Thanks Ted,
I will be in the market for a brewer about mid-summer. First I have to resetup shop (new garden) removing thirty something jack pines,and building up the sugar sand soil in an area about 60x60. I live in the woods on the shore of Lake Superior so she will have a large infulence on my composting/tea brewing useing her fresh water, seaweed and mussel schells, and other ingredents. I look forward to learning more and useing the info I learn here. When I start running tests I will let everyone know how they turn out.
Jon
"Ted Peterson" <ted.peterson_at_tcsn.net> wrote:
>Statements preceded by >>> are from Ted Peterson.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Stuart Baxter
> To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Friday, March 12, 2004 8:50 AM
> Subject: Re: [compost_tea] Usable Information
>
>
> Hi Jon
>
> The base line air requirement has sort of been set at 1 litre of air to 1 US gallon per minute.
>
> >>> I'm not sure I understand this. That would mean, I think, 55 L/min of air for 55 gallons or 250L/min of air for 250 gallons. Pumps that size are too expensive. I got goofed up on this thing too when I confused volume and pressure. The pump I use for everything up to 60 G is made by Alita. It is model AL-15A and is rated at 15L/min. That pump costs about $160. What changes in the brewers is aerator design which is different for each one. For bigger applications, I use bigger pumps. The biggest brewer I make is a 225G and the biggest pump I use is rated at 100L/min.
>
> The idea is to keep the brew aerobic (oxygen rich) throughout the breeding/feeding cycle which peaks sometime after 12 hours, usually. Unless using a kit and associated pre-measured and tested supplies, you'll need a dissolved oxygen meter (DO or O2) to make sure it doesn't go below 6 parts per million.
>
> >>> DO meters need calibration to work correctly. The one I use is made from ICM. You can get it in analog or digital format. The best way to use one is to take a reading when you first add your water. Log that number. Then aerate and take a reading after an hour or so. Compare the readings. You should see a rise in DO. Normal drinking water should have a DO of 7 - 8. (at least it does where I live.) When you aerate, the reading could go as high as 10.5. After you put in your compost and nutrients, take a couple of readings. Your DO should drop to the range of 5 - 8. It may go lower but you want to keep it in that range. If too much O2 is used, it could mean a couple of things but one of them is that your tea is going anaerobic. There may be times when you want an anaerobic cycle in your brewing process but when you are starting out, you only want to favor aerobes.
>
> >>> Order the Compost Tea Brewing Manual from www.soilfoodweb.com to get a lot of goot starting information.
>
>
> Brew times: usually 24 hours (although the K.I.S. 5 gallon does it in 12) but other factors are involved, like temperature, altitude, and compost and feed.
>
> >>> And what you want out of the tea. Remember that nothing can be in the tea that is not in your compost. Use the highest quality, most biologically diverse compost you can get.
>
> Recipes: hundreds, many of them proprietary and not released. About 1 pound of compost to a US gallon of dechlorinated water + molasses, kelp, fish hydrosylate or a hundred other components. Try searching the posts for more ideas <smile>.
>
> >>> I use _at_ 2 US quarts of compost for a 35G brewer. That comes to about 5 or 8 pounds. I have used all kinds of nutrients but the recipe above should work. For 25-35G I would use about 1/2 - 2/3 cup fish, 1/2 cup humic acid, 1/2 cup kelp, 2+ cups sugar (any sugar will work. Even processed sugar. I have used molasses, (cheapest cost) apple juice, sugar, beets, raw cane, chopped cane, raw sugar, processed sugar and honey in various combinations and found no characteristic difference in brewing. Because they are different froms of sucrose, I have to suspect that some forms are more available to certain bacteria and fungi than others. So I try to get a mix. I am compiling some stuff for people who have contacted me off list and if you want to get it when I am finished, drop me a line.
>
> Brix: Someone else will answer this I'm sure but I can't remember who uses it <duh>.
>
> >>> Brix is the measure of percentage of sugar in a given sample. It is used in ag to test the quility of fruits and vegetables. Generally the higher the Brix level the better the quality yield you will have. Higher Brix levels are indicators of better taste and longer shelf life. e.g. The higher the sugar content, the higher the quality. Brix are measured with a refractometer. www.viscoalpha.com Basically you are looking at the sugar content of a leaf or grape or some other fruit/vegatable. You can even measure brix in grass to check for healthy lawns.
>
>
> Ted Peterson
> Earth-Wise/Sprirt of the Earth
>
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Received on Fri Mar 12 2004 - 14:46:52 EST