@@tonysicily2687 good luck. I don’t know where you are but I can tell you I have plenty of waste here so I am guessing you have accumulated plenty too. A good time of the year to start. Will be interesting to find out how you get on with the HB.
Hi BC and Mrs BC … our Minnie (Mini Composter) arrived today and thanks to all your help she is chomping her way through the kitchen waste I’ve been saving for her. Will try now to resist peaking for a day or two. Thank you again for your brilliant videos (and for Beanie Chef too - the soup and the veggie cottage pie intend to make soon).
Never resist a peak. It has to be done. Have you managed to fill it above the hatch door. Exciting times. Hopefully by the weekend you should be in the green. Good luck and keep us posted.
my son just brought me one of these hotbox composters from a construction job he's on, it had just been abandoned and left, so I'm trying to collect some materials to get it started but as I already have 2 other compost bins and a worm farm resources are pretty stretched time to do some gardening for the neighbors lol I'm dying to get it started. great video as well lots of tips cheers.
Thank you. It seems you have hit the jackpot in terms of a free HB. Looks like you have a lot of experience in composting so it will be good to hear what you think of the HB once you get things going. Good luck and as you may of seen from the videos these can be hungry composters.
Hi Beanie family hope your all good , good video will be doing this come next spring as probably by beginning of dec going to shut down and empty into segregated bags and leave till spring as the bad frosty weather sets in here don’t want to risk falling as a bit wobbly in ice and snow it’s a shame as would have liked to keep it running , but got to take care . Your mini doing well yippee love to see success , will get on to your chef channel for winter and try out all your recipes. off course will be watching to see how everyone going through the winter with the hot bins love to you all Jean X 😀
That is wise Jean. You can just leave it in there over winter as you would a normal compost bin. It will remain warmer in the hotbin so will still decompose a little quicker. You did well with yours and I am glad you have decided to take a break while the weather is bad. You deserve a rest from it. Hope you were happy you bought one though.
Thank you. This and the up and coming videos will hopefully help some out with setting up and keeping it hot. As we have said it is not a plug and go and takes some looking after but hopefully this will give people some pointers of where they might be going wrong or come unstuck. With your experience you did not need to watch but thank you. Also as I am typing this the misses is giving orders ha ha.
Minnie is all systems go!!! Less than 24 hours since her launch and she's up to 40. Managed to fill to just below hatch door - thought i had plenty of stuff but it's amazing even in a mini how much you need. Torrential rain last night and forgot about the flower pot over the air hole thingy. This morning the blow hole feels a bit warm, outside thermometer reads 30 and inside says 40 !! Yay - all thanks to you Professor and Mrs Beanie. Plan to feed again tomorrow. Only problem is masses of fruit flies .. will they fry in the heat do you think? Thanks again.
Well done Sarah. You never thought waste could be so exciting. Yes it is amazing how much you need and also how much it can chomp through. I had the fruit flies when it was cold but have not had them since. I think they will disappear so don't worry. Looks like your already smashing it keep us updated.
Thank you I though I needed to empty it that will save me doing that , I’m glad I told you what I was going to do. And yes I am glad I have it I will miss it when not in and feeding etc it’s addictive, plus do like to see all the comments it’s another interest for me being on my own COVID not made any difference for me as I’m always busy with the house and garden , I absolutely love it and chuckle out loud when the boss gives you a blasting how dare you upset the director of filming and gardening . Absolutely love to follow if that’s the correct word to use , all the videos , I have some lovely compost for my pots etc next spring that saves me money also saves me throwing away dishes of cat food when Boris has a smell and decide,s not the correct flavour he wants , and do have lots of kitchen peal etc , yes I do love my hot bin even though like to moan about water getting in as I can stop that have to have a moan about something 🤣 thanks for telling me saved me all the mess of emptying it Jean X ps guess what my lid as stopped squeaking don’t know why 🤷♂️
We will keep updated with things and you can still put the odd thing in it over winter when we have some nice days just not cooked food if not over 40. The Hotbin not you. Does not have to be hot composting so you can keep a check on it when weather is good and you miss it.
Hi BC, Been composting for a few months now and just discovered your videos, opened my bin last week and compost is quite wet and stinky, was wondering if I keep turning it in bin and adding plenty paper and straw, would that dry it out sufficiently or should I start from scratch. Looking forward to the rest of your videos. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Hi Ian, it could be too late to add extra paper. My best advice would be to empty and try to dry out as I have shown in a couple of videos and then check for any lumps that may be blocking the air flow. It is a good time of the year that this is possible to do within a day. If warm and windy. Then add it back in with extra paper and bulking agent. I know that may not be possible. You could store the old waste and start again although I don’t know if you have food in it that could attract pests. If you could do that then ensure the old waste can dry out such as having it in a bag with holes. I don’t know if you have the mini or large bin and how full it is but as I said there are a couple of videos where I have had to empty the whole bin to dry the waste. Normally the videos where compost has gone cold. You should find it easily. I hope this helps. Please don’t hesitate to ask any other questions about the HB and let us know what you are able to do.
Hi Mr and Mrs B - we're new to the sport but love your interaction on the videos! We don't know what size of hot composter to get??? We have a fairly large garden and at the moment we have 2 1m square wooden compost areas which in Scotland means an area to store your compost and which might... eventually... concede to provide some partially rotted compost ! I was thinking 400l but my sister reckons 200l is plenty - we'd appreciate your thoughts.
Hi. Thanks for watching. I guess if you have seen the videos then you will have seen our garden. Not big but we have quite a bit going on in it. The mini is the 100 litre which is too small for us and I would not recommend if you had a large garden. I would personally go for the 200 litre as you will be able to keep going even in the winter when you have less garden waste but in the summer when you have lots of waste you would kick yourself if you got the mini . I don't have any experience with the mega but I still feel the 200 litre will more than be enough. The 200 litre is not the small one by the way and once hot you can compost lots and lots. If you look on the hotbin composting website you will see them all. Hope this helps.
Your bulking agent is carbon and your grass clippings and green waste is nitrogen, about 60-70% carbon and 30-40% nitrogen you should be rocking! I would add biochar, wood ash and some forest soil for the microbes, bacteria and fungi. Get those thermophilic bacteria going!👍 You could always compost your missus!😂😭👍
Thanks for your videos. I've just started my hotbin in the last week - I don't suppose you've any recommendations for an actual tap fitting for the leachate valve? It's described as a 'tap' but an actual tap would be a lot less messy than unscrewing the lid whilst leachate is leaking all over your fingers.
Hi If you have seen my most recent video then I have said that is one thing I would like to see. I did try and fit a tap from a water butt but it was too big so you would need a smaller tap and a milk bottle top screws on the thread but not as strong as the cap. Maybe after the video they will produce one. It really cannot be that hard. Or maybe I should produce one if there is enough demand. I know this does not help you out but you would need a smaller tap say from a motorcycle tank that you could connect to the lid.
Hi Sandra Yes grass really does help and I was lucky that I was able to get some. Failing that a bag of sugar or blood and bone meal but you know me I do not like spending money.
@@FNPTeresa hi cut weeds will work just as good as grass clippings. If they are perennials then just ensure that you don’t add roots or seeds if your HB is cold. With the leaves of say dandelion just put them in a bucket and chop small with garden shears to achieve the same result.
Hi, from what I have read depending on the size of the greenhouse, outside temps, insulation in the green house and the temp in the hotbin. It can help keep the temperature up but not by a great amount but if running at very hot temps then I am sure it would aid with a very light frost. I am looking to do an experiment with bringing a hotbin inside so it will be interesting to see how much heat it can create. Hope this helps you out. The hotbin company say it can create the heat of a 30w bulb. They say enough to keep a small greenhouse frost free but as I said it would depend on many factors.
Would you not just put the water bottle in anyway to get the temperature up quicker? I find I have to keep the bottle in all the time. I obviously don’t have the mix quite right yet. I don’t think I was adding enough paper.
Hi I just thought that it was warm enough in general with the outside air temp so wanted to do it without at first. Putting it in will cause no harm but once you are at 20 degrees then it has minimal impact. Yes as you saw my mix is very dry but still has a lot of moisture that you maybe do not see in things such as veg peelings. How is yours going why do you think your mix is not right?
bloody hell yr mrs is very aggresive. bless you x love the pink gloves you got on and thx 4 all the tips,advice im getting 1 soon. how much do they cost?
@@BeanieComposter I thought it could be used like a compost pile, not had to mix and cut up. 300 quid and its got luggage straps to stop contents, the tap is higher than middle air hole so it leaks there, the bottom inside air holes are smaller than a pencil and block on day one, its terrible design for money and not fit for purpose. Even if straps were attached it would stop them getting contaminated everytime.
@@twisted4u Yes it is making your compost quickly but as you say not cheap and does require lots of effort. I take it you will not be getting one anytime soon?
@@BeanieComposter Yeah, we got one a year ago. In fact its in a mess to be honest. The liquid seeps out of the front air hole because its lower than the tap. The tap is too low as they didn't have the underneath bit, which I think should be in price. The straps have made a mess of sides, its just bad right now, and had no decent compost. Shame really
@@twisted4u I understand your frustration. The base should be in the price as you say. I have to say I have always had good compost from them. What temperatures have you had? They are not for everyone as I have said and require more effort than the HB company make out. I have found some bits of the mini that I have had for two years to be of poorer quality than my original mk1. the strap damaging the sides being one thing. Have you given up with it or still persevering?
Thanks a lot for the video. It is great. But please do me a favour and ask the girl who was filming to be a bit nicer to you. You seem upset and like somebody who is very afraid to do something wrong because somebody else is constantly telling you that all you do is not good enough... I wish you both all the best and thanks for your work
Hi, we just like to have a laugh and that was always what we wanted in the videos so it would give the viewers a bit of a laugh. Trust me I could not find a better Misses but agree she can be a bit blunt sometimes . That is the Polish background for you. She is just like the HB after so many years you get to know how it works. Thank you for watching and hope the videos are helping you out and also giving you a laugh.
@@BeanieComposter Yes I watched more of your videos and realized that I must have been a bit too quick in my conclusion. :) I am glad I was wrong. And yes your videos are suuuuuper helpful, thank you both very much again!
A really good, if not the best, HotBin set up vids on the net, thank you for sharing. Learned a lot😊
Thank you. Also. Thank you for watching. I hope if you have a HB you have managed to get it hot. Happy composting.
@@BeanieComposter I hope to get it set up in the next few days. Thank you again
@@tonysicily2687 good luck. I don’t know where you are but I can tell you I have plenty of waste here so I am guessing you have accumulated plenty too. A good time of the year to start. Will be interesting to find out how you get on with the HB.
Beanie Composter and Mrs - you rock!
We are just here to help.Thanks
Hi BC and Mrs BC … our Minnie (Mini Composter) arrived today and thanks to all your help she is chomping her way through the kitchen waste I’ve been saving for her. Will try now to resist peaking for a day or two. Thank you again for your brilliant videos (and for Beanie Chef too - the soup and the veggie cottage pie intend to make soon).
Never resist a peak. It has to be done. Have you managed to fill it above the hatch door. Exciting times. Hopefully by the weekend you should be in the green. Good luck and keep us posted.
my son just brought me one of these hotbox composters from a construction job he's on, it had just been abandoned and left, so I'm trying to collect some materials to get it started but as I already have 2 other compost bins and a worm farm resources are pretty stretched time to do some gardening for the neighbors lol I'm dying to get it started. great video as well lots of tips cheers.
Thank you. It seems you have hit the jackpot in terms of a free HB. Looks like you have a lot of experience in composting so it will be good to hear what you think of the HB once you get things going. Good luck and as you may of seen from the videos these can be hungry composters.
Hi Beanie family hope your all good , good video will be doing this come next spring as probably by beginning of dec going to shut down and empty into segregated bags and leave till spring as the bad frosty weather sets in here don’t want to risk falling as a bit wobbly in ice and snow it’s a shame as would have liked to keep it running , but got to take care . Your mini doing well yippee love to see success , will get on to your chef channel for winter and try out all your recipes. off course will be watching to see how everyone going through the winter with the hot bins love to you all Jean X 😀
That is wise Jean. You can just leave it in there over winter as you would a normal compost bin. It will remain warmer in the hotbin so will still decompose a little quicker. You did well with yours and I am glad you have decided to take a break while the weather is bad. You deserve a rest from it. Hope you were happy you bought one though.
A good start a Very detailed video thanks. The HB does take some looking after. I’m glad the missus is keeping you on your toes.
Thank you. This and the up and coming videos will hopefully help some out with setting up and keeping it hot. As we have said it is not a plug and go and takes some looking after but hopefully this will give people some pointers of where they might be going wrong or come unstuck. With your experience you did not need to watch but thank you. Also as I am typing this the misses is giving orders ha ha.
Minnie is all systems go!!! Less than 24 hours since her launch and she's up to 40. Managed to fill to just below hatch door - thought i had plenty of stuff but it's amazing even in a mini how much you need. Torrential rain last night and forgot about the flower pot over the air hole thingy. This morning the blow hole feels a bit warm, outside thermometer reads 30 and inside says 40 !! Yay - all thanks to you Professor and Mrs Beanie. Plan to feed again tomorrow. Only problem is masses of fruit flies .. will they fry in the heat do you think? Thanks again.
Well done Sarah. You never thought waste could be so exciting. Yes it is amazing how much you need and also how much it can chomp through. I had the fruit flies when it was cold but have not had them since. I think they will disappear so don't worry. Looks like your already smashing it keep us updated.
Thank you I though I needed to empty it that will save me doing that , I’m glad I told you what I was going to do. And yes I am glad I have it I will miss it when not in and feeding etc it’s addictive, plus do like to see all the comments it’s another interest for me being on my own COVID not made any difference for me as I’m always busy with the house and garden , I absolutely love it and chuckle out loud when the boss gives you a blasting how dare you upset the director of filming and gardening . Absolutely love to follow if that’s the correct word to use , all the videos , I have some lovely compost for my pots etc next spring that saves me money also saves me throwing away dishes of cat food when Boris has a smell and decide,s not the correct flavour he wants , and do have lots of kitchen peal etc , yes I do love my hot bin even though like to moan about water getting in as I can stop that have to have a moan about something 🤣 thanks for telling me saved me all the mess of emptying it Jean X ps guess what my lid as stopped squeaking don’t know why 🤷♂️
We will keep updated with things and you can still put the odd thing in it over winter when we have some nice days just not cooked food if not over 40. The Hotbin not you. Does not have to be hot composting so you can keep a check on it when weather is good and you miss it.
Great video Beanie! Did you ever use ivy in the hot bin? Reckon it would work?
Hi Pablo, yes I have put ivy in the HB but only when it is hot and it seems to destroy it fairly quick.
Hi BC, Been composting for a few months now and just discovered your videos, opened my bin last week and compost is quite wet and stinky, was wondering if I keep turning it in bin and adding plenty paper and straw, would that dry it out sufficiently or should I start from scratch. Looking forward to the rest of your videos. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Hi Ian, it could be too late to add extra paper. My best advice would be to empty and try to dry out as I have shown in a couple of videos and then check for any lumps that may be blocking the air flow. It is a good time of the year that this is possible to do within a day. If warm and windy. Then add it back in with extra paper and bulking agent. I know that may not be possible. You could store the old waste and start again although I don’t know if you have food in it that could attract pests. If you could do that then ensure the old waste can dry out such as having it in a bag with holes.
I don’t know if you have the mini or large bin and how full it is but as I said there are a couple of videos where I have had to empty the whole bin to dry the waste. Normally the videos where compost has gone cold. You should find it easily. I hope this helps. Please don’t hesitate to ask any other questions about the HB and let us know what you are able to do.
Hi Mr and Mrs B - we're new to the sport but love your interaction on the videos! We don't know what size of hot composter to get??? We have a fairly large garden and at the moment we have 2 1m square wooden compost areas which in Scotland means an area to store your compost and which might... eventually... concede to provide some partially rotted compost ! I was thinking 400l but my sister reckons 200l is plenty - we'd appreciate your thoughts.
Hi. Thanks for watching. I guess if you have seen the videos then you will have seen our garden. Not big but we have quite a bit going on in it. The mini is the 100 litre which is too small for us and I would not recommend if you had a large garden. I would personally go for the 200 litre as you will be able to keep going even in the winter when you have less garden waste but in the summer when you have lots of waste you would kick yourself if you got the mini .
I don't have any experience with the mega but I still feel the 200 litre will more than be enough.
The 200 litre is not the small one by the way and once hot you can compost lots and lots.
If you look on the hotbin composting website you will see them all.
Hope this helps.
Your bulking agent is carbon and your grass clippings and green waste is nitrogen, about 60-70% carbon and 30-40% nitrogen you should be rocking! I would add biochar, wood ash and some forest soil for the microbes, bacteria and fungi. Get those thermophilic bacteria going!👍 You could always compost your missus!😂😭👍
Thanks for the info
Thanks for your videos. I've just started my hotbin in the last week - I don't suppose you've any recommendations for an actual tap fitting for the leachate valve? It's described as a 'tap' but an actual tap would be a lot less messy than unscrewing the lid whilst leachate is leaking all over your fingers.
Hi If you have seen my most recent video then I have said that is one thing I would like to see. I did try and fit a tap from a water butt but it was too big so you would need a smaller tap and a milk bottle top screws on the thread but not as strong as the cap. Maybe after the video they will produce one. It really cannot be that hard. Or maybe I should produce one if there is enough demand. I know this does not help you out but you would need a smaller tap say from a motorcycle tank that you could connect to the lid.
I’ve found that nothing seems to get as hot as a mix with grass clippings it’s guaranteed 👍
Hi Sandra Yes grass really does help and I was lucky that I was able to get some. Failing that a bag of sugar or blood and bone meal but you know me I do not like spending money.
@@BeanieComposter Dows cut weeds count as grass clippings? We have no carpet grass but lots of ground cover weeds
@@FNPTeresa hi cut weeds will work just as good as grass clippings. If they are perennials then just ensure that you don’t add roots or seeds if your HB is cold. With the leaves of say dandelion just put them in a bucket and chop small with garden shears to achieve the same result.
Can the hot bin be used to keep a small greenhouse frost free?
Hi, from what I have read depending on the size of the greenhouse, outside temps, insulation in the green house and the temp in the hotbin. It can help keep the temperature up but not by a great amount but if running at very hot temps then I am sure it would aid with a very light frost. I am looking to do an experiment with bringing a hotbin inside so it will be interesting to see how much heat it can create. Hope this helps you out. The hotbin company say it can create the heat of a 30w bulb. They say enough to keep a small greenhouse frost free but as I said it would depend on many factors.
Would you not just put the water bottle in anyway to get the temperature up quicker? I find I have to keep the bottle in all the time. I obviously don’t have the mix quite right yet. I don’t think I was adding enough paper.
Hi I just thought that it was warm enough in general with the outside air temp so wanted to do it without at first. Putting it in will cause no harm but once you are at 20 degrees then it has minimal impact. Yes as you saw my mix is very dry but still has a lot of moisture that you maybe do not see in things such as veg peelings. How is yours going why do you think your mix is not right?
You should get a worm bin! Your missus would love it! My missus loves it, well sort of😁. I would send you the compost worms for free!👍
You can end up with a lot of worms in the hotbin. Not so sure she would love it but will ask her. Thanks for the offer.
bloody hell yr mrs is very aggresive. bless you x love the pink gloves you got on and thx 4 all the tips,advice im getting 1 soon. how much do they cost?
£200 for the mini and £270 for the large one but you could get a second hand one. We have a video on line buying a second hand one.
So basically you have cut everything up and mixed it together already, its doing the job of what the bin can't really do
Yes it would be amazing if you could just throw everything in it without doing anything. The HB can be hard work at times.
@@BeanieComposter I thought it could be used like a compost pile, not had to mix and cut up. 300 quid and its got luggage straps to stop contents, the tap is higher than middle air hole so it leaks there, the bottom inside air holes are smaller than a pencil and block on day one, its terrible design for money and not fit for purpose. Even if straps were attached it would stop them getting contaminated everytime.
@@twisted4u Yes it is making your compost quickly but as you say not cheap and does require lots of effort. I take it you will not be getting one anytime soon?
@@BeanieComposter Yeah, we got one a year ago. In fact its in a mess to be honest. The liquid seeps out of the front air hole because its lower than the tap. The tap is too low as they didn't have the underneath bit, which I think should be in price. The straps have made a mess of sides, its just bad right now, and had no decent compost. Shame really
@@twisted4u I understand your frustration. The base should be in the price as you say. I have to say I have always had good compost from them. What temperatures have you had? They are not for everyone as I have said and require more effort than the HB company make out. I have found some bits of the mini that I have had for two years to be of poorer quality than my original mk1. the strap damaging the sides being one thing. Have you given up with it or still persevering?
Wow! Your “missus” is erm …. Yeah!! 3:39
Thanks a lot for the video. It is great. But please do me a favour and ask the girl who was filming to be a bit nicer to you. You seem upset and like somebody who is very afraid to do something wrong because somebody else is constantly telling you that all you do is not good enough... I wish you both all the best and thanks for your work
Hi, we just like to have a laugh and that was always what we wanted in the videos so it would give the viewers a bit of a laugh. Trust me I could not find a better Misses but agree she can be a bit blunt sometimes . That is the Polish background for you. She is just like the HB after so many years you get to know how it works. Thank you for watching and hope the videos are helping you out and also giving you a laugh.
@@BeanieComposter Yes I watched more of your videos and realized that I must have been a bit too quick in my conclusion. :) I am glad I was wrong.
And yes your videos are suuuuuper helpful, thank you both very much again!
@@aopd6223 Thank you for watching and glad they are helpful.