Compost Tea Brewing Time/Temp

Hey Guys,

In the summer here, it can get in the 100 - 105 range. Is it ok to let the tea brew in the heat? I know heat breeds bacteria but I also know too much heat can kill the microbes when making compost. If the heat is ok, can I brew for 5 - 7 days (I will be using airstones).

Thanks,
MGL

I dont know about how long you can keep a brew brewing. I would like to know also. I would say that if your water temp is below 75 degrees it should be ok. I would bet that a 65 degree temp would keep longer.
Someone perhaps will help us here....

GH

Ha...we joined the same month and have almost the same post count

For teas higher temps tend to brew the tea faster.
(Not an expert take with salt)

Say you brewed at 75, the thought is a brew at 85 would create the same life soup but in much less time. On that note you are right about it also not staying as long because the whole brew cycle is constant other them time (batceria to fungus to protozoa to anerobic crap)
Since most composts get into the mid 100's at least and this is kinda a liquid equivalent to compost (in terms of microlife not nutrient value) then I would think your safe well into the that temp range before things go wonkey.

Common knowledge says anything over three days is bad and need to be tossed, optimum range is 1-2 days. The hotter the mix the sooner it should be used because it will switch phases faster (again bac - fungus - proto - crap) keeping the airstones in will keep it from going to crap as fast but you'll get stuck at the protozoa stage for the majority of the time. Its all about what KIND of tea you really want/need.

Not an expert just a guy with some thoughts that come together into opinions.

<Grasshopper> said:

I dont know about how long you can keep a brew brewing. I would like to know also. I would say that if your water temp is below 75 degrees it should be ok. I would bet that a 65 degree temp would keep longer.
Someone perhaps will help us here....

Well, one thing I didn't even take into consideration is:

Just because the temp is 105, doesn't mean the water will be 105. I'll drop a thermometer in and keep an eye out. Thanks.

GH

Click to expand...

<Grasshopper> said:

Ha...we joined the same month and have almost the same post count

Click to expand...

haha yes! I've been slacking on posting. I'm in the middle of a huge transition. Hopefully all dies down soon.

randomseed said:

For teas higher temps tend to brew the tea faster.
(Not an expert take with salt)

Say you brewed at 75, the thought is a brew at 85 would create the same life soup but in much less time. On that note you are right about it also not staying as long because the whole brew cycle is constant other them time (batceria to fungus to protozoa to anerobic crap)
Since most composts get into the mid 100's at least and this is kinda a liquid equivalent to compost (in terms of microlife not nutrient value) then I would think your safe well into the that temp range before things go wonkey.

Common knowledge says anything over three days is bad and need to be tossed, optimum range is 1-2 days. The hotter the mix the sooner it should be used because it will switch phases faster (again bac - fungus - proto - crap) keeping the airstones in will keep it from going to crap as fast but you'll get stuck at the protozoa stage for the majority of the time. Its all about what KIND of tea you really want/need.

Not an expert just a guy with some thoughts that come together into opinions.

Click to expand...

Your input is appreciated my friend. So if the warmer it is (withiin reason) and the longer it brews - why is a long brew (over a few days) bad?

My tea recipe calls for room temps approx.70-75 F... I use the www.bountea.com . I bought a brew kit but Basically U can use a 5 gallon bucket With air stone on bottom , with a paint net (they use in paint sprayers cheap) its nylon, First I put 4 gallons of filtered H2O in then place air stone then I place the Alaskin Humic Soil in the net which is the bucket, then put Bioactivitor in w/ soil, mix lightly then let it brew 24 hrs. with lid on it (in dark place) then u can other things such as marine magic or root web. Its a 8-1 ratio, so 4 gallons makes 36 gallons of tea. It's the bomb. All plants love it, make soil & soil med's full of benefical Bacteria, etc. Any left over u can store in refrig. fro about a week. You don't want tea to get too hot will kill the good stuff. Hope this was helpul. Peace.
P.S. There r lots of cool Compst tea recipes out there...but Im hooked on this shit!

My local hydroshop just started selling tea in a bag called verma Y I think. They brew it then refrigerate it then sell it. They gave me a sample and I used it but will not be buying it from them when I can make it....better myself prolly. Thanks Randomseed and everyone...sebastopolian...
GH

mrgreenlungz said:

haha yes! I've been slacking on posting. I'm in the middle of a huge transition. Hopefully all dies down soon.



Your input is appreciated my friend. So if the warmer it is (withiin reason) and the longer it brews - why is a long brew (over a few days) bad?

Click to expand...

Again not an expert and alot of this is just me regurgitating other very smart people whom I trust to know these things.

The warmer the water the faster the metabolic process of the microbs takes place.

There is a cycle of life that happens in these teas.
First the Bacteria start to multiply in huge numbers, this starts right away (with carb source). Depending on temps you'll get a max bac count somewhere between 12 and 24 hours into the brew.

After the bacteria get going next up is the fungi, fungi dont reproduce very fast so its not the numbers that start to increase but the actual size of the fungal strands as they start to chomp on the bacteria and carbs themselves.

Next up is the protozoa - these are more complext lifeforms then the fungi and the bac, they start to increase in numbers as they eat down on their bacterial food supply, at this point the bacterial count starts to decline quickly because they are being eaten up.

Then things go south - anerobic bacteria start to take over, even if the air supply is good in the tea you can only keep them at bay for so long. They produce alot of nasty stuff which start to sour the tea and make things go sour. At this point all other lifeforms start to disapear.

So they key is getting the tea used before the anerobic bacteria show up and start screwing the tea up. I try to aim for a fungal teas just because even if I miss on the timeframe I still get lots good useful microbes into the dirt.

My local hydroshop just started selling tea in a bag called verma Y I think. They brew it then refrigerate it then sell it. They gave me a sample and I used it but will not be buying it from them when I can make it....better myself prolly. Thanks Randomseed and everyone...sebastopolian...
GH

Click to expand...

Thats kinda interesting. Do they say its shelf life? Figureing the thought would be the brew a quick tea and let the microbes attache to a solid structure (whatevers in the bag) and then quick freeze for shelf life. May actually work...... got me thinking now.........

Seems like they said 10 days refrigerated.

Seems like they said 10 days refrigerated.

Click to expand...

Thats it? If thats all they claim then it probably does work. If they said like 3 months Id be skeptical.

It peaks at 110f out here too and I always end up with mostly just grit, brown water and slime until I bring the bucket inside. They usually pick up after that. I think it's just better to keep aerating below 100f.

randomseed said:

Thats it? If thats all they claim then it probably does work. If they said like 3 months Id be skeptical.

Click to expand...

I called them and they said its made with these bricks that have all these strains of microbes. Also that it is concentrated...how that can be is a mystery to me.....and it doesnt need brewed again. Just mix 75ml per gallon and use. I dunno....I added 75 ml to my tea and brewed as I usually do for 24 hours then used full strength.

Dude at the shop says 2 weeks in the fridge.

Its called vermi t....here is their website.
GH

http://vermicrop.com/products/item/the-vermi-t-510-extractor

I suppose it would be best to brew your mix for various lenths of time and take the pH of each durations brew. A good sign your tea ecosystem has shit the bed is the pH will start to go down in the tea. Same things happen in lakes with eutrophication. Once everyone has had their meal all that shit and piss start to turn your tea into poison. The trick is to catch the timing once the shit and piss are peaked and the pH is optimal.

Monitoring conductivity during each brew cycle would be helpful also.

It would even be better to get an NPK analysis of the filtered tea water.

NLNo5 said:

It would even be better to get an NPK analysis of the filtered tea water.

Click to expand...

Most people dont actually brew nutrient teas. Half the time I do half the time its purly for breading life with no real NPK value.

randomseed said:

Most people dont actually brew nutrient teas. Half the time I do half the time its purly for breading life with no real NPK value.

Click to expand...

Makeing more micro beasties to jam around your Rhizosphere and turn more of your soil amendments ( the guanos and azomite and different meals ) into consumable matter to the rootzzz.