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Stanwood, Washington

Well I brewed my first batch using one of the recipes from star farms. I reduced everything by 1/10 to convert from a 55 gallon recipe to a 5 gallon recipe. I used 1 cup of worm castings, 1 cup of alfalfa meal. 1.5 ounces of Molasses and a half ounce of Seaweed extract. I brewed it for 36 hours. Judging by what I have seen in various videos and descriptions I was expecting there to be some foam on the surface but there was actually absoulutely zero foam and the tea looked pretty much exactly the same after 36 hours of brewing as it did when I started. Does this have to do with the amount of bubbles or the size of the bubbles? Should be concerned at all by the lack of foam?

2/27/2013 12:44:06 PM

ShagHarbour n,s canada

i would say its a bubble issue ,, what do you have for a air pump?

2/27/2013 1:49:10 PM

Stanwood, Washington

I have a 9 liter per minute pump. The amount of bubbles seems pretty good but they are fairly large. I could get more smaller bubbles if I drilled smaller diameter holes in the pvc.

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=194243

2/27/2013 3:33:54 PM

Seattle, WA

Captain97,

Couple of things:

1. That pump isn't big enough. We use a 51 liter per min pump on our 5 gallon unit.

2. I would cut out the seaweed extract, you could use kelp meal as a substitute.

3. Did you use organic alfalfa meal?

4. Did you brew indoors? It's still too cold around our parts to be brewing outside.

Here's the recipe I would recommend.

http://www.gardeningwithmicrobes.com/teaarticle2.shtml

2/28/2013 1:29:18 PM

Stanwood, Washington

We just went over all of this in the other thread. :)

you mentioned we needed .05-.08CFM per Gallon of brew.
9 liters per minute = .32 CFM
.32 CFM divided by 4 gallons =.08 CFM per gallon. It sure seems like it is bubbling enough compared to videos that I have seen on youtube. This was the biggest pump they had at the pet store. Where could I find a bigger one around here?

The Alfalfa Meal is Organic the brand name is Gardner's Bloom and it says it contains beneficial soil microbes right on the bag.

What's the advantage of the Kelp Meal over the Seaweed Extract?

I did not brew indoors I read somewhere that you should brew it at the same temperature that you are going to apply it at or you would be growing different microbes that wouldn't survive the temperature change. I am mostly just test running as I get ready for the season but I am spreading it on my cover crop.


I have my second batch going right now. I backed off on the Seaweed a little bit but it It looks pretty much the same as the first batch.

2/28/2013 10:13:54 PM

Stanwood, Washington

We just went over all of this in the other thread. :)

you mentioned we needed .05-.08CFM per Gallon of brew.
9 liters per minute = .32 CFM
.32 CFM divided by 4 gallons =.08 CFM per gallon. It sure seems like it is bubbling enough compared to videos that I have seen on youtube. This was the biggest pump they had at the pet store. Where could I find a bigger one around here?

The Alfalfa Meal is Organic the brand name is Gardner's Bloom and it says it contains beneficial soil microbes right on the bag.

What's the advantage of the Kelp Meal over the Seaweed Extract?

I did not brew indoors I read somewhere that you should brew it at the same temperature that you are going to apply it at or you would be growing different microbes that wouldn't survive the temperature change. I am mostly just test running as I get ready for the season but I am spreading it on my cover crop.


I have my second batch going right now. I backed off on the Seaweed a little bit but it It looks pretty much the same as the first batch.

2/28/2013 10:28:36 PM