyFrass wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 6:53 am I used an old hand cranked sausage grinder to sorta grind store bought sweet feed for an "AG" sweet feed likker.
That's not a bad idea, I'm gonna give that a try. I've got one laying around collecting dust it's been so long since I ran a deer through it.

Thank you all for the suggestions. I'll mess around with this see what happens. I'm sure it'll taste good, just have to see if the final volume is worth the trouble or not.
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Re: Sweet Feed Mash - No sugar added

Post by Zeotropic »

A couple days before this thread was posted I was researching the same thing.
I think I found a sweet COB that will work and I intend to basically follow Booners casual all corn method.
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Re: Sweet Feed Mash - No sugar added

Post by River Rat »

Let us know how it goes for you Zeo and I'll do the same. You may get around to it before me. While researching this I found a local source for molasses and got side tracked experimenting with rum. Sweet feed mash is next on the list.
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Re: Sweet Feed Mash - No sugar added

Post by Zeotropic »


River Rat wrote:Let us know how it goes for you Zeo and I'll do the same. You may get around to it before me. While researching this I found a local source for molasses and got side tracked experimenting with rum. Sweet feed mash is next on the list.
Will do. It is below the all oats on my list so it will be a while but I will let you know how it goes.
I grind in a magic bullet mini blender so I think I will be able to grind it even though it is sticky. We will see.
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Re: Sweet Feed Mash - No sugar added

Post by stillanoob »

My understanding ( and I am just getting started with AG) is that the temperature to gelatinize the corn (190ish) would denature the enzymes in the barley. Since none of the grain in sweet feed is malted you are going to need serious additional enzymes to convert the starches. So, maybe try hitting the sweet feed with boiling water, give the corn time to gelatinize, allow to cool to 150 or so and add quite a bit of malted barley for enzymes. I'd use some Sebstar HTL during the 190 time then some Sebstar GL when around 150. Without something like that I think your conversion and extraction would be really low.
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Re: Sweet Feed Mash - No sugar added

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stillanoob wrote: Sat Jan 30, 2021 6:31 am So, maybe try hitting the sweet feed with boiling water, give the corn time to gelatinize, allow to cool to 150 or so and add quite a bit of malted barley for enzymes.
Yes sir that's my plan exactly.

I do have some Sebstar and Sebamyl on hand. Might do a batch only using malted barley and another one using malt and the liquid enzymes just to see how much difference it makes. Since starting this thread I was able to find more old threads about this that I had missed before. Like you said, it sounds like poor extraction/conversion is a common theme for some reason.
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Re: Sweet Feed Mash - No sugar added

Post by stillanoob »

River Rat wrote: Sat Jan 30, 2021 7:13 am
stillanoob wrote: Sat Jan 30, 2021 6:31 am So, maybe try hitting the sweet feed with boiling water, give the corn time to gelatinize, allow to cool to 150 or so and add quite a bit of malted barley for enzymes.
Yes sir that's my plan exactly.

I do have some Sebstar and Sebamyl on hand. Might do a batch only using malted barley and another one using malt and the liquid enzymes just to see how much difference it makes. Since starting this thread I was able to find more old threads about this that I had missed before. Like you said, it sounds like poor extraction/conversion is a common theme for some reason.
I'll be interested to hear about your results. I have a batch's worth of sweet feed kicking around and have been considering feeding it to the local wildlife. I guess I'll hold on to it for now. I'll try tossing a handful through my mill and see how much of a mess it makes.
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