[compost_tea] Lynton's question on bottling tea

From: chris reid <reidchris_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 20:19:58 -0500

Lynton said:

I've recently been on Elaine's seminar; so packed with info it'll take some
time to get it into my head.
My understanding is that if the critters run out of food they go to sleep
(so the O2 levels should level out high).
OK, so in this condition can we store them in an airtight (or otherwise)
container with the idea of waking them up later by adding food - obviously
in an aerobic environment.
ie: apply to soil directly; or dilute and aerate for a while.
What's the purpose for doing this? The main one would be to be able to
store it - I was thinking of giving it a shelf life for resale actually.

Anyone tried this?

REPLY:

Yes, Lynton, Elaine has. She has a test you can do to see if your tea is
good or bad. Here it is:

"When your tea is done, half-fill a plastic water bottle with a sealable
top, make sure the top is sealed, and let the tea sit in a warm place for 24
hours.

If the bottle is blown up in 24 hours, or all sucked in, you have a problem
with your tea maker that you need to deal with, most likely anaerobic
conditions.

If the bottle is normal looking, then open the top slowly, and use your
nose carefully. If it stinks, you have a problem. If it smells good, and
the color is dark brown, your tea is likely in good shape relative to
aeration.

seems good? Put it in a sealed plastic container 1/2 full for 24 hours in a
warm place. Smell ok? then send a sample in to see if you have the
bacteria and fungi, maybe protozoa. "(Elaine Ingham)

I infer from this test that if there's leftover food at end of brew time,
the critters will continue to multiply, use oxygen, run out of oxygen, and
anaerobes will take over from there, with metabolic processes that create
icky smelling tea, and either gases that expand the bottle or --what?
reducing oxygen such that it sucks in? Don't understand what exactly causes
the bottle to suck in if the tea is bad.

It is my recollection that her comment on bottling tea is that while it can
be done, the problem or downside is with loss of diversity. Diversity is
the whole point of tea over limited-diversity "bugs in a bottle" (whether
liquid or dried).

Chris Reid





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Received on Wed Mar 10 2004 - 21:09:08 EST

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