Has anyone ever mixed the sediment from homemade wine into the compost heap? [ gardening (General)]

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I bottled up some homemade apple wine the other day and today am going to clean up the carboy and dispose of the sedimemt. My question is will it be o.k. to include it in the compost pile? I was thinking the left over wine yeast in the sediment might assist the heating as leaf mold does. Whats your opinions? Thanks.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), February 24, 2001

Answers

couldnt hurt

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 24, 2001.

We have done it, not a problem. I think it actually helps.

-- leo (wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), February 24, 2001.

I've always used it in the garden with no problems. Before I had a compost pile, I just buried my lees and kitchen waste in the garden walkways where it would feed the plants for next year.

-- je (jemdall@excite.com), February 24, 2001.

Jay, would you consider posting the recipe for the apple wine? Seems like the addition of the sediment would be a good thing for the compost! Jan

-- Jan in CO (Janice12@aol.com), February 24, 2001.

I've heard stories from my Grandfather and Great Uncles about drunken birds resulting from the sediment of homemade grapewine being put out on the compost. It consists of a lot more actual seeds than apple wine and this may be the reason. They were actually very funny stories. We've really planted a row of grapes from the sediment from grape jelly making. We put the sediment from a batch of grape jelly out in a row in the garden and it's turned out to be a great row of grapes. We've got a batch of Beaujolais in it's second stage, a batch of chablis ready to go next and a batch of fruit burgundy as our third batch to go this spring! Maybe a homemade wine thread would be a good idea for those of us who indulge?

-- Rose Marie Wild (wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), February 24, 2001.


My compost heap seems to love that sort of thing. Beer, wine, mead, it eats it all. I've also used beer sediment, in small amounts, in breadmaking.

Now if you should try making beer, and use the full grain method instead of extracts, the mashed grain can be fed to the critters. Shoot, that stuff smells so good (like hot breakfast cereal) that the only reason I don't eat it is it's full of husks. And beer mash is non-alcoholic, so they can eat as much as they want.

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), February 24, 2001.


We make a lot of wine and compost all our waste. It is basically partially composted fruit anyway! I have to admit too, that our compost pile is accessible to our free range chickens, so the birds get pretty unsteady at times. They appear not to suffer from the experience and it is rather entertaining.

-- David C (fleece@eritter.net), February 24, 2001.

well well what do you know about that a bunch of alkies. and i was afraid to say eny thing cause i didnt want to start a argument with the church folks. ha lol Bob in se.ks.

-- Bobco (bobco@hit.net), February 24, 2001.

Thanks for the input. Dregs are going to the yard compost heap. I was considering putting it in the worm bins, but Lynn showed me a reference that indicated it could cause intestinal blockage to the worms. Jan, I'll get the recipe to you sometime today.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), February 25, 2001.

Bobco,

I just consider it another form of fruit preserves :>)

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), February 25, 2001.



Don't know that it helps, but it sure doesn't hurt. All of our organic "leftovers" go to the chickens, the piggies, or the compost. GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), February 26, 2001.

Jay, its much more fun to feed it to the pigs! My husband gave the pigs one year a horrid batch of beer he made with a kit, the pigs were staggering all over the place, and then layed down for a nice long nap :) Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 26, 2001.

soooooooo you had pickled pigs?

-- fred in wi (sixuvusmeyers@aol.com), March 01, 2001.

There is a show here in Canada (Quebec actually) called Le Semaine Vert (The green week) and they had a segment on beef farming in France. They give the cows beer to make the meat more tender. No doubt the cattle are very relaxed as well. Another funny drunken compost story: My friend put raisins in her homemade wine as it worked and when it was all done she threw the dregs and raisins out into the compost heap. Unbeknownst to her the family dog helped himself to the fermented raisins and got stinking drunk. He could hardly walk the poor guy but she says he had a huge nap and seemed to feel better. She is much more careful when disposing of her wine making leavings now. :)

-- Alison in Nova Scotia (aproteau@istar.ca), March 01, 2001.

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