Capulator
likes to smell trees.
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No foam=no worries.
Scientific data backing up this claim coming soon.
Scientific data backing up this claim coming soon.
AHA! I kept looking in different forums to find your section, Capulator. I'm on it.
First a definition of foam fractionation:
Foam fractionation is a chemical process in which hydrophobicmolecules are preferentially separated from a liquid solution using rising columns of foam. It is commonly used, albeit on a small scale, for the removal of organic waste from aquariums; these units are known as "protein skimmers". However it has much broader application in the chemical process industry and can be used for the removal of surface active contaminants from waste water streams in addition to the enrichment of bio-products.The rising column of foam is created in one of two ways, either using a specialized type of airstone that creates 'superfine' bubbles (a wood block, actually) or with what is called a venturi inlet. I won't get into how venturis work unless someone's looking to increase DO levels using one, because people in this context are not looking to make foam.
It is this rising column of bubbles in a bucket that allows foam fractionation to occur when people are brewing aerated compost teas. While the best foam fractionators (aka protein skimmers) are usually very narrow in relation to their volume (volume:surface area), with the goal being contact time in the reaction column, fractionation can occur in many scenarios. For example, ever seen lots of foam built up during or after a windy day near a lake or the ocean? That's fractionation by wind, and it's the same sort of thing--dissolved organic molecules being pulled into the foam because they have hydrophobic ends that 'stick' to the air bubbles.
Now, a picture of a foam fractionator:
View attachment 308442
While in this context we don't need a proper skimmer working, I think it's helpful for people to understand both what's happening and to be able to visualize how that can be put to work. I often see folks asking what they should do with the foam that's created after making an ACT, I say put it back in because it's likely got lots of molecules that we want our plants to get.
K... I hope this basic primer explains what's happening well enough. Any questions, feel free to ask. :)
Thanks, Cap!
from The Compost Tea Brewing Manual by Elaine Ingham
Foam. The presence of foam on the surface of tea is considered a positive sign, but just means there are free proteins, amino acids or carbohydrates present. This can occur as the result of adding fish hydrolysate, certain organic acids or carbohydrates. If worm compost was used, excessive foam suggests a few earthworms were in the compost and their dead bodies are providing this source of protein/carbohydrate. Excess protein or amino acids should not occur if bacteria are growing well, although dead worms may continue to release proteinaceous materials throughout the brewing cycle. Foam can be suppressed by using organic surfactants, such as yucca or vegetable oil (not olive or canola oil!). Don’t use commercial de- foamers – every single one we have tested kills the organisms in the tea.
LOL at yucca acting to suppress foam. Yeah right.
LOL @ disrespecting one of the top researchers of compost teas.
Kp always keepin it real haha.LOL @ disrespecting one of the top researchers of compost teas.
LOL @ disrespecting one of the top researchers of compost teas.
einstein got everything wrong...........he stole all the work he's famous for the published it before the real scientist that he stole it from lol........take it easyBiologists get chemistry shit wrong like it's their job--just saying.
Speaking from thorough experience on that one.
In terms of the training they get it's like an English major trying to talk about physics. The only difference being that people tend to lump all scientists together.
Plus the reality is, kenny, that yucca is among the most foam producing things you can add to water. Period.
If you can make a video of you adding yucca extract to a bucket of water, and stirring that bucket with a stick for 20 seconds--not even that vigorously--and show that it didn't produce foam. I will personally send you $100 (okay no I won't, but you get my point).
I won't even ask you to put an air stone in, that'd be too embarassing for Ms. Ingham. Being a respected scientist =/= being right all of the time.
Even Einsten got shit wrong.
Her topness as a researcher is debatable, depending on whom you ask. If you ask Microbeman, he'll debate much of what she's written and he'll assert that he's got the scope time to back it up. ;)LOL @ disrespecting one of the top researchers of compost teas.
That sounds more like it, although saponins will 'foam' in absence of air bubbles, I've found that stuff like quinoa (everything is now being sold already washed, btw, which is a problem/pain for me, I was using my rinse water a lot) only needs the slightest agitation in water to start creating foam, whereas what's often happening in these teas, often in absence of alfalfa, is likely fractionation as I posted about above. And, again, it's likely rather high in nutrients since it's comprised of dissolved organic molecules.From wikipedia.
"Saponins are a class of chemical compounds, one of many secondary metabolites found in natural sources, with saponins found in particular abundance in various plant species. More specifically, they are amphipathic glycosides grouped, in terms of phenomenology, by the soap-like foaming they produce when shaken in aqueous solutions, and, in terms of structure, by their composition of one or more hydrophilic glycoside moieties combined with a lipophilic triterpene derivative."
So the foam from alfalfa (common in tea recipes), which is high in saponins, seems to have little to do with micro-life as stated above. More to do with being shaken.
So the foam from alfalfa (common in tea recipes), which is high in saponins, seems to have little to do with micro-life as stated above. More to do with being shaken.
That sounds more like it, although saponins will 'foam' in absence of air bubbles, I've found that stuff like quinoa (everything is now being sold already washed, btw, which is a problem/pain for me, I was using my rinse water a lot) only needs the slightest agitation in water to start creating foam, whereas what's often happening in these teas, often in absence of alfalfa, is likely fractionation as I posted about above. And, again, it's likely rather high in nutrients since it's comprised of dissolved organic molecules.
Laughableeinstein got everything wrong...........he stole all the work he's famous for the published it before the real scientist that he stole it from lol........take it easy