My compost bin hit 90 degrees this morning and I panicked for a second

I thought my bokashi bucket was overheating, but it turns out that's just the microbes working really hard, which is a good sign you're doing it right and won't get any smell.

3 comments

3 Comments

keith2645d ago

Hah, that's wild! So is 90 degrees the sweet spot for bokashi, or is that getting into the danger zone? I've only done regular compost and that gets hot, but I've never measured it. What do you even use to check the temp, just stick a meat thermometer in there?

theawest5d ago

I saw a video from the Compost Collective that said bokashi fermentation works best between 70 and 90 degrees. A cheap probe thermometer from the hardware store works fine to check. The heat is a good sign of strong microbial activity, so your panic was actually a win. My own bucket felt warm once and I was so relieved it wasn't a fail.

wendy_park7619h ago

Wait, is 90 degrees the top limit or just fine? @theawest is right about the hardware store probe, I use a basic Taylor digital one. Poke it into the middle of the bucket. If it's warm, your microbes are happy and eating fast. Too hot over 95 and things might get funky.