Comments on: Interview With Dennis Copson - Nature’s Big Bud http://www.redwormcomposting.com/interviews/interview-with-dennis-copson-natures-big-bud/ Red Wiggler Worms, European Nightcrawlers and loads of helpful Worm Composting Information Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:25:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Dennis Copson http://www.redwormcomposting.com/interviews/interview-with-dennis-copson-natures-big-bud/#comment-3710 Dennis Copson Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:15:22 +0000 http://www.redwormcomposting.com/interviews/interview-with-dennis-copson-natures-big-bud/#comment-3710 Hi Kami: Bentley is basically correct...depends on the brewing method…aerobic brewing, brewing with high levels of oxygen, is fine if you will use the tea soon. However, it is not practical to do that and bottle tea for distribution. Our tea is made w that in mind. There is always some oxygen in the solution, but not enough to encourage the microbes to 'work’. The microbes go into a sort of suspended state...they are alive but inactive to the point they are not eating much if anything and not giving off much in the way of gasses. Also, we are very careful not to bottle our tea with an overabundance of residual castings in it which would encourage activity. There are some to sustain them, but not enough to encourage them to eat. This differentiates the commercial side from the home tea maker. At home you need not be too fussy about these types of details. You presumably will be using the tea as you make it. When the bottles are unsealed and the solution sprayed it then is oxygenated and the microbes awake from their "sleep', to put it simply. With exposure to the air they become activated and will do the job intended. If you bottle tea that is overly oxygenated it will go bad in a short time. That is OK for a local user/supplier. Compare this to when you are sleeping. You will not be burning up many calories and therefore are not using as much oxygen. However, when you, say, are doing very strenuous work or exercise you will require an immense amount of oxygen and give off, through breathing, gasses back into the atmosphere. And you will burn up considerable amounts of calories. Athletes, football players for instance, need large amounts of caloric intake...up to 4500 calories a day...to do their work. A sleeping person would only burn calories in the hundreds. Same w the microbes in tea. We do add natural yucca Shidigera extract which we find to sustain the microbes better. And, we have a 'bottle as needed' policy so as to minimize any bad results if we happen to get too much oxygen in the solution - something which very rarely happens. And another example is water in lakes, etc. There is oxygen in water naturally so fish 'breath'. Our brew water is from a natural spring and has oxygen and minerals in it. That helps. Similarly, the bottled tea is not completely without oxygen. I hope this answers somewhat the question you asked. Thank you for your interest. Dennis Copson Hi Kami:

Bentley is basically correct…depends on the brewing method…aerobic brewing, brewing with high levels of oxygen, is fine if you will use the tea soon. However, it is not practical to do that and bottle tea for distribution. Our tea is made w that in mind. There is always some oxygen in the solution, but not enough to encourage the microbes to ‘work’. The microbes go into a sort of suspended state…they are alive but inactive to the point they are not eating much if anything and not giving off much in the way of gasses. Also, we are very careful not to bottle our tea with an overabundance of residual castings in it which would encourage activity. There are some to sustain them, but not enough to encourage them to eat. This differentiates the commercial side from the home tea maker. At home you need not be too fussy about these types of details. You presumably will be using the tea as you make it.

When the bottles are unsealed and the solution sprayed it then is oxygenated and the microbes awake from their “sleep’, to put it simply. With exposure to the air they become activated and will do the job intended. If you bottle tea that is overly oxygenated it will go bad in a short time. That is OK for a local user/supplier.

Compare this to when you are sleeping. You will not be burning up many calories and therefore are not using as much oxygen. However, when you, say, are doing very strenuous work or exercise you will require an immense amount of oxygen and give off, through breathing, gasses back into the atmosphere. And you will burn up considerable amounts of calories. Athletes, football players for instance, need large amounts of caloric intake…up to 4500 calories a day…to do their work. A sleeping person would only burn calories in the hundreds. Same w the microbes in tea. We do add natural yucca Shidigera extract which we find to sustain the microbes better. And, we have a ‘bottle as needed’ policy so as to minimize any bad results if we happen to get too much oxygen in the solution - something which very rarely happens.

And another example is water in lakes, etc. There is oxygen in water naturally so fish ‘breath’. Our brew water is from a natural spring and has oxygen and minerals in it. That helps. Similarly, the bottled tea is not completely without oxygen.

I hope this answers somewhat the question you asked. Thank you for your interest.

Dennis Copson

]]> By: Bentley http://www.redwormcomposting.com/interviews/interview-with-dennis-copson-natures-big-bud/#comment-3404 Bentley Mon, 31 Dec 2007 02:04:11 +0000 http://www.redwormcomposting.com/interviews/interview-with-dennis-copson-natures-big-bud/#comment-3404 Hi Kami, There are microbes that require oxygen and those that don't. My understanding is that the 'anaerobes' (those that don't require O2) are generally the ones you want to avoid, so - like yourself - I've been really curious to know how compost tea manufacturers are able to seal their teas. A sealed, organic liquid should theoretically start stinking pretty quickly as the aerobes use up all available oxygen and conditions become anaerobic. But then again, perhaps when you are using highly stabilized compost/castings this is less of an issue. Hi Kami,
There are microbes that require oxygen and those that don’t. My understanding is that the ‘anaerobes’ (those that don’t require O2) are generally the ones you want to avoid, so - like yourself - I’ve been really curious to know how compost tea manufacturers are able to seal their teas. A sealed, organic liquid should theoretically start stinking pretty quickly as the aerobes use up all available oxygen and conditions become anaerobic. But then again, perhaps when you are using highly stabilized compost/castings this is less of an issue.

]]> By: Kami http://www.redwormcomposting.com/interviews/interview-with-dennis-copson-natures-big-bud/#comment-3387 Kami Sat, 29 Dec 2007 22:52:20 +0000 http://www.redwormcomposting.com/interviews/interview-with-dennis-copson-natures-big-bud/#comment-3387 I am curious about teas sold in sealed containers. Don't the microbes need oxygen? I am curious about teas sold in sealed containers. Don’t the microbes need oxygen?

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