I'm brewing a batch of AACT right now. The bulk of the EWC is out of my new bins - they are really producing. This is a 10 gallon batch. There is 4 cups of my own EWC, a cup of "Coast of Maine" EWC, 2 teaspoons of Organic Agave Nectar, 3/4 of a cup of Aloe Vera Juice, a couple of fistfuls of Alaskan Humus, and probably a half cup of Neptunes Fish Hydrolysate. Its at the 20 hour mark right now. I'm going to let it go for another couple of hours. With the amount of stuff in there its almost both a nutrient tea and an AACT at the same time. No matter what, its organic goodness. jerry. Trying to figure out how to upload a movie of the brewer running but I cant...
Thanks guys/gals. I am very pleased - especially since I am now at the point that I can use my own fresh earthworm castings! The Alita AL-60 air pump runs pretty darn quiet. That is not the case with the air lift setup, though! I had wanted to post a small video of the brewer in action, so I took a little video of it cranking along, to show the vortex action, but also to hear the noise emitted by the air lift setup. It was too large in size to post here on GC, but I did the next best thing and uploaded it to YouTube... If you are interested in seeing it, it can be viewed [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP0TpDP9aEo"]HERE[/ame]. Lemme know what y'all think! Thanks. jerry.
Jerry, that's sweet! Love the vortex! Do you find that when you get down to @ 5 gallons of AACT and the AACT needs to be lifted further that it stops working?
Do you find that when you get down to @ 5 gallons of AACT and the AACT needs to be lifted further that it stops working? Mizza - It definetly does NOT stop working! It is not "as" deep of a vortex, but the surface tension of the water is definetly being broken, I belive, allowing for more dissolved oxygen. My solution to the tea level dropping in the tank is to add an 8" piece of pvc so that I can still point the outlet of the air lift in the right direction. The pvc pieces are not glued at all, so I can twist and turn very easily, also making for easier cleaning! Possum - If you look at where the airline meets the black rubber "T" connection, I actually have a homemade air diffuser inside this rubber "T". By having the diffuser inside the air lift setup, it hyper-oxygenates the tea inside the pvc tube, and at the same time "lifts" the tea thru the pvc line and back into the top of the tank, pointed at the right angle, creating the vortex action. theres no water pump, just the 68/LPM air pump driving the setup! Stankie - Mistah, if it werent for me finding your original pages/thread about your new brewer, I'd still be in a 5 gallon bucket - you da man! I do hafta say that this setup is working totally sweet and I am super happy! I have been changing the recipe slightly here and there, and also changing the brew time to allow for the varied biological life to get to work in the soil. I think I'm going to go ahead and run it every couple weeks, and just hit everything. Theres always new gals coming onto the scene that will enjoy it, and I see no reason why to not hit the older ladies occassionally as well. I know you dont need to more that once in veg and once in flower, but I bet once in awhile more often isnt going to hurt anything, and just might help to make sure the soil life is always where it should be. My veggies are gonna rock next summer!!! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTnPtKnpxo4&feature=BFa&list=HL1318804062&lf=mh_lolz"]HERE[/ame] is the 3 1/2 gallon video jerry.
Jerry, thanks for motivating me to get up off my ass and get mine built. I've had the tank and stand for nearly a month now, and we've just stared at each other wondering what the next move was going to be. Although I saw some very nice and functional designs here and other places, yours was (in my opinion) the best design that I was confident in being able to plagiarize. So I went to Home Depot, laid all the parts out on the floor, and brought 'em home. Took me only 1/2 hour to put it together. Filled up the tank, plugged in the air pump, and VOILA! the vortex formed in about 30 seconds! Zero splash and mess like a 5 gallon bucket. That rubber "T" is key in being able to disassemble and clean. Great idea!
I suffer so much from this. All the stuff I'm learning on these boards is sort of in the same neighborhood.
Jerry, thanks for motivating me to get up off my ass and get mine built. I said the same thing when I saw how Stankie had built his! *lol* Thats how it works here, I think, and what makes the forums so cool. We push each other to further learning, each learning from the other and in the end we all benefit tremendously from each other! You're going to love having it. It takes me literally 5 minutes to clean it outside on the front lawn with the hose and a scrubee pad. I believe I only had to glue 2 spots - the rest comes apart for the easy cleaning thing. The one other thing I like about mine, and kudos to the guy at the hardware store, is my "quick release" hardware that works with an "O" ring to release the whole bottom end - where it connects to the tank. How did you do yours? Can we see yours soon? I'd really like to! jerry.
Jerry, I saw your quick release coupler, and couldn't find one at my Home Depot. Mine screws into the bottom, but I used the rubber "T" with hose clamps to disconnect the bottom assembly from the riser portion. I had to make sure that the bottom assembly would unscrew from the tank and not get tangled in the legs from the stand. Otherwise, it appears pretty much the same. I'll try to post a video...
Mizza, very cool you're doing this. Even a couple of pics would be cool. I love checking out peoples different designs. My "quick release" coupler actually screws first into the bottom of the tank, and then the quick release attaches to the screwed in piece. I'll see if i can get a close up pic of it soon. Vdub - Thanks man! Nice sunny day here for a change - it seems its been raining for weeks! jerry.
Hey Jerry, here's the pics. Very similar to yours, thanks for the design ideas. Again, anyone can make one of these. Took me 1/2 hour to cut pipes and assemble the thing. I'd like to hear from someone with a microscope who has looked at the quality of the tea after it has gone through the airlift/vortex brewer compared to other brewers. Anyone out there?
I can tell you that airlifts work quite well. I use Tim's Microbulator all the time. That being said, unless you believe in vortex's ability to change the property of the water (biodynamics), then there's really no advantage other than it looks kinda cool. You'll get higher dissolved oxygen from an air lift or even a good diffuser and air pump. And really, higher dissolved oxygen is the name of the game when it comes to making ACT, as it allows for more inputs while keeping DO levels about 6mg/l.
True dat, dawg. I just get giddy over the toilet-like swirl of the vortex and no splash from the diffuser in the 5-gallon bucket all over my patio or shower enclosure. Unless I have a high dollar microscope and the will and know-how to use it, this f-ing contraption is just a Gucci-style brewer that I think will out-perform a orange bucket from Home Depot. Hence, my shout out to the more scientifically inclined to chime in on the efficacy on this style of brewer. Hellloooo? Where are you, Tim? Let's do a side-by-side with the same inputs, same temp, same brew time, etc and make a comparison...Wacha think? Having another 5 -10 gallon capacity is a bonus, too. PS - changing the properties of water and water tension in the brewers has little to do with bio dynamics, but is more closely fluid dynamics and hydrodynamics. Not like I have a PhD in either...
A friend just let me "borrow" (extended as he doesnt use it any more) his microscope. I do not know if its powerful enough, but in a couple of weeks when I start a next batch I am going to check it out. Like you said, Mizza, I'm not a phd either, but am hoping to perhaps at least compare to some of Tims pictures and videos. It will be fun to look at with the kids, too! If the microscope is powerful enough, at the very least it is going to be interesting to be able to compare the finished product with different recipes and brew times. I dont think that one might neccessarily be better than another, but will be different, with different biology suited for different phases of growth? I'm sure I'm talking out my ass here...*lol* - but at the very least it will be interesting to be able to compare batches. As far as the vortex goes, I definetly agree that it probably doesnt do alot besides looking cool. From the homework that I have done, many seem to think that the airlift design might be working better than the standard airpump w/ airstone setup, but without a side by side comparison, who knows? Theres no doubt at all that a good powerful airpump with the right size airstone, such as the one LD uses is going to do a great job as well. I do think, however, that the "vortex" could perhaps be mixing the tea better than the standard pump/stone setup. The vortex definetly moves alot. Super setup Mizza!! Several pages back in this thread LD made this comment which you are going to want to think about as well - That set-up will do far, far more for your garden(s) than just AACT mixes. Botanicals teas like a neem & kelp meals brewed for 36 hours for a wide range of benefits as a fungicide, insecticide along with the PGRs contained in the kelp meal that limits internode distances on flowering plants. Toss in some Aloe Vera exact and you've moved it into an entirely higher level with the phytohormones, SARs, auxins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids from this plant to marry up with similar (but different) compounds in the neem and kelp meal. And I don't mean seaweed extract - kelp meal. Then you can play around with alfalfa & kelp meal for a similar (but different) set of benefits. And on and on. You'll be paid back in spades, IMHO Very, very cool. jerry.
My reference was more to the point of biodynamics claiming that the vortex exists in Nature and raises DO levels in streams and is therefore superior (obviously airlifts and diffusers don't, even though they are more efficient). They also believe that the vortex adds a potency or energy to the water, but that these things cannot be measured by science.
Seriously - as far as the whole "Vortex" thing goes with tea brewers; I think its a bunch of hooey. (See the Progressive Earth Vortex Brewer video [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geFf4USPKSA&feature=player_embedded"]HERE[/ame]) Does the whirlpool shape really do anything at all besides "looking cool"? Dont get me wrong - it does look cool, but I think that this is where the whirlpool/vortex/tornado shape of the water ends. As far as I'm concerned, a good compost tea comes down to: Recipe Tea/water temperature Dissolved oxygen levels Thats it, right? Can the vortex shape actually add any more oxygen into the tea than a fine air pump with a quality stone? I'm not so sure. Again, dont get me wrong - I have mine designed right now with the airlift setup, which I am told helps get good dissolved oxygen levels, but I also wonder if my same pump with a diffuser couldnt get the same DO2 levels. I do think the airlift mixes the hell out of the tea, too, though, which is a great big plus, but also after looking at Stankies diffuser setup, he was churning the hell outta the tea, too, so who knows. I guess I'm saying that Progressive Earth has a cool looking video, but that the vortex sure the heck aint magical...*lol* I bet both ways work just fine. p.s. - I would seriously hate to clean that unit each time. I have my cleaning down to approximately 10 minutes. just my .02c jerry.
Do any of yall have issues w/ your molasses bringing down the pH? I am using Heavy Weight(a feed grade mol out of Canada) and have been for some time now, and it brings my 7.2-8 tap water to a low 5...like 5.3-5.7. I have even bubbled it for a while to see if it would "auto correct" and no dice...I have used in compost teas and nute solutions so far...and just now busted out the Hannas Im just curious if yall run into the same prob., Im thinking I may have let the pH of my soil grow get a bit outa whack because I didnt address the issue earlier, damn it. I just ordered a gal of some feed grade cane mol from a place called kelp4less....someone on here turned me onto them and I ordered a crap load of stuff from them, and thank you to whoever that was....wondering if its going to sway the pH as well. O yah, and a big thanks to whoever subed me to patrio's higher learning page...very cool!