ACT brewer

After looking at what's available from different suppliers and experiencing sticker shock, I decided to make an effort at building my own.





Holes 1/16", can easily be enlarged if bubbles are too small.



I have about $6 in it, had the bucket.

I'm ready to do a search for an air pump and wondered if anyone has any suggestions as to pump brand, GPM or other ratings. All the aquarium vendors list by size of aquarium which means little to me. I'll want one with a rheostat to control air flow.

Thanks!

Thats a cool idea you got there. Maybe a larger aquarium air pump might work, like something on this page...I'm not sure what the next step up is for commercial style air pumps.

Aquarium Air Pumps at ThatFishPlace.com

Nice DIY madodah.......very similar to mine. I built a smaller scale version of the one published by O.S.U. (5-7 gallon bucket) The finished product is very similar........you're gonna have some microbe rich brew.

+rep

chunk
EDIT: Here's the link.
http://extension.ore...werplans_2_.pdf

Edited by Chunk, 11 April 2010 - 03:55 PM.
Revised link.

Nice DIY madodah.......very similar to mine. I built a smaller scale version of the one published by O.S.U. I made a 5-7 gallon bucket version of this. The finished product is very similar........you're gonna have some microbe rich brew.

+rep

chunk

Thanks chunk. Your link isn't valid but I remember seeing the OSU brewer in one of your earlier posts. May I ask which air pump you used? As I recall the OSU design has 25-gal capacity with a $250 air pump.

Make that a $479 air pump.

I made the OSU one with the Rubbermaid trash can. I used a smaller drill bit and added more holes for smaller bubbles.

ACTIVE AQUA COMMERCIAL AIR PUMP 112 watt PU110L - eBay (item 400054332635 end time May-01-10 17:34:43 PDT)

I got this one and it kicks ass. It may not last as long as the fancy koi pond whisper quiet models but it only runs for two days max every other week...

You could definitely get a smaller model for a bucket model. This one puts out 110 L
which is just under 4 cubic feet a minute. Most people say 1 CFM air / 10G tea is a good rate.

Oh yeah~ make sure you don't glue it together so you can disassemble for cleaning. The air pressure is so low that the slip fitting are plenty tight.

I made the OSU one with the Rubbermaid trash can. I used a smaller drill bit and added more holes for smaller bubbles.

ACTIVE AQUA COMMERCIAL AIR PUMP 112 watt PU110L - eBay (item 400054332635 end time May-01-10 17:34:43 PDT)

I got this one and it kicks ass. It may not last as long as the fancy koi pond whisper quiet models but it only runs for two days max every other week...

You could definitely get a smaller model for a bucket model. This one puts out 110 L
which is just under 4 cubic feet a minute. Most people say 1 CFM air / 10G tea is a good rate.

Appreciate the info. I've been digging out specs for some of the commercial models and 1 CFM air with a rheostat should service my needs. I'll post what I get for others building their own.

Oh yeah~ make sure you don't glue it together so you can disassemble for cleaning. The air pressure is so low that the slip fitting are plenty tight.

No glue and I used a fitting for the air hose barb that unscrews and allows a hose to be screwed in to simplify cleaning of the tube assembly inside walls. I'll remove the tube assembly from the tea before turning the air off and hose it down but can foresee tea getting in there regardless of how careful I am.

Thanks again.

Here's the pdf.

Thanks chunk. Your link isn't valid but I remember seeing the OSU brewer in one of your earlier posts. May I ask which air pump you used? As I recall the OSU design has 25-gal capacity with a $250 air pump.

madodah,

I use this Eco Plus 5 http://www.nationalg...r=images&size=l It puts out 88 liters/min. I used to use it with my Recirculating DWC system ala Rumpleforeskin and retro fitted it to my tea brewer, I could probably use the next size up which is Eco Plus's biggest model, The Eco Plus 7 which pushes 200 liters/min, but right now I gotta use what I have available.

Thanks for all the useful info madodah and NorthBayNugs.......it will surely help our bros here in organics.

Be cool,

chunk

Edited by Chunk, 11 April 2010 - 09:53 PM.

chunk..

Would you recommend going higher than 88/lpm for a five gallon bucket? That's 3+ gpm and the five gallon commercial models I've seen use 1.5/gpm, the obvious difference being they use single air stones while we're using 1/2" tubing.

I'd rather have to much than not enough as I can always use a dual outlet manifold and bleed off too much air. I despise doing mechanical things twice to get it right and appreciate your experience.

chunk..

Would you recommend going higher than 88/lpm for a five gallon bucket? That's 3+ gpm and the five gallon commercial models I've seen use 1.5/gpm, the obvious difference being they use single air stones while we're using 1/2" tubing.

I'd rather have to much than not enough as I can always use a dual outlet manifold and bleed off too much air. I despise doing mechanical things twice to get it right and appreciate your experience.

madodah,

I posted a fungal tea recipe a while back with my pump and details. LD replied with this
post, suggesting the Eco Plus 7. He referenced it being capable of brewing 50 gallons at a time, which is more than I would need, but it is food for thought.

You can't have too much air, and I'm sure the more DO being pumped through the tea will shorten the brewing time. While I think my pump is more than sufficient, if the EP 7 can be had for $115.00.......(I paid about $90.00 for the EP5) I would get the 7 just because:D.

On another note, are you doing a journal of your summer outdoor grow? If so, I'd like to get on board your thread.

Take care bro,

chunk

[quote name='chunkdaddyo']madodah,

I posted a fungal tea recipe a while back with my pump and details. LD replied with this
post, suggesting the Eco Plus 7. He referenced it being capable of brewing 50 gallons at a time, which is more than I would need, but it is food for thought.[/quote]

50 gallon capability is ten times what I need. Two consecutive 5 gallon brews will service everything I require. I'm backing off the 7 model.

[quote]You can't have too much air, and I'm sure the more DO being pumped through the tea will shorten the brewing time. While I think my pump is more than sufficient, if the EP 7 can be had for $115.00.......(I paid about $90.00 for the EP5) I would get the 7 just because:D.[/quote]

If it wasn't going to sit in a bucket most of the time I'd be inclined to make the upgrade. At this point I don't feel I need more than 3gpm for a five gallon bucket. Selling mistakes on eBay is costly but I think I'll roll the dice.



[quote]On another note, are you doing a journal of your summer outdoor grow? If so, I'd like to get on board your thread.[/quote]

No, I'm at my max forum computer time. I'm learning more here in organics than I can give in return.[quote]

[QUOTE]Take care bro,

chunk[/quote]

I purchased this air pump (the 70LPM unit) for my brewing bucket. With 70LPM (2.7GPM) it should do everything I need in a 5-gallon bucket and with the manifold I can bleed off air if the aeration becomes too vigorous.

I'll have ~$80 in it. The best price I could find on the KIS unit was $150, which has a 1.5GPM air pump and uses one air stone for aeration purposes. I'll be surprised if someone isn't designing tooling in a cheap labor country to produce this design, which is a takeoff on the OSU 25-gallon design, for the massive general gardening market.

I'll put up images when it's complete and operating.

Hope this project helps other members who practice organic gardening.

Edited by madodah, 12 April 2010 - 11:31 PM.

Question on brewing turbulence.

I've connected my air blower and it creates what I can best describe as a lot of turbulence in the bucket. Not spilling over the side, but that baby really mixes it up. This is from the earthfort.com website, advertising the Dirt Simple 10 gallon brewer:

"In particular, the top-of–the-line air blower puts out a much higher volume of air, creating greater turbulence to agitate the microbes and consistently aerate the water."

Question is do I want as much turbulence as I can get (without spilling over the sides) and is that more beneficial to the microbes than the relatively mild fish tank air blower aeration? Or should I reduce the air flow to produce a mild aeration?

Thanks!

I remember reading about bubble size and transfer pumps (brewer to tank) effecting microorganisms a while back when I was researching AAC.

Here is the link:

Soil Foodweb

I cut and pasted the following:

Bubble sizes should be medium to large, not micro-sized.

"Tiny, tiny bubbles are a bad idea. They shatter the fungal hyphae. Ask for the data showing good FUNGAL results. And please make sure the lab they are testing with uses decent methods.

No data? Don't buy the machine.

The Pump

If you are going for the bigger machines, pay attention to the kind of pump on the machine. Did the manufacturer check to see if his pump kills organisms? Where are his data? Don't accept "trust me". There's a machine on the market that we demonstrated to the manufacturer that his pump to take the tea from the brewer into a holding tank was reducing numbers of fungi and bacteria by 50%. Keep that in mind, when buying something. How are you getting large volumes OUT of the tank?"

The velocities and pressures inside a small liquid transfer pump can be extreme. I think movement caused by air bubble should be fine. Especially considering some systems work off a venturi effect to pull air into the water which is way more turbulent then bubbling water....

I remember reading about bubble size and transfer pumps (brewer to tank) effecting microorganisms a while back when I was researching AAC.

Here is the link:

Soil Foodweb

I cut and pasted the following:

Bubble sizes should be medium to large, not micro-sized.

"Tiny, tiny bubbles are a bad idea. They shatter the fungal hyphae. Ask for the data showing good FUNGAL results. And please make sure the lab they are testing with uses decent methods.

No data? Don't buy the machine.

The Pump

If you are going for the bigger machines, pay attention to the kind of pump on the machine. Did the manufacturer check to see if his pump kills organisms? Where are his data? Don't accept "trust me". There's a machine on the market that we demonstrated to the manufacturer that his pump to take the tea from the brewer into a holding tank was reducing numbers of fungi and bacteria by 50%. Keep that in mind, when buying something. How are you getting large volumes OUT of the tank?"

The velocities and pressures inside a small liquid transfer pump can be extreme. I think movement caused by air bubble should be fine. Especially considering some systems work off a venturi effect to pull air into the water which is way more turbulent then bubbling water....

Thanks NorthBayNugs, I remember reading that when I started planning the brewer. I think I answered my own question about turbulence with a little experimentation. I necked the air line down to 3/16" and it seems to produce a broad array of medium-large bubbles through the 1/16" holes in the PVC throughout the bucket. With the 2.7gpm pump I'll be able to run two brewers at the same time, one for my plants and one with a fungi rate for my lawn.





All I need now is for my heater to arrive and I'll be ready to brew.

Heater arrived, ten days from Hong Kong, and I'm ready to brew. Everything fits in the bucket and with a couple of plastic bags and moisture absorber for the air pump and heater control storage is simple.

Cost:

PVC - $8.93
Air pump - 74.95
Heater - 35.00

Total - $118.88