White Grape
New member
My youngest daughter can't decide which is worse.
The Bokashi bins in the dining room or the 50 gal storage container I converted into a vermiculture bin in the living room.
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Bokashi questions
- Thread starter ScrubNinja
- Start date
The Bokashi bins in the dining room or the 50 gal storage container I converted into a vermiculture bin in the living room.
White Grape
New member
Since my wife died 7 years ago I've been unsupervised
If she was still around the worms, bokashi, and I would be in the garage.
My daughter is moving out (again) Sat. and has warned me not to use her room for any of my ideas.
If she was still around the worms, bokashi, and I would be in the garage.
My daughter is moving out (again) Sat. and has warned me not to use her room for any of my ideas.
Haha if my landlord saw half the stuff going on in his house he'd pass out. That's pure genius Grape! Am I right in thinking that the tap setup should allow for not all the juice to flow out? It seems every one I've looked at has the tap above the bottom level. Probably a dumb question but you do have taps in those, right?
I thought you're trying to keep it anaerobic though?
Anaerobic enough... I drain during the filling process too, but once full it stays shut. The real fermentation happens then. Also compress the contents as you go, which voids air from the trash mass.
You are starting to sound like ganja - you want it to be perfect. Btw when you open the tap and the liquid flows out, air flows in.
You may want to do it ganja's way if you can collect enough material at once. If you have the freezer space collect it there.
You are starting to sound like ganja - you want it to be perfect. Btw when you open the tap and the liquid flows out, air flows in.
You may want to do it ganja's way if you can collect enough material at once. If you have the freezer space collect it there.
Mother fu{¥er! I just spent 15 minutes writing a post and my computer decided to shut-down...
Let me try again:
@ ninja,
Yes, you want it to be as anaerobic as possible. If turning the bucket over one will looses compaction, forcing air (O2) to fill the space via. vacuum pressure. This infuse oxygen into the organic matter (OM) which isn't helpful at all. The infusion of O2 when draining via spigot IMO is much, much less than other methods.
Do you live near a beer or wine brew shop? If so you can get a spigot for a couple of bucks. They usually have "fermentation" buckets for about ten bucks which are 5-6 gallon buckets with lid and spigot.
By making your own bucket, or buying one like the link below, and use homemaid LAB pure culture to ferment wheat bran into bokashi inoculum you would save a lot of money, especially considering how much bokashi inoculum you can make from 'free' LAB.
However, you would get great results by using the "starter culture" from the hardware shop to make AEM. Then using that AEM to make bokashi inoculum.
You should print out what I wrote (by copy/paste text only so IC isn't shown) and give it to the hardware shop. I assume they are simply ignorant, not lying on purpose. But, they should not be giving out false advise or selling points.
Online sources:
Spigot ($3.00):
(This is what I use, I have a square container though. Get extra washers!) http://morebeer.com/view_product/16592/102270/Spigot_For_Bucket
6 gallon fermentation bucket w/spigot ($12.00):
(I suggest this because its ready to use and is made from food grade plastic)
https://morebeer.com/view_product/16591
My tips (use one or all or none):
1. To keep things anaerobic as possible place a layer of thick plastic (like 3 mil blk/wht poly) over the OM in the bucket. Then compress the OM.
2. Cut out a piece of wood (ex. particle board) just smaller than the bucket inner dimensions. Put the wood over the plastic and compress.
3. Put weight (10-20+ pounds) over the wood to keep the OM compressed and anaerobic.
4. Place the bucket on something so you can put a catch bin below it.
5. Place the bucket at an angle sloping downward to the spigot.
6. After using spigot to drain, cover the hole with thick plastic and use rubber bands to hold tight. Or keep the spigot end in a cup of water. That's what I do as it also cleans the spigot. I remove the cup of water and put the collection cup in place when draining the bucket. The goal here is to limit oxygen infusion into OM through the spigot (as MJ pointed out).
7. Try not to place overly wet OM into the bucket. If you squeeze it and water, or lots of water droplets falls from you hand its too wet. If you have to use it that's OK, but, try to mix it with non-wet OM like stale bread, etc. I often mix in dry, non-fermented wheat bran to help reduce % moisture content.
@ MJ,
Mwahahahaha! My master plan: to recruit perfectionists to overgrow the non-perfectionists! J/k
Seriously, what is it bad to strive for perfection? Even though perfection can never be attained...
Thanks
Let me try again:
@ ninja,
Yes, you want it to be as anaerobic as possible. If turning the bucket over one will looses compaction, forcing air (O2) to fill the space via. vacuum pressure. This infuse oxygen into the organic matter (OM) which isn't helpful at all. The infusion of O2 when draining via spigot IMO is much, much less than other methods.
Do you live near a beer or wine brew shop? If so you can get a spigot for a couple of bucks. They usually have "fermentation" buckets for about ten bucks which are 5-6 gallon buckets with lid and spigot.
By making your own bucket, or buying one like the link below, and use homemaid LAB pure culture to ferment wheat bran into bokashi inoculum you would save a lot of money, especially considering how much bokashi inoculum you can make from 'free' LAB.
However, you would get great results by using the "starter culture" from the hardware shop to make AEM. Then using that AEM to make bokashi inoculum.
You should print out what I wrote (by copy/paste text only so IC isn't shown) and give it to the hardware shop. I assume they are simply ignorant, not lying on purpose. But, they should not be giving out false advise or selling points.
Online sources:
Spigot ($3.00):
(This is what I use, I have a square container though. Get extra washers!) http://morebeer.com/view_product/16592/102270/Spigot_For_Bucket
6 gallon fermentation bucket w/spigot ($12.00):
(I suggest this because its ready to use and is made from food grade plastic)
https://morebeer.com/view_product/16591
My tips (use one or all or none):
1. To keep things anaerobic as possible place a layer of thick plastic (like 3 mil blk/wht poly) over the OM in the bucket. Then compress the OM.
2. Cut out a piece of wood (ex. particle board) just smaller than the bucket inner dimensions. Put the wood over the plastic and compress.
3. Put weight (10-20+ pounds) over the wood to keep the OM compressed and anaerobic.
4. Place the bucket on something so you can put a catch bin below it.
5. Place the bucket at an angle sloping downward to the spigot.
6. After using spigot to drain, cover the hole with thick plastic and use rubber bands to hold tight. Or keep the spigot end in a cup of water. That's what I do as it also cleans the spigot. I remove the cup of water and put the collection cup in place when draining the bucket. The goal here is to limit oxygen infusion into OM through the spigot (as MJ pointed out).
7. Try not to place overly wet OM into the bucket. If you squeeze it and water, or lots of water droplets falls from you hand its too wet. If you have to use it that's OK, but, try to mix it with non-wet OM like stale bread, etc. I often mix in dry, non-fermented wheat bran to help reduce % moisture content.
@ MJ,
Mwahahahaha! My master plan: to recruit perfectionists to overgrow the non-perfectionists! J/k
Seriously, what is it bad to strive for perfection? Even though perfection can never be attained...
Thanks
Oh yea, useful its useful to chop and dice the OM before putting in the bin. A food processor or blender works well. Not only should this make fermentation more efficient and faster but also more complete (ex. center of an apple). Another bonus is this greatly reduces the % air porosity (space) between OM in the bucket, further creating a strongly anaerobic environ.
@ ninja,
I didn't realize your in OZ. For good EMRO EM "starter culture" try EMRO-NZ. The kiwis are all over EM. Shipping of a real bokashi bucket should be cheap if you don't want to make your own. The EM from EMRO-NZ will work well, the New Zealand version is good. You should still extend it into AEM.
HTH
I didn't realize your in OZ. For good EMRO EM "starter culture" try EMRO-NZ. The kiwis are all over EM. Shipping of a real bokashi bucket should be cheap if you don't want to make your own. The EM from EMRO-NZ will work well, the New Zealand version is good. You should still extend it into AEM.
HTH
Hey,
I thought he was in US until I read your post telling me he's in OZ. I had missed it. That's why I posted those links, I didn't know where he was until a hour ago.
I also missed where ninja wrote they have buckets. Why is he trying to build his own? To save money?
I gave link to EMRO-NZ to get fresh stock. I assume its fresher than what's at the hardware store.
...My head now hurts! J/k
I thought he was in US until I read your post telling me he's in OZ. I had missed it. That's why I posted those links, I didn't know where he was until a hour ago.
I also missed where ninja wrote they have buckets. Why is he trying to build his own? To save money?
I gave link to EMRO-NZ to get fresh stock. I assume its fresher than what's at the hardware store.
...My head now hurts! J/k
Hey it's all good chaps Thanks a lot! And yeah, I said the hardware store had the bins, I didn't say they had cheap bins! Heheh. So I think I have a pretty good idea thanks to your description there Ganja. For my drain I will just use a small hole, and tape over it after draining. Unless that's bad.
I found some EM that looks good and is truly local - what do you think? They have a little results table down the bottom. They have a lot of nice (expensive) stuff at that store but the em is cheap as anyone elses.
MJ, about the drain, doesn't this whole process cause co2? So if co2 is heavier than oxygen, it would sink to the bottom, but I'm guessing many times the volume of the bucket would be created, so it would force any oxygen up and out through gaps in the lid. When you drained some liquid out through a tap/spigot, it would just pull more co2 in from up above, so oxygen would only be in the very top. That's my theory anyway, damn, I'm an argumentative newb! I get it though, that it works anyway, just seems to me it would help.
Thanks again, this has been hugely educational for me and I appreciate you both spelling it out slowly. I'm starting to understand most of the acronyms too
Thanks a lot! And yeah, I said the hardware store had the bins, I didn't say they had cheap bins! Heheh. So I think I have a pretty good idea thanks to your description there Ganja. For my drain I will just use a small hole, and tape over it after draining. Unless that's bad.I found some EM that looks good and is truly local - what do you think? They have a little results table down the bottom. They have a lot of nice (expensive) stuff at that store but the em is cheap as anyone elses.
MJ, about the drain, doesn't this whole process cause co2? So if co2 is heavier than oxygen, it would sink to the bottom, but I'm guessing many times the volume of the bucket would be created, so it would force any oxygen up and out through gaps in the lid. When you drained some liquid out through a tap/spigot, it would just pull more co2 in from up above, so oxygen would only be in the very top. That's my theory anyway, damn, I'm an argumentative newb! I get it though, that it works anyway, just seems to me it would help.
Thanks again, this has been hugely educational for me and I appreciate you both spelling it out slowly. I'm starting to understand most of the acronyms too
White Grape
New member
@maryjohn
Thanks, it was hard getting back into growing without my wife to talk to about it. She loved to hear about my grows as much as I love growing.
@ ScrunNinja
Nope no taps. I did have one laying around, but for some reason thought it would serve a better purpose at the bottom of my worm bin.
The Bokashi bins are stupid easy to make as you now know.
I second that, I'm really just learning about Bokashi myself and the info that maryjohn and ganja din put here is awesome.
Thanks, it was hard getting back into growing without my wife to talk to about it. She loved to hear about my grows as much as I love growing.
@ ScrunNinja
Nope no taps. I did have one laying around, but for some reason thought it would serve a better purpose at the bottom of my worm bin.
The Bokashi bins are stupid easy to make as you now know.
I second that, I'm really just learning about Bokashi myself and the info that maryjohn and ganja din put here is awesome.
