Worm Casting Tea

as a follow up to Jessie's Worm Compost Seminar...

Worm Castings Tea -  4 Gallon Brew Recipe

Ingredients:

•   4-8 cups Barefoot Soil Organic Earthworm Castings
• ¼ cup sulfur free molasses
• 1 Tbsp water soluble sea plant extract
• 2 Tbsp soluble fish powder or liquid fish
• 4+ gallons Chlorine free water

  Tea Brewer components:

•  Min. 5 gallon plastic pail, bucket or barrel
• Air pump with air stone or some other air dispersal device (small bubbles are superior).
• Sieve (a 5 gal. paint bucket filter works well)
• Elastic band or a twist-tie to close the Sieve

 Directions:

First, ensure that all components are clean and there are no buildups or areas of your brewer that will prevent the circulation of air and water.  (If the stone builds up residue just soak it overnight in pure white vinegar).

In a 5 gallon pail, fill with 4 gallons or so of warm water with the molasses, seaweed extract, and liquid fish.  Turn on the pump with the hose and stone attached before placing the stone into the solution. Leave the pump running when removing the stone from the brew to keep water from entering the stone.

Place the air-stone or other bubbler at the bottom of the pail.  For best results, adjust the ‘open brew’ approach by placing the Earthworm Castings directly into the water.  (You can always strain the castings later if you are going to use a sprayer for the Teas’ application.)  Alternatively, put the Earthworm Castings into the sieve and place it into the pail over the bubbler.

Brew until a noticeable frothy slime (“bio-slime”) develops on the surface of the water and the smell of the ingredients is very weak or no longer present.  The absence of noticeable fish and molasses odor indicates that the microorganisms have consumed the ingredients!  Once the food is gone the populations will begin to decrease.  On warm summer days, you can begin a brew in the evening, and the tea will be ready for application the next morning.  Brewing is often complete in as little as 12 hours if the brew is kept warm.  Hence, brew times are heavily dependent on the water temperature.  With every 10 degree F drop in temperature, brew times increase by 12 hours.

Be sure to keep the tea aerobic by leaving the bubbler on until you use the tea since cutting off the oxygen supply will down the population and diversity.

While brewing, the population of beneficial microorganisms will be doubling in as little as every 20 minutes.  By the end of the brew, your solution can contain over one billion little critters per teaspoon of tea!

Apply the tea when the populations of microorganisms are at their highest number and diversity.  Spray the tea onto foliage, stems, roots and surrounding soil, or simply pour it onto you plants and vegetation.  Remember, Castings Tea Everything!  Spray early morning or in the evening or in the shade, not in the sunshine.
 When you are finished, use the left over castings for your soil amendment needs.  Do not discard them!  These castings should have higher population densities than what you started with, because remember, you brewed an exceedingly large population, and they will adhere to the castings!

copied from https://www.yelmworms.com/compost-tea/page3