[Terrapreta] scored

[Mark Ludlow]

Geritt,

Silage is a fermentation employing bacterial fermentation that produces
lactic acid, not alcohol. The desired end result is silage that is
some-where between 3.8 and 4.2 pH. The Lactobacillus usually out-competes
everything as the environment gets anaerobic but there is often some acetic
acid created from stages in the process that are not stabilized. Either way,
the process terminates naturally when the pH gets low enough and then the
lactic acid acts as a preservative.

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org
[mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of gerald van
koeverden
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 1:31 PM
To: Philip Small; Jim Joyner; Terra Preta
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] scored

Jim,

Alcohol is a preservative because it will kill most
microorganisms.  That's the whole principle behind
making silage - it ferments and 'pickles' itself.
You can only naturally ferment anything to about 18%
alchohol.  At that point, even fermenting yeast can't
survive.  Jack Daniels - being distilled - is probably
around 40% alcohol.  So you have a very potent natural
biocide concentrated in the charcoal particles.  I
wonder how it would function in a compost pile?  Could
be problems...
You might have to first dump the charcoal into a
container and soak it in water.  The alcohol in the
charcoal should naturally be diluted by diffusion....?
  
Just guessing.

Gerrit


--- Philip Small <psmall2008 at landprofile.com> wrote:

> Unless you won't be using the soil productively
> right away, I would finish
> this charcoal in a compost pile for the month
> minimum, and make sure you
> have a good portion of green feedstock to balance
> the high C:N ratio. May
> have to turn the pile frequently at first to prevent
> the pile from going
> sour, but better there than in the soil where it is
> hard on the indigenous
> population. I would inoculate the mix with healthy
> compost tea, healthy
> garden soil, and such.
> 
> On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 9:33 AM, Jim Joyner
> <jimstoy at dtccom.net> wrote:
> 
> > I just scored a ton of charcoal! It's all ground
> to a powder to pea
> > size. Just one little drawback: it has Jack
> Daniels whiskey in it.
> >
> > They filter all the fresh made whiskey through
> sugar maple wood charcoal
> > (then it gets stored in charred white oak
> barrels). They wash the
> > charcoal with water to get as much of the alcohol
> out of it as they can.
> > They normally make charcoal briquettes out of the
> charcoal left over but
> > I convinced them they should give me a ton to
> experiment with.
> > (Actually, they charged me $30). So, now I have a
> ton of charcoal with
> > the very sweet smell of Jack Daniels.
> >
> > The fellow who loaded my truck ask me, "whatcha
> gon with it?" I told him
> > and he grimaced. Said they used to mix the
> charcoal with wood chips and
> > apply it as mulch until they found that it "kilt
> all the shrubs".
> >
> > So, I've got the charcoal setting out in the sun,
> evaporating the
> > alcohol out of it, hoping it be will be OK when I
> put it in the soil.
> > Any comments or suggestions?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Jim
> >
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