Well, it's been interesting and I did learn something. The base ingredients on all three were cardboard and coffee, but the rest of the ingredients was different. 2 won't cool down and it's been over 2 weeks and #3 peaked fast and then dropped. That one I forgot to put any pre-compost in from earlier batches - so that's not going to happen anymore! The jumpstart you get by adding active biota from your old pre-compost isn't a myth! I'm going to aerate and start cycle 2 for bins 1 and 3 (they're in that order in the pics). I would have preferred #1 to get below 90 degrees, but this is close enough. I need 4 breeder bins worth of pre-compost a week from next Monday, so I really can't wait any longer! #2 is just spastic and I guess we have to wait on that one. #1 had: 17 units of cardboard 17 units of SMS 14 units of coffee grounds #2 had: 38 units of cardboard 14 units of coffee grounds 3 blenders full of veggie slop 3 packets of yeast with 1/2 cup sugar *dry shred on bottom to stave off any anaerobic pockets #3 had: 28 units of cardboard 20 units of coffee grounds 3 packets of yeast with 1/2 cup sugar 1.5 blenders of sludge *dry shred on bottom to stave off any anaerobic pockets Quite the interesting results. Now on to find the perfect formula! I was out of SMS, so I must get more as I always want it in the pre-compost. I guess the main thing is going to be to make sure I have lots of slop to add - or perhaps some of the other ingredients to create biota bloom that @Jason Evans & @Cherene Packard are most likely going to share with the class here. I hope. :)