tutorial Beginner's guide to AACT/Compost Tea

just a heads up here ...
 
I used to use a sock as o many of you, but after 2 days, the castings in the sock always were very compact, meaning that there was not much water/air flowing through ...
 
 
i recently purchased a colander that I have floating on some styrofoam in the tea ... gets way more mixing done, i can actually see things bubbling in the collander
 
hope this helps somebody
 
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cheers, Al
 
Also remember that if the material is too tightly woven the beneficial bacteria will not be loosened into the water, they will stay in the material. Also if the bubbles are not strong enough they will not loosen the bacteria from the compost material which they are tightly attached. To make it even more complex if the aeration is too strong it can kill the bacteria.
 
I went from muslin hop bags to nothing. The material I throw in now is generally large pieces of "compost." Any pieces of wood mulch with noticeable mycelium, grass root masses with mycelium, new and old veggie scraps, worm poo, etc. Starting to read up on symbioticlant relationships and permaculture layers now. Scraps from symbiotic plants thrown into aact, etc Keep this thread alive and imaginative. Organics FTW
 
I graduated from a sock to a hair net, it's. Not very tight woven and it holds my ingredients nicely. I do have some of the very fine parts of the worm castings go thru the net but hardly any. It works for me.

Guru I tried the way you do it and for me it seemed like failure unless I didn't do something you did. All or most of the castings just stayed at the bottom and no froth as I always get it (I know you can not always get froth and still be good). Anyways there's tons of different ways and some might work for you and some don't.

, Walter
 
Brewing up some compost tea today.
I put 4 cups of well rotted compost and 1/2 cup of worm castings with 2 Tbs of unsulfured molasses.
I put one airstone in the 400 micron bag to tease the bacteria out of the compost and another stone in the bottom of the bucket to aerate.
Seems to work well for me.
Click on the picture for the short video of it operating.
 
I cooked up a good one ... there's 4 days worth of energy in this one (I read somewhere that the bacteria/funghi double in number every 20 min.)
 
 
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here a close up - lots of life in there!!
 
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I used a very brown banana instead of molasses and it disappeared completely - the "gum" of the banana seem to have carried on to the water, as the tea def. has a (slightly) higer viscosity than regular water.
 
the bac/funghi seemed to love the sugar from the banana!!!
 
 
LIQUID COMPOST PILE!!!
 
cheers,
al
 
that would potentially be rough on a pump if you use one ...

i did figure out that you can stuff starter materials between a pair of stacked seedling pots though -bonus for adding a little piece of styrofoam for some floating potential ...

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ghost scorpion grower said:
Nope no hydro no pumps I manually water my stuff by bucket sense I let the water sit for 24hr prior to use . All soil growing for me
Click to expand...
Pretty sure Grant meant that it would hard on the air pump in the bucket you are making the aact with.  It has potential to clog the air stones if you let the ingredients free float in the water.  Having said that, there are plenty of people who do that, with Pepper-Guru being a notable one.
 
Yeah, I use a pair of airstones and a water pump that sits on the bottom of the bucket - the loose blades or grass etc would likely cause trouble w/ the intake filter of the pump ...
 
I have to do a pretty thorough cleansing after each bucket so that the pump doesn't cease ...
 
Yea theres no way the little bit of stuff in there could clog even one hole on my airstones. I use the same pump wormsway the local hydro store is using in their 12 plant dwc display with 4 of the same stones im running. Waaaaaaaayyyyyy too much air movement for it to be possible.. Maybe if I indeed were using a fish tank pump I could def see that lol. But either way id prefer not to strain things and fyi chose your bag wisely as changing it mid brew is a smeller messy job to say the least but now in a sock and its goin 20x better. I have the whole top covered in fronth and not even 24hrs in. Listen to those guys above me ^^^^^ they know their shtuff.
And honestly im thinking how science could even support the idea of a preperly working sandstone with compressed air being forced out at several psi could allow anything to clog a single pore.. unless its not working properly or not enough air is being fed to it. Can someone explain that idea a little better?
Deff confused at this point haha
grantmichaels said:
Yeah, I use a pair of airstones and a water pump that sits on the bottom of the bucket - the loose blades or grass etc would likely cause trouble w/ the intake filter of the pump ...
 
I have to do a pretty thorough cleansing after each bucket so that the pump doesn't cease ...
Click to expand...
Im just curious why you use a waterpump to make this?
Its all about air doing the job the water pump normally would but at a faster pace right? Just mixing and aerating all in 1.
So would the process be sped up in part by the addition of a water pump to the equation?
Thanks for the help.. im currently making my 1st aact ever so trying to soak up all the knowledge I can prior to even thinkin about the next batch lol.
Also I read somewhere on possible contamination if this process isnt performed properly.. anyway to test or check for the bad vs good bacteria?
 
ghost scorpion grower said:
Yea theres no way the little bit of stuff in there could clog even one hole on my airstones. I use the same pump wormsway the local hydro store is using in their 12 plant dwc display with 4 of the same stones im running. Waaaaaaaayyyyyy too much air movement for it to be possible.. Maybe if I indeed were using a fish tank pump I could def see that lol. But either way id prefer not to strain things and fyi chose your bag wisely as changing it mid brew is a smeller messy job to say the least but now in a sock and its goin 20x better. I have the whole top covered in fronth and not even 24hrs in. Listen to those guys above me ^^^^^ they know their shtuff.
And honestly im thinking how science could even support the idea of a preperly working sandstone with compressed air being forced out at several psi could allow anything to clog a single pore.. unless its not working properly or not enough air is being fed to it. Can someone explain that idea a little better?
Deff confused at this point haha
Click to expand...
 
My airstone's have clogged from the 'stuff' suspended in the brew drying on the stone's in between batches, despite rinsing them ...
ghost scorpion grower said:
Im just curious why you use a waterpump to make this?
Its all about air doing the job the water pump normally would but at a faster pace right? Just mixing and aerating all in 1.
So would the process be sped up in part by the addition of a water pump to the equation?
Thanks for the help.. im currently making my 1st aact ever so trying to soak up all the knowledge I can prior to even thinkin about the next batch lol.
Also I read somewhere on possible contamination if this process isnt performed properly.. anyway to test or check for the bad vs good bacteria?
Click to expand...
 
there are a lot of small reasons ... helps remove any chlorine before i brew faster, keeps everything well distributed throughout the bucket ...
 
it's probably not necessary, but it's how this rig is setup and it works out pretty well so far!
 
Mmm okay I guess I really need to be more openminded. Never considered issues between batches. But yea I can see where ferts have been encrusted onto the stone permanently. So something not liquid doing the same im sure could cause issues but honestly @ $7 ea if it glogs oh well everything I have was givinto me so Iif I have to replace it with new eventually or every few batches even its not a big deal. Im still yet to peak $200 on my total investment of nearly 70 plants 15 of which were 6 and 7 $ ea.
I also have nearly 5 gallons of liquid ferts made by BC Nothern Lights. That were givin to me aswell as I entend on tryin my hand next year or this winter on some indoor dwc peppers. Hoping to convert all 15 of the superhots into year round hydros. But im not even close to that point but ive been reading forums on that topic as much as possible..
Thanks again for the info im like a sponge so feel free to keep dumping any knowledge you think will be beneficial to me lol

grantmichaels said:
My airstone's have clogged from the 'stuff' suspended in the brew drying on the stone's in between batches, despite rinsing them ...
 
there are a lot of small reasons ... helps remove any chlorine before i brew faster, keeps everything well distributed throughout the bucket ...
 
it's probably not necessary, but it's how this rig is setup and it works out pretty well so far!
Click to expand...
 
ghost scorpion grower said:
Can this process be followed without the bag being used and just strain it prior to use?
Click to expand...
 
 
yes, of course - (50% of what I have in the colander eventually ends up at the bottom of the bucket anyway) you just might have to stir a couple of times as the sediments sink down to the bottom of the bucket.
 
IMHO, if you can manage to stir every 2-3 hours for the first 8 hrs your tea will brew much faster than the ones in socks, as the goodies get max. exposure to oxigen - i think it will be like supercharging your aact
 
if you chose to do so, keep us posted
 
cheers, Al
 
Al-from-Chile said:
yes, of course - (50% of what I have in the colander eventually ends up at the bottom of the bucket anyway) you just might have to stir a couple of times as the sediments sink down to the bottom of the bucket.
 
IMHO, if you can manage to stir every 2-3 hours for the first 8 hrs your tea will brew much faster than the ones in socks, as the goodies get max. exposure to oxigen - i think it will be like supercharging your aact
 
if you chose to do so, keep us posted
 
cheers, Al
Click to expand...
Thanks.. I honestly just think im going to let this batch run its course and maybe next time do 2 weaker buckets of the exact same amount of water, nuets and 1 1ft stone ea bucket. 1 in a sock and the other everything just dumped into the water and take pics for comparison because im curious now haha
 
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