So here’s a link I found for great compost tea recipe and to build your own brewer!
Compost Tea Brewing Like a Pro: The Ingredients, The Recipe, The Process.
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I had poor luck with worm castings, the stuff I had may have been old.
Currently using Dr Earth dry fert, 2-2-2, about 1/2 of the little scoop, ounce of blackstrap molasses and about 1/4 teaspoon Mico…Dr Earth has humic acid.
The Dr Earth claims bunches of microbes and it foams up much better than the wormcastings, plants look happy so far.
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Ewc, fish shit, bloom fertz, and organic blackstrap molasses. Aerate for 24 hrs before use. All i use and my plants go bonkers.
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microbeorganics.com is such an invaluable resource for learning about Aerated Compost Teas (ACT). Tim Wilson, the guy who runs the website did a ton of work analyzing aeration systems and looking at the biology of finished teas under the microscope. Realllly interesting stuff and an awesome website to read through. He pretty much exclusively uses EWC and molasses, nothin else.
Here’s a really good podcast he did as well with KIS Organics
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That’s the one.
Foams up well.
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This site is highly recommended.
These are the folks who showed me the light and helped me write the bottled microbe thread below.
If you are growing outside, I also recommend compost from the land your plants are growing in/on.
This will multiply microbes that are native to the area.
They work best in the local soil.
Also if you grow near the woods, you may need a more fungal mix.
If you are not near the woods a bacterial-based tea is gonna be the ticket.
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Oh, and if you are gonna use worm castings/vermicompost the best stuff comes right out of a live worm bin.
The bagged stuff is variable at best.
You need to ask …
Has it been properly composted by the worms?
How old is it?
Did it sit in the sun?
Did it freeze?
Did it get too wet at some point?
Ect
All of these things affect the microbes.
So worm castings in a bag could be dead, you would only know if you checked under a microscope.
Pro tip:
There is rooting hormones among others found in a good vermicompost.
"Some more interesting activities by earthworms are the secretion of plant hormones gibberellins, auxins and cytokinins in the vermicomposting process with the help of microbes (Sinha et al., 2011) state of synergistic interactions."
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I’m not a fan of molasses in teas as it can encourage competing bacteria to those you’re going for. Generally I use ground oats/oat bran in it’s place. Another fun comparison is to make some jlf (anaerobic ferment) with compost and sea salt and make some compost tea and compare the microbes of both. More similar than you’d think but still so different. I’ve drifted towards more ferments but used to love teas 
microbe man’s recipe is what I followed for a while though. Then took Elaine’s advice about ditching molasses. Thanks for the link and discussion starter @420noob 
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Thanks for sharing @420noob
Here’s another simple recipe guide I like:
I also agree with everyone above saying microbe organics is a great source of info!
I usually make my teas from my own compost and worm castings. But right now I’ve been using store bought compost until I get my worm farm running again + get some finished compost.
Bagged stuff can be very hit or miss. I’ve tried a number of different ones recently and so far my favorite has been the fungal compost sold by “the soil makers”. They offer free shipping on their 1/2 cu.ft bags of compost and afaik they don’t pre-bag the compost. It’s bagged after being ordered. Shipping was very fast, it arrived nice and fresh/moist and has been producing a good quality aerated tea (from what I can tell). I still prefer using my own compost or ewc, but for bagged compost the soil makers stuff is good. I liked the “organic alive” bagged compost too. That was my 2nd favorite so far.
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May I ask who is Elaine?
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Thanks for the name drop, gonna check it out.
Elaine Ingham. Soil food web. Microbiologist.
Love her. Love Youngsang Cho.
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Dr. Elaine ingham. She’s an amazing source of information on the soil food web!
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Oops. I see you answered while I was typing my post. lol
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Nah I appreciate it! More Elaine, the better! She’s a gem.
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Thanks all let’s keep adding to this thread. I’m just want a variety of simple recipes for people to try.
Also what type of water/air pump do y’all use or recommend?
@shag shared this link diy vortex tea brewer
Another tasty bit!
Thanks @shag for sharing your research and knowledge to all of us!
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The post with Tim’s work, is gold, IMHO. Been reading him for many years now.
The most simple tea, IMHO, is just a portion of alfalfa and kelp, a teaspoon of powdered molasses.
Recently, I started to add a touch of gypsum to that, a simple over night bubble, and it foams up great.
Alfalfa and kelp, as they get wet, they release their bacteria, they are composting bacteria.
So any type of organic matter they contact, the feeding and pooping starts up. They feed on the organics, poop out plant food, that is plant root nourishment! Very quickly.
Add (at feeding time to the plant) now add some of the LAB’s you made , with a tea portion and LAB’s portion, and your roots get a very nutrient rich root bath…
I also leave huge amount of my root mass, as I reuse my spent after a cycle, medium IDK, how many cycles, but each time the roots are NOT EVER REMOVED, as they have been covered in biologicals. Why would I want to lose that?
Also, Freaking worms teach us so much, now that we lived together for half a year now, so easy to care for, and best garden buddies I’ve ever had. I fed them scraps of plant waste, and get a huge bag of EWC!
The Worms, and I, are wishing everyone a get day!
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Thanks for the tips. Yes worms are something we have been talking about starting. Biggest worry is desert temps. I reuse soil and leave roots in as well. Also heard that adding roots to a tea helps your root health also can help sprout seeds. Thanks for the alfalfa and kelp tip. Was gonna use kelp didn’t know about alfalfa. Do you use fresh alfalfa or just bought from store?
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I use Down to earth brand alfalfa meal. But any alfalfa meal or pellets should work.
It’s good stuff!
Alfalfa and kelp meal are must have’s IMO!
Also, check out seed sprout teas. I’ve been using a few drops in the water with my seeds lately and find it’s been giving older seeds a nice germination boost. Easy to make. Just sprout seeds, put them in a blender with a splash of water, blend, strain and add to your plant water.
Or you can buy malted barley (already sprouted and enzymes preserved) or malted corn.
I use barley, legumes and corn as my 3 main seed sprout teas. They are each supposed to have benefits.
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