I paid about seven dollars for a little bait pump at Wal-Mart. Runs on 2 D batteries.

Cool idea! Do you put your compost in a nylon stocking or something to keep the little hole from clogging?

Also, my 5 gal buckets slide down inside one another - what do you do to keep them separated?

I crush a 1 gallon milk or OJ plastic container and put it between buckets when stacking 5 gallon buckets.

robertz; For Stacking, I score a vertical groove in the side of the buckets with a sharp metal tool, it leaves an air escape route for easy removal.

Curt

Sorry to tell you that your missing out on optimizing the active microbes. I've found that the more and smaller (down to a certain size) air bubbles you have, the more active microbes are populated. Thus, using a bucket or a fish tank air stone is very mediocure in comparison to a good aeration system. Gro Green Organics produces the best that I have seen. Thier Biobrewer is awsome but thier venturi valve aerator on thier "Workhorse Brewer" knocks them out by far. They call thier brew "TerraTea" and it has some fantastic results.

I don't make compost tea but do make lots of alfalfa tea. It can (and some people say it should) be stinky. However I did a small experiment with it by blasting a bit of water into the bucket with the hose nozzle every day and it never did get stinky. Even alfalfa tea that had already turned smelly lost it's noxious odor and just smelled a bit fermented.

I initially start with the buckets partially full so I can add water every day. As I use it I continue to blast aerated water into the buckets daily and don't have to smell that awful odor.

Might work with compost tea also.

Take a gal jug put the tea in and shake it will be very effective.

anyone use Comfrey/comphrey in their tea?

Here is a link that might be useful: brewed-compost tea