Comments on: The Beast – 03-12-13

By: Bentley

Bentley — Tue, 28 May 2013 15:18:27 +0000

CHRIS – if you create a set-up very similar to mine (with the two plastic mixing trays, the skirt, and the “bridge” in between the bins, you should be able to avoid losing worms. Not surprised you are having overheating issues based on what you’ve been using as food – and overheating in general is definitely a common challenge early on with the VB48 in general. I thankfully seem to be past that now – so it’s been working really well for me.

By: chris lee

chris lee — Mon, 27 May 2013 03:00:47 +0000

I am loosing a fair amount of worms out of the bottom of my vb 48. I have a tray under already, but they seem to still get onto the floor. that skirt idea is worth a try. Over heating has been a problem in the past with some frozen gallon jugs I have been able to keep them alive. I have had to start feeding the reds: horse manure,apple pumas,beer brewing mash along with coffee grounds.Our waste stream will not keep them going. Thank you for your posts.

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 04:54:30 +0000

I love the idea of the flow through worm bin. I am buying a compost bin that has a door in the bottom. I will drill holes and put PVC pipe across the bottom, above the door. Then fill this with bedding and food (I have a freezer full of yummy frozen vegetable scraps). This is my next project to work on 🙂

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:14:16 +0000

Definitely understand where you’re coming from. The tracking is mostly for my own edification, and also because I’m curious exactly how much I can process without overloading the system. Like you, my end goal is still getting as much VC as humanly possible. I could definitely use 8-10 times more than I’m likely to get. Our whole yard could benefit from soil remediation at this point.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:10:42 +0000

“I’m not sure what use the output weights will be, honestly. I’ll be interested to see how much the bin itself gives me on a monthly basis, but I doubt I’ll be able to draw any conclusions directly regarding input:output ratios.”

Understood but it would be nice to know roughly what it would be. I have a use for all the vc I can make so perhaps I’m biased, meaning I’m not interested in the waste stream.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 23:02:51 +0000

I weigh all my food additions, mainly just so I know how much I can feed them. I just find it interesting to know how much food it can process.
I thought about weighing the cardboard and such too, but that sounded like too much trouble. I’d add cardboard when I took food out of the freezer, then add more when adding to the bin, plus often a trip to the compost bin to add a bit from that… I’d have to carry the scales around everywhere.

If someone can come up with a better way, I’d be very interested in trying to account for water weight. Provided it doesn’t become TOO much work!”
All you need to do is record weights for each individual food, then look up the average water content for each food, and calculate that in your spreadsheet. That would give you a rough figure. Easy ;p

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 22:40:30 +0000

I’m not sure what use the output weights will be, honestly. I’ll be interested to see how much the bin itself gives me on a monthly basis, but I doubt I’ll be able to draw any conclusions directly regarding input:output ratios.

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 15:49:28 +0000

He made a valid point in his response. However, I was thinking more about vc input to output versus the waste reduction aspect of it.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 12:14:17 +0000

Ben has responded with pretty much the same answer I would have given you Michael. We’re thinking here in terms of the amount of “weight” saved from going to the landfill. More weight means more fuel used, means more space taken up etc. Yes, a lot of it is water weight – but if anything, that makes it worse. It contributes to anaerobic digestion (think methane formation), and nasty cesspools of landfill liquid.

I definitely see where you are coming from though. If it was a scientific experiment one would need to standardize it for sure.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 22:26:09 +0000

Typo:
*weigh it when it’s dry. not weigh it when it’s try….

I suppose I should have proofread that first… 🙂