BioGrow Brewer

The BioGrow Brewer creates a living solution that contains the greatest diversity and highest quantity of beneficial bacteria and fungi you can possibly produce from a compost tea brewing device of this size. It achieves this by using a simple but elegant air lift design that infuses the maximum amount of oxygen while continually agitating and mixing the entire volume of solution.

AACT

If you're not already familiar with AACT (Actively Aerated Compost Tea), you can think of it as a liquid version of regular compost - on steroids (but in a good way). When the proper equipment and ingredients are used, the finished solution is nothing short of liquid gold to plants. One teaspoon of compost has 1 billion bacteria. A teaspoon of AACT contains 4 billion. And the microbes aren't bound up in the compost so they go to work immediately. AACT is one of the most crucial parts of the soil food web, in a bottle.

AACT should not be confused with nutritive tea or compost extract. Those solutions normally involve suspending compost or organic fertilizers (bat/seabird guano, worm castings, etc.) in water for a period of time to produce a liquid fertilizer. It's kind of like dropping a tea bag into water and steeping it to make tea. The finished product contains some nutrients, but very little (if any) beneficial organisms.

AACT, however, contains vast amounts of bacteria and fungi, which are incredibly beneficial to plants. Why is this important, you might ask? Because plants don't eat organic fertilizers - not directly. An organic fertilizer or ingredient must be broken down, or processed by the beneficial microbes present in the soil so that it is in a form the roots can actually absorb.

In short, if you want to grow the healthiest plants possible then you must feed the soil, not the plants themselves. You feed the soil, and the soil feeds the plants.

Think of a lush jungle or rainforest, where plants flourish the most. Organic material is continuously falling onto the ground. The ground is incredibly rich with all kinds of beneficial bacteria and fungi, which slowly decompose and break down this organic matter into compounds and exudates that benefit the plants in many ways. There is no one there mixing 2 teaspoons of fertilizer per gallon and watering the plants with it every month - the plants get everything they need from what the microorganisms in the soil produce.

You might be asking yourself why one would consider taking the time to make compost tea when you can simply purchase a product off the shelf that contains these beneficial organisms. The answer is simple - you can't. It's not possible. Yes, there are many, many products claiming to contain beneficial microorganisms. But if you look at the label you will find that even the most expensive products contain only a couple of dozen different strains of bacteria and/or fungi. That's because these are living organisms, and there are only a small number of species that can be "pickled" in a jar and stored for a period of time. And even so, most of them diminish over time and have a relatively short shelf life.

AACT contains thousands of different strains of beneficial bacteria and fungi. This incredible diversity, coupled with the enormously high population of each strain present makes AACT the richest, most beneficial product you can possibly give your plants.

AACT isn't just for the root system. It can also be used as a foliar spray; if outdoors you can even water the foliage with it. AACT feeds the plants through the leaves and protects them at the same time. It contains compounds that repel many insects, and also destroys downy and powdery mildew.

The Brewer

Now that you're familiar with what AACT is and does, it's very important to understand that there are different types of brewers, and the device you choose to make your compost with will have a huge impact on the quality and effectiveness of the finished product.

The two most important factors a brewer should consider are aeration and agitation. Many people simply drop an air stone or disc into a bucket filled and call it a day. There are two primary reasons this doesn't work well.

First, you might assume that pumping air bubbles into water is the best way to oxygenate it. It's not. Think of a scuba diver 90 feet below the water surface. As he exhales, bubbles leave his mask, and do what? Do they disappear as they are absorbed into the ocean water? No. They quickly rise to the surface, where they pop, releasing most of what came out of the diver's mask. In fact, most of the air coming out of an air stone, regardless of how big it is, is dissolved into the water at the surface, when the bubbles pop. It's the agitation, or act of popping that causes the air to be absorbed, but only a tiny fraction of what was in that bubble actually makes it back into the water.

Second, the entire volume of water in a brewer needs to be moving and provided with fresh oxygen at all times. Even when using a large air disc at the bottom of a bucket, the water isn't moving much, especially where the side of the bucket meets the bottom. This area can actually become anaerobic, which can be harmful to both the tea and your plants.

Compared to most other compact compost tea brewers, the BioGrow Brewer is an exotic sports car dressed in economy car clothing. It uses an air lift to suck water from the bottom of the bucket and up through the lift, where it infuses the maximum amount of oxygen possible into the water. The water then falls back over the surface, infusing even more oxygen, and mixes everything up. The entire volume of water passes through the air lift in just minutes.

With the BioGrow Brewer, you don't have to place your compost or other ingredients in a bag the way you do with most other brewers. The pipe diameter is wide enough to accommodate just about anything you would ever want to include in your brew, so you don't need to worry about anything clogging up.

Application

A single 5 gallon brew will produce enough concentrated AACT to make up to 50 gallons of finished solution that can be watered directly onto plants.

If you use our compost tea kits with this brewer, the AACT you produce will be highly concentrated. It can be used full strength or diluted down to 1:10 (one gallon of tea per 10 gallons of dechlorinated water). When using at 1:10 simply water plants as usual. When using at full strength simply pour a small amount on the base of each plant (e.g., 1/4 cup per mature plant). You can't over fertilize with this tea so if you use as much or as little as you like. The more you use the quicker you will see results, but even a teaspoon will eventually have a big impact on the health of your soil. When using as a foliar spray we recommend a dilution rate of 1:1, or full strength.

Don't throw out leftover tea! Dump it on your lawn, trees, shrubs, landscaping, houseplants - all plants benefit immensely from AACT! There are even companies that come to your house or business with a truck fitted with a tank containing AACT and will spray your property every couple of weeks for a period of time to revitalize it and bring it back from the dead. 

Features:

• Affordable
• Durable
• Minimal maintenance
• Simple yet powerful design
• Extracts the greatest diversity and highest quantity of beneficial bacteria and fungi
• Easy to assemble, disassemble and clean

Contents:

• Powerful air pump
• Air lift assembly
• Air hose
• Heavy duty opaque 5 gallon bucket and pre-drilled lid

The only thing missing is dechlorinated water and either a brew kit or your own ingredients. We highly recommend starting with our custom-blended Compost Tea Kits, but you can use whatever ingredients you wish.