Do I need to rinse molasses free beep?

[Flying Hearts]

The beep I get now has no molasses, do I still need to rinse it to get the sugars out, or is it ok just soaked? The water is a little dark when I rinse it, so I'm assuming that's the sugar and I need to rinse.... right?

[Cherry]

If it's molasses free and it's dark that's dirt you're seeing!!! I find that the molasses free is actually filthier in terms of dirt than the molasses shreds. I soak and rinse both of them.... ;)

[Evalee Hunter]

. . . . The water is a little dark when I rinse it, so I'm assuming that's the sugar and I need to rinse.... right?

No, it's NOT sugar. Beet pulp is VERY LOW in Non Structural Carbohydrates (NSC = Sugar & starch). The sugar manufacturers are very good at removing all the sugar - their business survival depends on it.

I also disagree with Cherry that the dust you see (sediment in the water) is dirt. It's just tiny beet pulp particles. I soak beet pulp but don't rinse it or drain it - just add water, let it soak a little while, feed.

[Melyni]

No you don't need to rinse it, just soak it.
MW

[Cherry]

I also disagree with Cherry that the dust you see (sediment in the water) is dirt.
Evalee, I like you! But I feel I have to tell you that it is dirt and sand--maybe not a ton of it, but after soaking I remove the beet pulp by hand into a strainer, and rinse it. What's ultimately left at the bottom of the original bucket are not particles of beet pulp.... ;) I'll collect it and if we ever meet you can see for yourself.... :yes: :winkgrin: I'm sure you'll agree that it's dirt.... :)

[Evalee Hunter]

Evalee, I like you! But I feel I have to tell you that it is dirt and sand--maybe not a ton of it, but after soaking I remove the beet pulp by hand into a strainer, and rinse it. What's ultimately left at the bottom of the original bucket are not particles of beet pulp.... ;) I'll collect it and if we ever meet you can see for yourself.... :yes: :winkgrin: I'm sure you'll agree that it's dirt.... :)

OK. Plainly I am an unconcerned horse mom because I have drained my beet pulp & didn't notice gritty dirt or sand. However, I drain by tipping the bucket over so I guess I would never know. The only stuff I've noticed running off was light weight & not gritty so I think it is beet pulp dust. Guess the dirt ended up in the bottom of the bucket for the horses to eat.

[Calvincrowe]

Cherry- I figure they eat plenty of dirt grazing or rooting through the run-in for that last piece of hay, so I've never rinsed my BP either. I don't find it to be very dirty, either. Maybe it is the manufacturer/brand??

[Seal Harbor]

I want to know where in the process the dirt and sand is coming from, the stuff should be clean! They extract the sugar (all of it) from the beet pulp by
a) Sugar beet:
The companies in the European sugar industry process some 110 million tonnes of beet every year, producing 17 million tonnes of sugar. However, beet processing in sugar factories generates not only sugar (representing about 14-16% of fresh sugar beet weight) but also a considerable number of other products which meet legislation, specifications and quality controls and which therefore fully meet the requirements for being classified as products.
The leading non-sugar product is thereby beet pulp, which is an excellent and long recognised cattle feed product which is highly appreciated by farmers due to its high energetic value. Beet pulp originates from cleaned and sliced sugar beets (so-called “cossettes”) when the sugar is dissolved with warm water. It is thus of pure plant origin. Beet pulp is either used as part of compound feed products or fed directly.

White beet sugar is made from the beets in a single process, rather than the two steps involved with cane sugar.


Harvesting
The beets are harvested in the autumn and early winter by digging them out of the ground. They are usually transported to the factory by large trucks because the transport distances involved are greater than in the cane industry. This is a direct result of sugar beet being a rotational crop which requires nearly 4 times the land area of the equivalent cane crop which is grown in mono-culture. Because the beets have come from the ground they are much dirtier than sugar cane and have to be thoroughly washed and separated from any remaining beet leaves, stones and other trash material before processing.


Pressing
The exhausted beet slices from the diffuser are still very wet and the water in them still holds some useful sugar. They are therefore pressed in screw presses to squeeze as much juice as possible out of them. This juice is used as part of the water in the diffuser and the pressed beet, by now a pulp, is sent to drying plant where it is turned into pellets which form an important constituent of some animal feeds.

Where in this process, where the stuff is immersed in water to extract the sugar AFTER the beets are washed, do they throw the dirt and stuff back in?

The sugar is for human food, left over pulp for animals. There is quality control. The crap might be getting into your bags of stuff from the people who bag it. I often get cotton seed and corn (which has to be picked out since my horse is allergic to corn), depends on what last went through the bagging machine, but no dirt or sand.

[Auventera Two]

There is a difference in dirt/sand sediments, and brown water. When you make coffee or hot tea and the water gets very brown, do you just assume it's DIRT making the water brown? Think about it. :cool: Tannins released into the water cause it to turn dark in color.

Beets are a very colorful vegetable full of pigment and it makes sense that that will end up in the water. "The color of red beetroot is due to a purple pigment betacyanin and a yellow pigment betaxanthin, known collectively as betalins. (This is unlike red cabbage, which contains the pigment anthocyanin)."

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Beet

Dirt+ water = sludge, slime, thick gloppy crap. Not pure clean water tained brown that looks like hot tea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tannin

Some of you guys tend to think that beets are just plucked out of the ground and ground up in shreds and thrown in a bag for your horses to eat. They go through such an extensive processing first, I have no idea how you think a ton of dirt and sand is ending up back on the beets before geting to your horses?! I have never found dirt and sand after I've soaked beet pulp.

[Tiki]

I use beet pulp pellets all the time. The water is dark, but clear. I have not ever, nor ever will rinse it. Sometimes it comes out 'too wet' The horses LOVE the 'beet pulp tea'.

[sk_pacer]

There is a difference in dirt/sand sediments, and brown water. When you make coffee or hot tea and the water gets very brown, do you just assume it's DIRT making the water brown? Think about it. :cool: Tannins released into the water cause it to turn dark in color.

Beets are a very colorful vegetable full of pigment and it makes sense that that will end up in the water. "The color of red beetroot is due to a purple pigment betacyanin and a yellow pigment betaxanthin, known collectively as betalins. (This is unlike red cabbage, which contains the pigment anthocyanin)."

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Beet

Dirt+ water = sludge, slime, thick gloppy crap. Not pure clean water tained brown that looks like hot tea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tannin

Some of you guys tend to think that beets are just plucked out of the ground and ground up in shreds and thrown in a bag for your horses to eat. They go through such an extensive processing first, I have no idea how you think a ton of dirt and sand is ending up back on the beets before geting to your horses?! I have never found dirt and sand after I've soaked beet pulp.

Beet pulp is not made from beetroot, the garden vegetable, which ranges from yellow to red to striped, but from sugar beet which is ranges from kind of yellow to pale orange. Some of the darkening of the water is due to dirt, not soil but residue from other things run through the mill in the case of pellets and through the bagger. I have found assorted plant materials in my pellets ranging from field peas, which my horses consider poison, to wheat grains to oats and even the odd corn kernel and sometimes alfalfa pellets but have never found residue sticking to the soaking pail which would indicate real dirt...er soil. Grain is dirty stuff as kernels shatter, shed bran or bits of hull in the case of oats and barley and if you don't believe me, come help clean bins here!!!LOL

[WalkInTheWoods]

The Cushings/IR blog over on yahoo recommends soaking and rinsing. Here is a quote from their site. "Beet Pulp - Rinse BP prior to soaking to remove surface contamination (Iron) until the water runs clear. Soak the BP in hot or cold water and rinse."

So are they saying to rinse it TWICE ?

[Flying Hearts]

I'm all for rinsing beet pulp normally, but I'm talking about molasses free beet pulp. I'm wondering if it still has a lot of sugar in it to rinse out - I tasted it after soaking/before rinsing and it tastes sweet...

[Katy Watts]

The Cushings/IR blog over on yahoo recommends soaking and rinsing. Here is a quote from their site. "Beet Pulp - Rinse BP prior to soaking to remove surface contamination (Iron) until the water runs clear. Soak the BP in hot or cold water and rinse."

So are they saying to rinse it TWICE ?

But that lot believes that iron from soil contamination is a problem, and nobody I can find with a degree in equine nutrition thinks that is an issue.

I grew sugar beets for a research trial once. The roots sometimes have twisting 'legs' that trap soil in the cracks and crevices. As the roots grow, some of this trapped soil gets embedded.
Katy