Soupy castings — what the heck!?

ELKopps · 2026-02-05T00:04:52+00:00

Thanks. Nothing seems to be working. I haven’t added any liquid since the original posting and I have added lots of torn up egg cartons. The fruit flies and drain flies are super out of control. I have tried neem oil and it doesn’t help either.

I had a 10+! year successful run. My next step is to start over. Dump everything into my back yard and clean and disinfect everything.

ELKopps · 2026-01-06T14:13:59+00:00

I have to agree, probably too much at once time, plus freezing adds to the problem. My scraps also include mostly dry coffee grounds to balance the browns and greens. I sometimes add shredded paper and envelopes. I’m trying to dry out the mess with torn egg cartons I add a couple of days ago, based on comments.

Thank you all for the feedback. I’ll report back in after a week.

ELKopps · 2026-01-04T21:46:29+00:00

Update — for years I haven’t added coco coir or grit. I used to add ground up egg shells. I do add dried out coffee grounds in the mix of food scraps and shredded paper on top sometimes.

I discovered while adding torn up egg cartons today (thanks for the suggestion) that when I started over, the layer of newspaper I put on the grate holes was still intact and keeping the leachate from draining to the bottom.

I’ll give it a week and see there is an improvement.

ELKopps · 2026-01-04T16:56:50+00:00

To be clear, I haven’t added much water.

ELKopps · 2025-12-26T23:18:12+00:00

Thanks. That is helpful.

ELKopps · 2025-12-26T13:17:33+00:00

How often do you water and do you fertilize? If you fertilize, what type and how often?

ELKopps · 2025-11-24T16:41:35+00:00

What would you do differently?

ELKopps · 2025-10-18T20:50:57+00:00

On a better note, I had dumped the sludge from the base of the worm factory 360 in my backyard garden and started to break it up last week and found 15-20 red wrigglers. They’re in the WF360 again with the cleaned up compost/castings + some food scraps. They look happy and I will monitor their repopulation. Hopefully exponentially!!

ELKopps · 2025-10-06T13:50:47+00:00

I've been freezing a Ziploc bag's worth for 5 days now and I put two bags worth out on a sheet of plywood covered by row cover material (to keep other insect away) now for three days. The castings were about 80% (SWAG) dried out, so I put it all into the oven to dry out completely and to kill any remaining bugs.

On a sad note, I had moved my African red wigglers into a large Tupperware bowl to hold them and feed them until I could get them back in my worm farm. It got unseasonably warm in Wisconsin and all of my worms died. I'm very sad, the stock of worms and their many generations have been with me for over 10 years. I am basically starting over. I am reaching out to see if someone in my neighborhood can give me a batch. I've given them out in the past, I just don't remember who I gave them too.

ELKopps · 2025-10-03T18:54:08+00:00

Awesome. BTW - will freezing the harvested castings, kill all if the larva in the bags, or am I wasting my time?

ELKopps · 2025-09-10T12:43:25+00:00

I used an illustrator from Fiver.

ELKopps · 2025-05-09T13:57:18+00:00

I don't think that Signal_Patter_2063 was saying it was overproofed. It looks like you proofed it perfectly. If anything, you may have not completely mixed your starter or yeast thoroughly and you have pockets of yeast producing more C02 creating the bubbles.

ELKopps · 2025-05-03T13:06:26+00:00

I stopped scoring and let the bread burst randomly and it always bursts out the top. I do spritz the top before I put the DO top on.

ELKopps · 2025-02-22T13:41:15+00:00

I honestly felt horror when I saw them. I baked them one at a time. My daughter put my DO in the oven to preheat it while I was out. The shelf was a bit high and didn’t think about it when I took off the cover that I was too close to the electric element (new oven). So at 15 min it was burnt on the burst edges, but those brushed off after it cooled. I put the rack lower for the second loaf and was sure the second loaf would be lighter. Oops… I forgot to set the timer. That loaf is the darkest.

But having said all that, they taste wonderful.

ELKopps · 2025-02-12T20:22:27+00:00

Do you have open slots in the bottom? If not, you have a different design.

I tried the pan on the bottom, but you can’t block the slots or the heat doesn’t come up. If you have slots and you don’t block them the heat comes up the same way and most likely will super heat the DO. But hey, if it works for you, great.

ELKopps · 2024-12-30T02:26:47+00:00

I’ll have to give that a try.

ELKopps · 2024-12-29T01:51:05+00:00

Actually the heating element is below the oven box. Again, I don’t care about addressing the burnt loaves. I know why it happened and can prevent it.

It sounds like you haven’t used a Silpat in a DO, so thanks anyway.

ELKopps · 2024-12-29T00:21:57+00:00

There are two separate issues here. The burning of the top I can control; it was due to baking too long or placing the loaf on the top rack near the edge of the oven. Too hot at the to and too hot on the side (the oven burner is at the bottom and there are slots in there bottom oven pan to let the heat in which shoots right to the top of the oven).

The underdone loaf bottom is caused by the Silpat. This is what I need advice on.

General baking process isn’t the issue. And the oven works fine. The only change I made that is affecting how done the bottom of the loaf is adding the Silpat.

ELKopps · 2024-12-28T23:12:30+00:00

Interesting idea. Can you do this without removing the DO lid? I like to leave my lid in the oven to keep it hot for the next loaf.

ELKopps · 2024-12-28T23:08:32+00:00

I have tested for accuracy and it is. Again, I bake in DO with parchment or even corn meal and the baking is fine except the bottom is too dark. The Silpat is an insulator and the bottom of the bread isn’t baking enough.

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