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The week my bokashi bin turned into a science experiment | Apartment Composting - The Community Guide

The week my bokashi bin turned into a science experiment

I remember this one week in my old studio in Seattle, maybe three years back, when my little countertop bokashi system just went nuts. I'd been adding my food scraps like normal, but I must have put in too many citrus peels or something because the whole thing started getting way too wet. I opened the lid to add more and this crazy sweet, sour smell hit me, not the usual pickly bokashi smell. The stuff at the bottom was basically soup. I had to drain off almost a full cup of that 'bokashi tea' into a jar every day for like five days straight. I was so worried I'd ruined the whole batch and my apartment would smell forever. I ended up mixing in a bunch of shredded newspaper I got from the mail room to soak it up, and it actually saved it. That was the week I learned you really have to watch the moisture balance, even in a sealed system. Has anyone else had a bokashi batch get that soupy, and what did you do to fix it?

2 comments

2 Comments

graywright6mo ago

Oh man, the "crazy sweet, sour smell" is a red flag I know too well. My first attempt basically turned into a science fair volcano project. I had this weird fizzy liquid that I was too scared to drain, so I just let it sit. Big mistake. It smelled like a brewery and a dumpster had a baby. I ended up having to bury the whole sealed bucket in a friend's yard because I was convinced it would explode in my closet. I definitely learned the hard way that bokashi isn't a "set it and forget it" kind of deal.

miller.eva6mo ago

My old apartment in Portland had that same soupy issue, but I used dry leaves from my houseplants instead of newspaper. @graywright, your volcano story makes me wonder if the fizzy liquid means it's working too fast, like it's fermenting way too hard. Maybe that's why the moisture gets out of control.