First view of Hotbin contents and confused as to whether things are ok or not - Help!

[From_Fell_to_Fork]

Hello Hotbinners. 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻

Please see my photo below. I have had my Hotbin up and running for 4 weeks and 5 days. It took around 2 weeks to get into the low end of the green ( i put that down to lack of contents) since the bin has been around the 2 3rds mark full I have been able to keep the temp around the middle to high end of the green. Often when adding to the bin there has been plenty of steam and I’ve taken that as needing to add a bit more cardboard to stop it getting too wet, which I do. I some how missed that I needed to drain the leachate and only did that yesterday, drawing off around a litre I think, photo for info. My question really, is should I be surprised at what my compost looks like? Is it behind the curve? Should it be more composted by now? My contents is, kitchen waste, chicken poo (no shavings), a small amount of grass clippings no more than a bucket in the whole thing, two horse poos, lots of cardboard (small pieces) and a good amount of paper, the paper is very thin and because of that I didn’t cut it up but looks like I need to so will do in the future. Along with all of my garden waste, old plants, roots etc. I see mushrooms growing?? I’m happy to leave it to keep doing it’s work if it is going correctly but would appreciate any advice that might benefit the mix oh and yes, I add the bulking agent and twigs of my own but I wonder if I’ve added enough? Any advice or observations would be gratefully received. Further I do mix the new contents into the top portion of the bin with the roller handle when I put it in, the pic of the contents is at 4 weeks 4 days old, with probably 2 weeks of that up to temperature and only having been filled to the top that day.

Thank you, all the best FFTF

[Plectronius O’Seaweed]

Yes I think it looks a bit anaerobic and compacted, and possibly a bit wet too. Maybe dig the front half out to improve airflow, -I put in some folded wire mesh to keep the aeration. Then chuck what you have removed back in, mixed with some shredded paper. You do seem to have some large lumps, cutting it up small to increase the surface area. does help a lot. Then give it a riddle with a compost aerator or broom handle. Maybe put the kickstarter bottle in to help get it back up to temperature.

Failing that, -dig it all out, and either put it all in a normal composter to finish the process with better ventilation, or slowly add it back in with other stuff and add shredded paper and card. Put in a lot of twiggy chunky stuff in the bottom, and/or wire mesh or similar. Make sure the air inlet in the bottom isn’t blocked, when it gets hot that means it’s very active aerobically so needs good airflow, which also lets more water out.

[From_Fell_to_Fork]

Great, thank you, I shall take all your advice into account and get on with it. All the best FFTF

[HotBinDjinn]

The cardboard looks like it hasn't been cut into small enough pieces to break down properly and has formed a series of soggy layers that have likely blocked the airflow. Lack of airflow and digestible ingredients will stop it from getting up to temperature even if it hasn't gone anaerobic. I would take it out, run the lawnmower over it, mix with some fresh material and put it back in.

[From_Fell_to_Fork]

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. Thing is it’s always been up to temperature once I got it up to the height of the hatch, yes I did realise that what I thought was small pieces of cardboard wasn’t actually small enough, I think I mentioned that in my post, i think my biggest mistake has been simply not adding enough browns so I have taken it out and on taking it out it’s very interesting, much more composting than I anticipated, yes quite wet but not a lot of cardboard visible at all, i shall keep at it, I’m enjoying the learning curve, when you say lack of digestible ingredients, I wonder quite what you mean, do you think I’m not putting enough greens in? I have masses of the stuff everywhere, so if I’m not adding enough it would be easy to increase it, I would say I currently add around 5-6 large compost caddies at the moment which is a real mix of all greens. I’m trying to get this one right because I would like to have 3 of them on the go but until I know what I’m doing I’d rather wait for the next one. Thank you FFTF

[HotBinDjinn]

By digestible ingredients, I'm talking more about the size of the brown material. In this case the cardboard. It's too large (indigestible in the short term) and needs more surface area for the bacteria to get at it (cutting it smaller). The problem with undigested cardboard is that it holds a lot of moisture, whereas if you have other undigested materials like bones, egg shells or bigger chunks of wood, they help the drainage rather than form a soggy layer. I'm glad you are enjoying the learning curve. There is always something new to troubleshoot with hot composting.