Re: [compost_tea] Re: cleaning machines

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 22:26:08 -0500

Reply to Chris -

What Chris wrote to me was different from what appeared to the whole group, so I have cut some of my reply here.

Hi Chris -

I was not accusing you of bad-mouthing. I was saying that I don't like to be told I have to bad-mouth someone when I have no evidence that they should be bad-mouthed. OK?

Your pictures from Bob's Brewer are quite useful. You should send them to Bob for him to look at and most likely do something about this. But expecting him to do something about this without seeing these pictures is, well, I understand why Bob may not have done anything.

The hook which holds the aerator unit on the side of the tank containing the water is not something that should be in the tea at any time.

The bottom of the air tube should be easier to take apart and clean than what you described. Cleaning instructions should be given. I agree with you there.

But, none of these pictures are 90 degree bends in pipes which will accumulate bio-film. The pictures you show here are not significant enough bio-film formation to disrupt the quality of a tea.

When I speak bio-film, I mean something that is thick enough to get a half inch depth of bio-film on your finger in a 1 inch swipe across the surface. That depth of film will harm your tea.

Bio-film that harms tea quality is typically black in color, because of hydrogen sulfide formation. When you remove real bio-film, the smell, should you happen to get the sludge near your nose, is rank.

The bio-film you show in these pcitures will not develop to a level in a single tea brew to harm anything. If cleaned after a single brew, and maybe even after several brews, no problem should result. Bio-film has to be thick enough to prevent oxygen from moving into the film. That means thickness to the film you can accumulate with a single inch-long swipe.

Films that will harm tea quality accumulate on the bottom of the disc diffusers in Growing Solutions machines after three to five tea brews. To avoid development of these films, you have to take the machine apart and clean the bottom of each disc each time.

Which means that cleaning is far beyond the 20 minutes that Growing Solutions claims. And they neglect to tell you that bio-film grows in the air bubblers they have in each compost basket. The air bubblers have to be soaked in bleach for a few minutes if you clean them each brew, up to three or four hours if you only clean after one or more brews. Cleaning is not even close to their claim of 20 minutes.

Now, back to 90 degree turns in pipes. To clean bio-films from 90 degree bends, you have to clean the pipes with a cleaning agent each time. At times you will need to brush them out. If you buy brewers with right angle bends in pipes that the tea has to go through, the manufacturer should tell you about cleaning methods.

It is up to the manufacturer of any machine to tell you about things you need to do to maintain the machine such that excellent results are possible.



Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
SFI Corvallis, OR
SFI Port Jefferson, NY
SFI Lismore, NSW, Australia
SFI Hilversum, The Netherlands
SFI Cambridge, New Zealand
www.soilfoodweb.com

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Received on Fri Dec 19 2003 - 23:26:06 EST

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