You need a balance of green & brown materials to get things hot. BUT if you were to just pile up fresh cut grass (keeping it damp) it will heat up all by itself, NO Starter is needed. So maybe start there then add some browns?

I like to use rain water on my compost cuz it doesn't contain chlorine. I keep a water can by the pile to make the materials moist as I am building the pile.

Investing in a compost thermometer may help. Hopefully you have coffee grounds (a green) in your kitchen scraps?

Mike my friend, gardening is as complicated is you want to make it.. Stuff rots all by itself.. Get a compost thermometer and start experimenting with different mixtures, trial and error.. start with 1-2 parts carbon/brown(leaves,straw,woodchips,dead dry plant matter) to 1 part nitrogen/green(grass clippings/weeds/manure/ living plant matter,etc)... You don't need to buy any special activator,etc, don't waste your money.. It's all about the right balance of carbon/nitrogen... Get some books on composting, look online, YouTube,etc... I recommend "Charles Wilber how to grow world record tomatoes" this man grows 30 foot tomatoes and just adds his compost to his plants.. He has everything in the book... I agree, water filtration is a must! Get a hose carbon water filter, or your kind of wasting your time...better yet, use rainwater! Also cover your compost, when forecast calls for rain, the rain will literarly leach some of the nutrients out of your compost... shredyou leaves and other compost natter as fine as you can, I use a lawnmower.. The finer it is, the quicker it decomposes, the hotter it gets.. Do some research, "how to compost" "getting compost hot" "carbon nitrogen ratio compost" etc etc ... You'll eventually be a pro, swimming in compost! A normal person is not that fond of manure, a composter brings a fork and turns it like spaghetti!

Joe

Not steaming - how are you judging that? Have you measured any temps, or are you expecting steam to come out of the top of the pile? What are looking for?

Why I ask - if the pile is well built with the right mix, moisture, and reasonable particle size, it should heat to 100-120 ðF in 2-3 days. At ~ 120-125 ðF there will be steaminess, but you may have to dig a bit to find it.

Currently my compost pile is 140 degrees. It only produces steam after I dig down about 3-4 inches. Leaves, coffee grounds, chicken manure and kitchen scraps are the ingredients in my cooking pile.

Zone 6a, you're in the same latitudes as me here in central MO. It's been warm for the last few days, but not exactly summer out, depending on where you are. It may take more than a couple days to heat things up.

And, most important, how big is your pile? You probably know already that it takes some mass to retain heat. I only ask because sometimes people fill up a 5-gallon bucket and wonder why it's not hot. :-]