Brewing my first batch of tea

[Ripshot]

While on my travels the other day I happened on a pet store that was going out of business. 40% off everything says the sign the guy is holding at the side of the road.

Now Ive been reading up on making compost teas lately and im interested in the way they feed the soil, create benificial fungi and whatnot, but I havent had the cash to spend on the equiptment like air pumps, hose and stones.

So I go into the store and sure enough, find a decent air pump for a 30 gallon tank, double outlets, 12 bucks.

ugly clam shell shaped blue airstones, two bucks a piece.

16 feet of airline, 4 bucks.

Pretty sweet deal. Their loss is my gain.

Any way i went home and started a batch of tea in a 5 gallon bucket. filled the bucket up with water from my well. Butchered a piece of mesh from an old tent thats been lying around for a decade, and filled it with some composted chicken manure and barley straw. added a few tablespoons of blackstap molasses, tied the pouch to a stick and turned on the pump.



Its been brewing for about 24 hours now. Dosent really smell strong, smells faintly of earth. today I went out and bought a bag of worm castings, and added about a cup straight to the water. Ive removed the pouch too.

but something dosent seem right, there is no foam building at the top and it dosent seem to be getting darker in color or anything.

I think the problem is the temperature is too cold. As you can see here, its about 19 degrees.



another thing that puzzels me is the ph of this stuff. seems way high. Ive thought about adding some ph down to it but wouldnt that kill the bacteria and fungi and therefore defeat the purpose of the tea? or will the ph drop as the bacteria take hold?

Im not sure if im gona feed this batch to my 4 blackberry plants or not. I could always dump this batch on something in my vegtable garden.

heres a shot of my 4 girls. Ive been feeding them 5-1-1 fish emulsion for their whole lives, and flushing with plain water every other time. the water I use for my fertilizer is creek water, and it tests out to 6.5 after adding the ferts. I havent been adding any ph up or down.



Any input would be appreciated.

 

[habeeb]

beautiful plants

seems to me that pump is not enough air for the microbes? frome learned is foam does not always = good tea..

check this page for more info on air pumps and the sort: http://www.microbeorganics.com/#So_You_Wanna_Build_A_Compost_Tea_Brewer

 

[rideherj]

dont worry about the ph... organic teas dont work the same way the other nutrients work.. your feeding the microbes in the soil and not the plants when you make organic teas.. the microbes feed the plant and the ph has less effect on the absorbtion of the nutrients... let the tea brew for 24-36 hrs and consider some kelp in the mix. dont worry about the ph and enjoy the results

 

[Ripshot]

its a hagen elite 802 pump. Putting out 3.5 psi and 1500 x 2 cc/minute. whatever that means. suprised to learn that its not providing enough DO, the water is really churning in there. Thanks for your input.

 

[Ripshot]

I speculate that I have not added enough molasses to the 5 gallons of water. Ive gotten ahold of little measuring cups that measure tbs,drams,fl oz, cc, and ml up to 30 ml.

Ive dumped this batch onto 3 of my smallest pumpkin mounds and bleached the whole unit out to start again. I measured 5 tbs into the water, Alot more than I added the first time. I added a small handful of composted chicken manure, and a cup of worm castings, this time without the pouch.

I cannot get ahold of any of these fancy guanos or kelp meals unless I order them. Nearest hydro shop is an hour away and im not even sure they carry those kind of organic nutes.

Things I can get ahold of for free are alf alfa, barley straw, oats, chicken compost and cattle compost.

 

[habeeb]

^ yeah, most learn there is more to teas then 123

I suggest you get a DO meter if making teas as the DO will tell you exactly what oxygen level your tea is at. I believe my KIS brewer is at 8.8

also I believe that the microbes have a harder time "pulling up the PH" then "pulling down the PH". I believe I read this in a book somewhere and forgot the source, but if it is true, would be good information to people who do not have there "organics" up to par so the microbes don't have as hard a time.. .....

 

[charles_bronson]

where can DO meters be found for cheap? what are the ideal ranges?? is there any difference for bacteria vs. fungus

 

[Clackamas Coot]

The ones that I've seen which are professional-level models start @ $250.00 and the sky is the limit. You might check on CraigsList or eBay and look under aquarium supplies. They're a necessity on saltwater tanks and especially on the high-end of that hobby, the reef systems.

HTH

 

[JackKerouac]

Did you gas off the chlorine before you added the ingredients? That would kill the beneficials.

I would bubble it for a week or more. FloraBlend by Genhydro allows the bacteria to thrive and die so it becomes shelf stable and still gives all the beneficial nutrients and metabolites. It's great stuff. As much as I love beneficial bacteria, if the mix is off, bubble it until it is stable.

 

[Ripshot]

by gas off do you mean let it dry completley before starting again? Cause I didnt. I just rinse until the smell of chlorine is gone.

What am I looking for to let me know its doing well after brewing for a while?

 

[habeeb]

to get rid of chlorine: take water in bucket and bubble for faster dissapation or let it sit for a day. I've heard the sun speeds up the process

also might want to check if you have chloramines with are one stage up form chlorine

DO meters are not cheap, and I bought mine from a scientific store. just type in DO meter in google. making sure you know, like everything DO meters require maintenance

 

[charles_bronson]

DO meters are not cheap, and I bought mine from a scientific store. just type in DO meter in google. making sure you know, like everything DO meters require maintenance

hmmm. i might just wait until i feel like im running into problems before i unnecessarily complicate things. if anything, i just wanna make sure i dont have too much oxygen. cause not enough isn't a problem with the new pump i bought. ill keep it in mind down the road when i really wanna dial it in, broke now.

 

[neongreen]

No need for all that. He said it was well water.

IMO there was probably nothing wrong with that brew, except as others said, it probably wants more DO to be really effective.

Also, why waste money on a DO meter? Just spend 1/2 or a 1/4 of the money on the biggest capacity pump you can find for a reasonable price, and the problem will be solved.

Ideally IMO, buy a pump that's no too hard on the microbes, and rig it up so it drops water into the bucket from a few feet up.

But by far the best thing to do would be to buy a KISS brewer if you can. I would myself, but shipping it here would cost a fortune!

 

[Ripshot]

I was under the impression that most 5 gallon pail tea makers were using aquarium pumps and airstones. I dont have extra cash to spend on anything better.

If I wasant supplying enough DO wouldnt the brew start to smell bad? That last batch that I dumped on the pumpkins smelt sweet and earthy. This batch, smells the same, but with a rum smell to it from the proper amount of molasses added.

One thing I am noticing is one article says dont brew for more than 36 hrs, another says brew for days, and JackKerouac suggests a week or more. It would make sense to me, that the growth of bennificial fungi and bacteria would be regulated by the temperature of the brew. The colder the brew, the longer it takes.

But how can you tell? smell? color? viscosity?

 

[habeeb]

nope, people think they can make tea with a air pump but as we all know how much information is wrong.. hell I could be wrong for all anyone knows..

it might have smelled good because of the molasses and whatever you added to it, it didn't have time to breakdown ?

there is a point where the microbes will use up all the food and you would have to add more, most state it's 24 hours. yeas colder temps will take longer.

but they more you read the more you will find out tea's are a "new" thing and the information being spread is far from the truth. if you want an easy brewer save up and pick up a KIS brewer for simplicity , but I understand cash being tight and if you think hard enough you might just end up with what you need...

 

[neongreen]

If I wasant supplying enough DO wouldnt the brew start to smell bad?

After a while it might. You're probably supplying enough DO so that the anaerobic (generally considered bad) microbes can't overwhelm the brew, but what you are trying to do is is supply enough DO so that the populations explode rapidly. Thats where the real benefit in brewing the modern way is. I don't think you get as good numbers of microbes and/or as diverse unless you give large amounts of DO, and you have to brew for longer. Same with cooler temperatures as habeeb said.

The only real way to tell is to look at some under a microscope.

 

[Ripshot]

Well its been about 48 hrs now since I started the new batch. Everything looks good. Got a little bit of foam happening and everything smells good, smells fresh and earthy.



Im gona go for it and dump this batch on my plants this evening after the sun hits the tree line. We will see what happens, thanks for all the input.

 

[Microbeman]

19 C is an ideal temperature
You should double up on your pumps or use half the water next time
Generally higher pH = higher bacterial; lower pH = higher fungi
I don't know why anyone mentioned chlorine when you are using well water
Don't brew longer than 48 hours
Don't add anything like Florablend (waste of $)
kelp meal for feeding horses/cattle works as well as anything

 

[WJS]

I think chlorine is mentioned because he rinsed his bucket with bleach......

Which is not necessary btw.

 

[B.C.]

hmm...

hmm...

If I'm not mistaken, the more molasses that gets used, the more air you need to supply for the bigger bloom of bacteria. Am I remembering correctly Microbeman? BC