Its full of crap!

Now my biogas digester is setup it is time to fill it up! This means a lot of cow manure. Its not a very exciting process but one I thought I would share with you all as it is a small, but important part of creating a working biogas digester at home.
To start my digester I am using cow manure and water. I am trying to keep the ratio at least 50:50, if not a bit more cow manure to water. Once this is done, all I have to do it wait for it to warm up! This process should take 3-5 weeks with the right conditions, but in our climate it might take longer.

[@athannaelanderson3806]

Great videos my man!

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

Cheers!

[@fuba44]

Looking forward to seeing it in action.

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

Thanks! Same here

[@SimpleEarthSelfReliance]

is it the only way to add stuff, through a small port? It seems risky, as that spray can splat up into the face. :) Is the small opening to ensure a gastight seal?

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

I could have added it through the feeding pipe, but it was even higher so the chance of the funnel falling and creating a mess was higher. It works well enough like this. If I was doing it with a larger digester I'd probably want a bigger input hole.

[@davidseiffert3999]

Isn’t there supposed to be at least 1/3 of space left for the Gas inside thebarrel? How where you results this summer? Really enjoining your videos but this one left me wondering.. keep up the good work!

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

You're right! I had to take some out. The results were okay, once I removed some of the contents. Haven't had a chance to put together another video about it as I have moved from this property. I am hoping to get enough content for a video by the start of next year. Cheers

[@dantronics1682]

Hi I'm not criticising your work, but I see the same design flaw that others do when they copy each other. I notice in all your redesigns you still fill the barrel to the brim which means you will never get any gas. Imaging that you build a factory unit and then fill it with the raw materials, the only place for your workers to do their work is in the reception area. therefore you will always have low productivity. what I'm saying is you need to have haedspace in your barrel, you need to devide the barrel into 3 areas, area 1 is where the gas collects because the more scum you have the more gas you'll get, area 2 is the highest level of your gunk and area 3 is where you draw off from. the other thing is you made a lot of effort to put in the drain off at the bottom of the barrel but when its working properly you might not need to drain anything off for maybe 4-5 years since most things will slowly breaks down or get digested. great idea using the kitchen waste disposal by the way, I've just bought one and waiting for it to arrive since I will either be making a lot of gas this winter or a lot of apple cider vineger.

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

Hi Dan. Thanks for the feedback. Interesting about the head space. I think the reason I filled it up that much was when I watched SolarCities or Thomas Culhane's videos (who popularised this design) his were filled to within 6 inches of the top. I understand what you are saying, and it makes sense. I realise, and hope I won't have to drain my digester for years but because I am experimenting I thought adding an outlet would make it easier if I did want to drain and redesign again. Draining my first one was a long-process so hopefully this would make it easier. Cheers

[@nlangsto]

Nice one fella. Just built mine a month ago. It's producing some sort of gas, but haven't sorted out the scrubbing yet, and can't seem to light the gas yet, maybe because my IBC had air in it to begin with, so concentration isn't there yet. Also could be because I didn't have enough cow manure.and at the right time/concentration. But, it's still producing gas, so I hope it's the good stuff. What's your plans for the gas? stove, BBQ, will you be retro fitting something with bigger gas flow? Cheers

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

Cheers! Nice, yeah it can take a while to get it running properly. BBQ is the first I think, then ideally long-term looking at hooking it up to the hob for cooking. You?

[@nlangsto]

@@GetMeOffGrid_ yeah, definitely BBQ, that first burn will be exciting. Need to see how convenient I can get it and how productive I can get it in winter in cold Gloucestershire. Don't want the energy in to be more expensive than the gas saving etc

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

@@nlangsto Yeah for sure! I've just finished insulating my digester, vid coming in a few hrs. Hopefully with some good insulation and one day a solar panel or two it will run itself!

[@abednegodegreat7678]

Can human or birds dung works equally compare to cow or pig dungs?

[@Norbingel]

@@abednegodegreat7678 I believe there's a lot (relatively speaking) of use for a septic tank biodigester system in India so it appears human waste works too

[@lucaslillycrap4762]

Excelente video, cuánto gas produce ese equipo?

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

Mucho gracias. No se, creo que todavia no produce mucho. Yo cambio mi casa y no regresse a checkiarlo

[@gilbertgallo3547]

Hallo, habe auch vor eine Anlage zu bauen. Wie lange könnte man Urlaub machen ohne die Anlage zu füttern. Haben Sie da schon Erfahrung. Danke.

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

Hi. I haven't had mine going long enough to know to be honest. I don't think it would be an issue. People leave them over winter without feeding them.

[@abiogaz]

Dzień dobry, czy dodawał Pan substrat do pustego zbiornika? Czy mi się wydawało że zbiornik był pełny?

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

Hello. No I added only water and cow manure. I didn't show me repeating the process of loading it too many times as hopefully you can get the idea. Cheers

[@abiogaz]

@@GetMeOffGrid_ zrozumiem proces, tylko zastanawiam się czy to, Nowa próba czy wskrzeszenie po zimie zeszłorocznego zbiornika. Swoją drogą fajne wiaderka.

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

Ah I understand. Sorry I think Google translate is not 100%. It is a completely new attempt, completely new contents. Haha thanks! The buckets are really good for this kind of thing, flexible! Cheers

[@abiogaz]

@@GetMeOffGrid_ zgadzam się że tłumacz google nie działa tak jak powinien, a co do pytania o pełność zbiornika miałem na myśli że w materiałach do których miałem dostęp zalecali zostawić 20-30% objętości aby biogaz miał miejsce magazynować i możliwość dodawania nowych dawek w postaci 5-7% całości zbiornika.

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

Sure, once it starts anaerobically digesting I will attach it to my gas bag. So I am not worried about leaving too much space inside. I can always drain some off now I have included a drain at the bottom, so again I am not too worried. The reason I filled it right to the top is to remove as much oxygen as possible from the barrel so anaerobic digestion can happen faster.

[@pranjalgarg3106]

Don’t it leak sir??

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

No

[@pranjalgarg3106]

@@GetMeOffGrid_ sir, you have used unseals. But, for IBC tank what you used to seal it completely

[@fontainechloe7713]

Can you try this with any animal poo?

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

Badger works best ;-)

[@alymohamedabdelsemie4259]

How does this react in the winter?

[@dantronics1682]

either animal or humans, I made my first in the mid 70s when there was a gas crisis, we use chicken manure or whatever we could find, the important thing is the amount of head space that you have in your digester

[@Robertjustice101]

@@GetMeOffGrid_ What about humanure or human poop.

[@MultiOutdoorman]

Rainwater is better ...it has no chlorine !

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

Oh! Great point.

[@islamicjibonsd3468]

গ্যাস হচ্ছে আগুন ধরতেছে না গ্যাসে আগুন ধরিয়ে দিয়ে রাখতে হচ্ছে। তাছাড়া আগুন ধরতেছে না

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

If it does not catch on fire then it is not producing methane. Most likely it is producing carbon dioxide because the bacteria in the digester are not correct.

[@shivpratap4320]

Halp me

[@GetMeOffGrid_]

With what?