More browns is good - leaves, shredded paper, cardboard, etc. The other option (or something to do ALSO) is to spread it out in the sun (if you are getting any) and let it dry out a bit. This will still take some time, but either or both of these solutions will help.

Steve

I'd step back and examine things before 'doing' anything else.

How many/ how large a bin is determined by what materials you have and how much compost you want/need. Also, how much compost you will get is partly determined by what type of composting you will be comfortable with.

If you want 'hot' composting -- i.e. 1-3 months versus 'cold ' composting 1-2 years --- your bin should have a diameter of about 4 feet. The height is not as important, but I like 24" or 30" because it is easier on the back when turning.

Materials and requirements + method ------> type bin(s)

While I agree with Robert that you need to re-think your approach to composting for easier and better results and also get a bigger container or switch to vermicomposting, the problem now is smell and that means adding carbons in large amounts.

Leaves aren't available right now unless you can find a stockpile of them and they are slow unless shredded. Shredded or layered paper is fastest but has some problems with clumping, cardbord chunks are great - lots of them - or best yet, go buy a bale of straw (not hay) and mix it in well. It will quickly neutralize the odor.

Dave

Thanks! I think I will have to enclose it in a wire cage of some kind to better keep shredded browns in.

Digdirt, why straw and not hay? Is hay green? I am never sure which is which (straw vs bale). I have a bale of rotting something I got from my neighbor after halloween -- I was planning to try planting in it, but I suppose I could put it in. It is mostly stalks.

Hay is a green - mowed grasses with solid stems and flat blades and even when dried still falls on the N side of the C/N ratio. Using hay will only make your problem worse. ;)

Straw is an ideal carbon with a high C ratio and is a very different gold-brown color from hay and has hollow stems.

Dave

These photos might help you tell the 2 apart. Note different colors and different consistency.

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Dave

Since I took pics today I thought I'd post a pic of my bin & my stinky pile (which is a bit better now that the sun came out for a bit):
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There are two reasons a compost pile smeels bad, too much Nitrogen in the mix which gives the compost pile an ammonia like odor, or too much water which gives the compost a very putrid odor. Obviously to solve the ammonia odor you need to change the C:N ratio by adding more high carbon material, generally browns. The solve that putrid odor means you need to get a lot more air into the pile as well as change the whole pile to something a bit dryer. That could mean adding a lot of dry material, so then you need to watch the C:N ratio so you don't get more high carbon material than Nitrogen in and stop the digestion process.

I wonder if some red wiggler worms or some bacteria could help. I bought a can of compost microbes, which are supposed to be specially grown to decompose organic waste. I got mine from Meyer, but they don't have a website, so I linked to a different kind.

Here is a link that might be useful: Compost Activator

There are millions and billions of microbes right in the soil already. No need to buy them. ajpa's problem is too much greens and too wet. No aerobic bacteria - natural or canned - will be happy and smell sweet under those conditions.

Haha I love the picture. It clarifies why your family is upset. Same thing happens to me sometimes.

I think rule number 1 is try to keep the pile away from the house, or anybody's house for that matter. Also, when the police find the body, you can arrange the alibi better.

If you can find a day when everyone is away, consider just digging it up and moving it. A dirty job, but it solves the problem. I would compost in a fallow bed rather than near my house. Moving the pile is the direct approach to getting the smell away from people. After all, the pile is not a huge problem, it is the location. This method is guaranteed to be effective for anybody but Raymond Burr in Rear Window.

Maybe chemistry can help. Wood ash will raise pH. That might get rid of your boggy smell. Sawdust will soak things up a little and raise C if too much N is your problem. Neither will bring catastrophe if you are wrong in guessing the cause. Lime and or wood chips might be your last resorts in this category.

Barring that, I would go for cover. Two weeks is likely to be enough. Leaves>cardboard>tarp Just keep going until you cannot smell it. Open it up when people are not around. Then you can check it and air it out or turn it. It might go anaerobic or continue to be so, but that will end eventually as you keep turning it, reduce cover, and get back to normal.

I have tried all of these things in different situations, none involving victims of foul play. Is the smell really that bad? You have not mentioned insects or vermin problems.

Have you considered a new family? haha!

The smell is not bad when it dried out. And I stuck it there to hide from the HOA police. :)

Guess what I scored from the township -- a bundle of tall dried ornamental grass that is mostly stalks. Whoo hoo!!! Great browns! I am going to use that.

I mixed it up too -- tried to break up the clumps of grass better.

The bad news is that it's raining again. *frowns at sky*

HOA police. Oh. Too bad.
Like Jimmy Stewart with binoculars.
Well, good luck is all I can say.
Careful with seeds of that ornamental grass. It could be Miscanthus sinensis, which grows like bamboo.

I am sure your problem with the compost will work out. If you do not have gopher or animal problems, one way to get around the HOA police is to dig a pit and compost in the pit. Cover with plywood or ... well.. whatever. Put tall plants around it and no one will ever know. hee hee.
Tell people it is a raised bed. Tell em anything.

Glad that Kimmsr gave the reasons for stinky pile. Just turned a bin today that was all browns and wet all winter. Whooee, step back NOW. Broke it all up and added some greens and will get it to dry out and start working again. There's a mistake I made that some will learn from. For a while there I thought something from the animal kingdom died in there. Thanks Kimmsr, now I know what I did wrong.