Thatch is good for compost!

If the entire volume is in a 10 gal bucket, it is unlikely you'll notice much heating - the volume isn't sufficient for the contents to retain the heat created by the microbes. That, however, isn't a problem - it will just take longer for everything to decompose. A little mixing now and then will help speed things up. The downside of cold composting is that weed, fruit, and vegetable seeds can readily survive only to germinate later in your soil (tomato seeds seem particularly tenacious). The other thing with cold composting is you don't get heat sterilization, so definitely keep the animal products out of it.

As far as when it's done - basically it's a judgment call, and it depends on how you want to use it. The first thing to look for is that what you put in there, especially food/kitchen waste, is no longer recognizable as what you put in there. Second is that dark earthy appearance. If you're going to use it as a soil amendment or in a potting mix, then let it go until it is well decomposed and dirt like (humus). If you want to use it as a mulch outdoors, then you can take it sooner when it is still a bit coarse.

That makes sense, last year i used a 50 gallon barrel. One thing that I have heard of is soil pasteurization, where you heat the soil to an internal temp of 150 degrees. I have an old air compressor tank that I cut the bottom out of, and it gave me a thought about putting the bottom on with a hinge and latch, and putting a shaft through with tines to agitate the soil while heating it. I wonder if that would work as those tanks can handle alot of heat since they are often used as fire boxes on homemade smokers. My biggest concern is the bindweed seed as in western kansas it is impossible to avoid

Heating it would probably work, so long as you don't overheat and cook it. But, it would also really sterilize the works, liking leaving you with no life in it at all (including cooked nigthtcrawlers). That's okay - commercial growers sterilize their potting mixes all the time - just realize what you have when your done, sterile compost.

An alternative to your tank cooker -- solarize it under clear plastic in full sun; you could even put a dial/probe thermometer in through the plastic to check temp. It would probably work best if you spread it out a bit - say a 3-4 inch layer, cover it with clear plastic, put stuff along the edges to "seal it", and let the sun do the work. If the batch is small enough (10 gal should be) you may be able to put it in a large clear plastic bag (think garbage), seal up the top, then lay it on its side and even it out to a fairly flat layer. You could also turn the bag over on alternate days to get it heated from both sides.

After it's "cooked" throw in a handful of good, clean,active garden soil taken from the top inch, mix it well, and let it incubate for a week or so. That will restore the life.

Maybe pt03 will see this and comment. He makes compost big-time, and I think he even has a sterilizer. He would know better than anyone else here.