Troubleshooting · 3 of 30
Sour or rancid smell
A vinegar, silage or rancid-butter smell, usually with a temperature drop of several degrees.
01Symptom
A vinegar, silage or rancid-butter smell, usually with a temperature drop of several degrees.
02Why it happens
Anaerobic conditions. The material has compacted or matted, air can no longer move through it, and acid-producing bacteria have taken over from the aerobic ones.
03What to do
- 01 Turn immediately, breaking up every matted clump by hand.
- 02 Mix in dry carbon equal to roughly 20 % of the affected volume.
- 03 Check for a wet layer at the base and put 10 mm drainage holes in if water pools.
- 04 Reduce the thickness of any grass or kitchen-waste layers to 10 cm or less.
04Where this has come up in the logs
- batch logSummer grass clippings balanced with corrugated cardboard
- methodWorking out C:N and moisture before the pile is built
- referenceNitrogen greens: the materials that start the pile and cause the smells
- methodRunning a tumbler properly: two charges, not one
- referenceKitchen and home waste: what goes in, what stays out
- batch logSpent mushroom substrate, straight from a commercial grower