Really convenient bags can be bought online at: www.letgoletsgrow.com Those bags have drawstrings and are a good size for both small and large batches. also, sorry to get off topic, there are many different tApes of compost tea. It is important to know the difference between manure tea and actively aerated compost tea. Manure teas can have pathogens and are anaerobic while actively aerated compost tea is aerated and has enough dissolved oxygen to help the good guys and not allow such things as E. coli ...

The information below is taken from the Fine Gardening article by Dr. Ingham linked in the reply of Sep 26, 09 at 14:23. In addition, I believe that I have read that the brewing equipment should be well cleaned between batches with the use of some hydrogen peroxide. "Also, keep in mind that tea made using this bucket method needs to brew for two or three days and then be used immediately. If you work Monday through Friday, start the tea on Wednesday or Thursday, so it will be ready in time to apply it on the weekend." "After three days, turn off the pump and remove the equipment. If you leave the tea aerating longer than three days, you must add more molasses or the good organisms will start going to sleep because they don't have enough food to stay active. Let the brew sit until the compost is pretty much settled out, 10 to 20 minutes, then strain it into the other bucket or directly into your sprayer. You'll have about 2 1/2 gallons of tea. If you want, this is the time to add foliar micronutrients, like kelp or rock dust. Use the tea right away, within the hour if possible." "With any form of compost, solid or tea, bad smells mean bad business. Healthy, adequately oxygenated compost and compost tea should smell sweet and earthy. Never use a smelly compost tea on your plants. The true bugaboo is alcohol, a product of anaerobic decomposition that destroys cell walls. Roots tolerate only 1 part per million alcohol. That's a very small amount, and human noses aren't good at detecting it. Instead, we can detect all the other smelly compounds that go with anaerobic production of alcohol." Terran Here is a link that might be useful: Brewing Compost Tea by Dr. Elaine Ingham

Well isn't that just the coolest thing? Compost Tea Bags :) If you do a google search "Doug Green Compost Tea" you might get enough information from him. I've seen his videos on making compost tea, but it was long ago. Let us know what you think of the compost tea bags. I may need some :)

Fily: Products-promoter (air-pump) confuse the issue just to brainwash consumers into buying stuff for compost tea. Below link explains well: http://www.dummies.com/home-garden/green-living/aerobic-versus-anaerobic-composting/ "As long as plenty of air is available, aerobic decomposers work faster and more efficiently than their anaerobic counterparts. However, as organisms deplete the supply of oxygen from the existing spaces and pores between bits of organic matter, the decomposition process slows. Aboveground aerobic decomposers can generate heat as a byproduct of their activity ... when conditions are to the decomposers’ liking, temperatures in your pile heat up sufficiently to kill weed seeds and pathogens. To keep your decomposers working at maximum speed, you may want to incorporate some type of aeration aid during your initial pile construction: Stir organic matter regularly: Use a pitchfork or an aerating tool to stir things up. Anaerobic organisms work without oxygen, so most anaerobic takes place underground in pits or trenches. Basically, you dig a hole, fill it with organic matter, and seal it with a layer of soil. Anaerobic organisms work at slower rates than their aerobic counterparts .. Anaerobic organisms exude smelly gas as a byproduct of their exertions. And because of the colder conditions, weed seeds and plant pathogens aren’t destroyed." *** Does that apply to a wet compost tea? No, it doesn't, because there's plenty of oxygen in water. Plus moisture helps to speed up the decomposition process. "wet food" like chicken-broth or meat have to be VACUUM-SEALED to stop microbes. There's plenty of oxygen in compost tea, even if you put a lid on. The aeration-pump introduces more oxygen to speed up the decomposition. In contrast, folks put a bowl to submerge kimchi UNDER salty water, to prevent it being exposed to air to grow greenish mold. Vaporvac put leaves in plastic bag, plus some soil and water for leaves to decompose faster. The soil is for microbes, and the water is to keep the microbes alive. Same with my leaving brown-yard-waste bags with grass-clippings, fold-shut, in the rain. I want it moist, but not soaking wet & stinky. One year I left grass-clippings out in open rain during winter & spring, and it became a wet sewage swamp, with verticullum wilt fungus that killed my tomatoes. In summer time, grass clipping in open air matted and dry up in the heat into "mummified" grass clippings & dry like cardboard. My neighbor showed me her compost-tumbler. It's a HUGE metallic container with a crank to stir the compost. She opened it, and it's moist and fluffy, zero smell. Composting is faster if you introduce air and moisture. Khalid asked me a question about his putting gypsum in compost, and the maggots went away. Gypsum is acidic, so it will kill maggots temporary, but its acidity helps to speed-up the decomposition by breaking down fibrous matter. When I dig in my rock hard clay, at 2 feet it's impossible to dig further, I simply put gypsum & some water. A month later, that become fluff. The acid in gypsum corroded even rocks, if there's tons of water. Damage to root = fungal diseases or losing all leaves. This July I threw some gypsum around Marie Pavie. It dropped 3/4 of its leaves from the acidity that corroded roots when rain hit. In 2012 I threw gypsum on Evelyn, and it broke out in rust instantly when rain hit. Things rot faster if there's acidic water, such as rain. I killed or stunt countless roses by following Roses Unlimited recipe of 2 cups of alfalfa meal in the planting hole. I did that to Paul Neyron (grafted on Dr. Huey). Knowing that Dr.Huey likes alkaline, I also put 1 cup of lime to balance out 2 cups of alfalfa pellets .. but when rain hit, the afalfa decomposed underground into a sour mess that kill Dr.Huey. Thank God, it's a cheap $3 rose from Menards. Since my soil is rock-hard clay at pH near 8 at the bottom, I got this clever idea of mixing in cracked corn (pH 4) to break up the soil. I did that to a hole in partial shade, in a soaking wet spot with rain-spout nearby. After 3 months, the clay went from compact to fluffy soil. The corn decomposed fast to neutral pH, given shade and water. Tchaikovsky did great. Then I mixed corn in the planting hole of a spot up the hill, in full sun. It's dry, so the corn didn't decompose, even after 3 months. I planted Just Joey ($7 bare-root). It died when tons of rain hit. Chicagoland rain pH is around 4.7, corn has pH 4 and when that decompose, the pH drops further. That's what my neighbor, Ph.D. in botany did: Due to our extreme cold winter, -20 below zero. He dug a large trench, put compost & leaves in, and covered with soil. That decompose faster since it's warmer underground, plus wetter, plus soil microbes help to break down. Leaves don't break down if they matt together (no air in between), but if I layer leaves with soil (introducing air and microbes and moisture), leaves break down very fast. CONCLUSION: Compost tea is wet, plenty of oxygen and moisture in the water, thus stirring is not necessary. I once saw a squirrel drowned in the neighbor's garbage can filled with rain-water. That's stinky regardless if you stir it, or don't stir it. The decay process is faster if you introduce air or moisture. Decaying gives off acid, and things decay faster, or give off more acid, when it's in a wet solution.