I do not know. She's very big on testing teas with an O2 meter and testing finished teas for microbe counts - which of course is her business.

I do have the impression that she doesn't want much mechanical pressure inside the tea, so the fountain pump might be a little too stressful and tear apart the fungal strands she covets. Besides a fountain pump would have to tolerate a bunch of loose stuff going through it. Even a big filter on the inlet would clog and limit the effectiveness of the pump. You want some stirring going on to eliminate all dead zones in the tea maker.

There is a lot of beauty in the simplicity of simply pumping air into the tea.

Well I was thinking about trying my hand at making tea. But now i think I'll just go back to school and become a rocket scientist. It'll be easier for me!
Actually is there a link i can go into to find out exactly what to put in the tea? Now that I have all gobbley gook on aeration!

Never mind! I found it!

Okay, I saw an ad in the newspaper the other day for a battery operated stirring doo-hickey (doncha love that technical term?). Could this somehow be adapted to a plug in unit and put on top of a compost tea that is brewing? Would that increase the oxygen content of my tea? This thing had four adjustable arms to make differing lengths to sit on big or small items.

The new garden's alive catalog has a compost tea kit that looks pretty good to me.

http://www.gardensalive.com/item_displa ... umber=8798

You can usually get a 20 dollar coupon on your catalog as well. I ordered and received the kit recently, am just waiting for the weather to warm up before I try it out.

Anyone else have any opinions on it?

Debby,
There is no one receipe for compost tea. You use what ever you have.
Some people make tea out of compost with manure. I make mine out of compost with add molasses and cornmeal. I have a pair of my wife's pantyhose. I cut off one leg and stuff it with the ingredients, tie the top and put into a 5 gallon bucket of water. After 3 days I take the compost
sock out and hang it on the compost bin to dry. About 30 - 45 minutes, before I use it, I aeroate it with a pump i bought for keeping minnows alive. It works very well. After the 30 minutes is up I strain it, through the panty hose and into the 1 gallon sprayer. I fill it half full and the rest with water. It works very well.
Hope this helps

Briancarp: It is interesting. And it is a good thing that merchants are marketing more and more products to the organic public. But, the price is quite high. You can purchase the collapsable water carrier from any camping supply store for $5 to $7. The air pump can be bought anywhere for very little money, and you can use good, finished compost as the basis for your tea. That just looks like a very expensive way to produce a product that is supposed to be inexpensive. Just for giggles, I checked their pricing for Corn Gluten Meal. They want $50.00 for a 50 lb. bag. The Most expensive garden center will sell you CGM for around $20.00 to $30.00 a bag. It's a good thing you have the $20.00 coupon. Look through this site and you will find many inexpencive ways and means of keeping your garden green