Compost Tea Recipe

To me, compost tea is part of my composting addiction.  I think I love to compost so much, because I have to drag our trash container 200 feet down a steep hill on garbage collection day, and it is easier to drag a half-filled container than one filled over the top that does not allow the top to close (then the crows, squirrels, and other critters have a go at what's in there, making a mess before the truck arrives).

We have a rather large compost heap with two windrows of cold compost and three garbage cans using the 14-day hot compost method that I previously sent a link to.

Here it is again for those that cannot find it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDPAbkUUT-o

Again, we substitute ingredients in this method, choosing nutritional or brewer's yeast, succanat, and chicken poop in place of beer and soda.  We have just started replacing the ammonia with alfalfa.

This alone is a great compost tea in itself, but we are nuts for fortification, so we add the following.

A handful of humus scraped from our woods
Extra alfalfa meal
Kelp meal
Extra yeast
Extra succanat
Bragg's Liquid Amino's
Fish Hydrolysate
Worm Castings

We then fill our burlap bag (we got this from Boogie Brew when we ordered their compost tea 3 years ago).  I would estimate it is about 5 pounds of formula.

This goes into a 32-gallon garbage container filled about 80% full of water.

Because our water here is poisoned with chloramine, we use 2 grams of vitamin c crystals to separate the ammonia and chloride ions in the water, and we let it sit outside for 2 days to outgas. 

After not getting the best results with aquarium pumps and air stones in our 5-gallon buckets, we bought a stronger pump at Harbor Freight.  The baby is about 10 times more powerful than the aquarium pumps you see Youtubers using in their compost tea videos.

We cover the container loosely to keep the foam from going over the top, but leave it open enough for fresh air to get through.

Importantly, you need a temperature between about 68 and 74 degrees, so we brew this in our garage in the Spring and Summer, where the temperature stays about 65 degrees.  By opening a garage door, it raises the temperature up to about 72. 

We then brew it for two days, beginning about 6:30 AM on a Thursday so it will be ready at 6:30 AM on Saturday.

We fill a sprayer with full strength compost tea, and then we dilute the rest by adding one gallon of tea to 3 gallons of water and begin quickly using the tea on all our crops.  My wife pours the tea on the crops, while I follow behind to foliar spray with the sprayer.

It is important to fully clean all the parts so that bad organisms don't form on them.

Here is the guru that got me hooked on the process.  His name is Bruce Deuley.

http://dchall.home.texas.net/organic/teamaker/PDFs/brewer.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGISMHOCuhU&feature=player_embedded

research on compost tea

Promoting plant growth with Compost Teas

Plant growth promotion with compost extract

for deeper thought


The Compost Tea brewing Manual

Bump

has55 wrote:

Have you tried Boogie Brew?  I just started watching John's videos (GrowingYourGreens.com) and learned about Josh's BB.  I'm in the experimental phase of various ingredients along with my compost, and very much a newbie to compost tea.  BTW, I've learned so much from John, along with a few other organic gardeners on YouTube.

I like boogis brew one stop brewing. simple and easy to use. Let me know your results. I'm working with dr. Ingham program and seeing if I can cut back on tea brewing. will keep you updated this year. I decided I rather use boogie brew if I'm going to make tea. it 's product is alive.

has55 wrote:I like boogis brew one stop brewing. simple and easy to use. Let me know your results. I'm working with dr. Ingham program and seeing if I can cut back on tea brewing. will keep you updated this year. I decided I rather use boogie brew if I'm going to make tea. it 's product is alive.

Yes, please keep me updated.

I am in the process of building a new Compost Tea Brewer to replace my old 5 gallon bucket & air stone - I am gathering the parts to build this trash can brewer developed by the Oregon State University. 

Watch video describing the compost tea brewer Here

Download PDF file with parts list & instructions Here or Here

I built it. it works well. have not used it this season. preparing to start in Sept. I found it simple to clean.

has55 wrote:I built it. it works well. have not used it this season. preparing to start in Sept. I found it simple to clean.

Did you find it best to glue the pipe fittings, or do they hold adequately by just pushing them together?  Seems with use they would get loose. I was thinking with the down pipe that goes into the compost bag of using a T-Fitting with pipe thread and screwing the pipe into it. Might be an overkill, though.

I did it!  I finally bought an air pump to make compost tea. I'm only making 2 gallons as I can't lift the 5-gallon bucket (food grade) if it's too full.

Questions: 1. I'm going to make a compost bag - do I use costume tulle or bridal tulle? 2. To prevent clogging the spray bottle, what do you use for straining? 3. If I use 2 large handful of homemade compost to 2 gallons of chlorine free water, can I use it full strength or should it be diluted? TYIA

Send a man to buy an air pump for a 5 gallon bucket and he will buy the next size up!

sanderson wrote:I did it!  I finally bought an air pump to make compost tea.  I'm only making 2 gallons as I can't lift the 5-gallon bucket (food grade) if it's too full.

Questions: 1.  I'm going to make a compost bag - do I use costume tulle or bridal tulle?  2.  To prevent clogging the spray bottle, what do you use for straining?  3.  If I use 2 large handful of homemade compost to 2 gallons of chlorine free water, can I use it full strength or should it be diluted?  TYIA

Send a man to buy an air pump for a 5 gallon bucket and he will buy the next size up!    

Sanderson, I would buy my bag from here or use a paint strainer. everything is contained and easy clean up. this way you have pure strained compost tea for your spray bottle.



1. Where to buy a mesh bag for containing the compost



On the World Wide Web



strainer bag





or make your own bag from a 2- gallon paint strainer sack. I think it cost 50cents to 1.00



3.  If I use 2 large handful of homemade compost to 2 gallons of chlorine free water, can I use it full strength or should it be diluted? 

I would look in the teaming with microbes book. either way will work, but I think the book has the ratios. Jimmy Cee may know.

sanderson wrote:Questions: 1.  I'm going to make a compost bag - do I use costume tulle or bridal tulle?  2.  To prevent clogging the spray bottle, what do you use for straining?  3.  If I use 2 large handful of homemade compost to 2 gallons of chlorine free water, can I use it full strength or should it be diluted?  TYIA
 

The easiest (and cheapest?) thing is to buy a paint strainer bag from Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.  They come in 1 gallon and 5 gallon sizes, and cost something like $2.50 for 2 of them.  They last forever, too.

I use it full strength as a soil drench.  I've been told you can't use too much of it, so I've never diluted it.

sanderson wrote:I did it!  I finally bought an air pump to make compost tea.  I'm only making 2 gallons as I can't lift the 5-gallon bucket (food grade) if it's too full.

Questions: 1.  I'm going to make a compost bag - do I use costume tulle or bridal tulle?  2.  To prevent clogging the spray bottle, what do you use for straining?  3.  If I use 2 large handful of homemade compost to 2 gallons of chlorine free water, can I use it full strength or should it be diluted?  TYIA

Send a man to buy an air pump for a 5 gallon bucket and he will buy the next size up!    

Bountea Compost Tea Brewer 5gal ($79.95)



I forgot to tell you that I think this is the best air dispenser for 5-gallon bucket. it pricey, but so easy to use and clean. you just pop it over the side of the bucket and you done for a 12-24 hrs. when finish making the tea, you can fill the bucket with fresh water and run it for ten minutes to clean or screw off the filter and hand scrub the inside and outside with a brush. The air stone has the tendency to collect the compost tea residue inside the stony surface making it difficult to clean, thus spreading some old contaminates into your next batch of tea. If you use them please do the same thing as above and air dry but allowing the ait pump to send air through it. you should do this also with the bountea air filter.                
Your DH may be able to put this set up together at home. Their air pump makes a good air/water turbulence in the bucket. Bountea uses a paint sreen for screening the material.

Got my new Compost Tea Brewer built today. A total cost of $18.75 for the pipes & fittings, and a new 1/2" plastic hose for the pump. I have a pump already, so didn't have to buy another of those. I spent more than I needed to on the brass hose fittings, but I wanted to be able to disconnect the pump and store it in the tank when not in use. The tank was free, so didn't have to buy a Brute trash can. I had seen a lot of brine tanks sitting outside the local water softener company, so I stopped to see if I could buy one, and he told me to take as many as I want since they are all free for the taking.  I picked out a 15 gallon tank that was in like new condition. All I had to do was take out screen, float, and other parts and then clean the salt residue out of the tank. After fitting it with the air pipes, it will hold about 12 gallons of water. The tank is food grade plastic.

After letting it set for the glue & silicone sealant to cure, I'll make the first batch of Compost Tea in it tomorrow evening and have it ready to apply to the gardens 24 hours later....


The finished brewer tank with the pump hose attached.



The brewer tank open



 The PVC pipes, with 1/16" holes 1/2" apart on all of the bottom pipes.

I like that setup. It looks great. KISS.

has55 wrote:I like that setup. It looks great. KISS.

I like Simple - even if us engineers are frequently accused of making simple things complicated.

Had to make a mod to the brewer - when I started setting up the brewer to make the first batch of Compost Tea, I discovered there was nothing to hang the paint strainer bag of compost on.  Found a bent tie rod from an old riding mower that was just the right size. Drilled holes in each side of the tank, slid the rod through them, drilled a hole in each end of the rod and put pins through them to ensure the rod couldn't vibrate out, and it was ready to go.  I used the recipe from Oregon State Univ - 5 cups of worm castings, 5 Tbs of Molasses, 5 Tbs of Liquid Kelp, and 5 Tbs of Fish Fertilizer.

I had set 12 gallons of water out in sun earlier in the day to warm up - the well water is pretty cold. Filled the tank with the warmed water, plugged in the pump, added the liquids to the water, and suspended the bag of worm castings and clipped to the rod. Hopefully, this will create some really rich compost tea!

The air pump is creating a lot of turbulence in the water, so the microbes should be getting plenty of air.



After the brewer had been running for about 3 hours, I noticed that the air coming through the tube from the pump was warm, so thought I'd check the temps with the infrared thermometer.

The pump itself was 107°


The plastic tube between the pump and the tank was 87°


The temp of the water in the brewer was 75°


So, it appears that the compost tea is just the right temperature allow maximum multiplication of the microbes.

So far, I am happy with the design of this compost tea brewer. I am hoping for a big batch of rich compost tea - the most I have ever done before is 5 gallon bucket with an air stone, and this is a great improvement over that.

If you look at Jimmy's work on compost tea, I believe he says that the more bubbles it forms, the better it is. Looks like you got some decent bubble action going on.....

Looks good.

I've postponed making tea twice now. The smoky air is back and when I make the tea, I also need time for spraying.