Case Studies

This article provides formulas for compost tea brewer chlorination. It includes 2 examples, using the 200L SmartBugs and 3500L DownUnder brewers.

Compost tea brewer chlorination:

A chlorine concentration of 200 ppm is the maximum required to sterilize a clean compost tea brewer before use, anything in excess is wastful.  Add sufficient water to cover the membranes and then add chlorine equivalent to 200 ppm chlorine.

Example 1.           200L SmartBug Brewer

Twenty litres of water is required to cover the diffuser.   Therefore add 33ml of a 12% chlorine solution to the 20 litres and soak for say half an hour. After this time the brewer can be filled with clean water to 100 mm of the top.  In theory the chlorine concentration will now be diluted to less than 20ppm which is dissipated by aeration with the balance of the water being ‘sterilized’.

Example 2.           3500 Litre DownUnder brewer  

In a 3500 litre brewer it takes about 200 litres to cover the membranes so add 330ml of 12% chlorine solution. Then after thirty minutes fill the compost tea brewer unit to 3500L it should then be about 10ppm chlorine.

After blowing – off the chlorine by aeration, add Oresome Antifoam, then the molasses and MicroBooster CN30- Concentrate before adding LivingSoilthe  the molasses will bind up any residual chlorine thus protecting the beneficial microbes.

It maybe wise to invest in a swimming pool chlorine test kit to ensure the 200ppm chlorine level is achieved. Use dilutions of say 100 : 1 to work within the range of the test kit.

Formula:

If using less than 12% solution of Chlorine use the following formula to achieve 200 ppm of chlorine:
% of chlorine in the product, divided by 0.02 (200ppm)  = water to chlorine addition.

Example - Product at 12% chlorine divided by 0.02 = 600 to 1 water to chlorine.

Therefore 200 litres divided by 600 = 0.33 or 330ml of 12% chlorine.