posted 5 years ago
You're just smelling anaerobic decompostion.
On the 5 gallon bucket scale, you should be able to find a cheap air pump with bubbler setup at yard sales, second-hand stores, and online; a new, small one, of the type you'd employ for a small fishtank, can be had brand new for around $20.
If you're worried about any additional smell, I would suggest perhaps seeing if you can find any aquarium filtration charcoal, usually packaged like large teabags for insertion into a fish filter pump. I would take three to six of those and two of the type of lid that fit your bucket. I would cut a number of holes matching the size and quantity of your filter bags through both lids and sandwich the charcoal filtration bags between the lids such that the holes are blocked, and fasten the two together tightly, probably with screws around the perimeter of, but not penetrating, each filter bag.
Snap it on, and you can go ahead with anaerobic brewing, if you like, or cut a hole for your air bubbler, and brew aerobically, and also don't worry about smell.
Really for me, if I was doing the bubbler brew, the filter lid would just be something to point to any time I encounter criticism, as an example of extreme and effective smell management measures.
Typically, oxygenated brews produce the types of microorganism that we want in our soils, whereas anaerobic bacteria produce smells and die off when introduced to aerobic soil conditions, where their bodies feed resident microbiota. I don't know if you could have harmed your plants by applying the anaerobic brew, but I definitely think that more instant and long-lasting effects are experienced with the oxygenated brews.
But let us know how it goes, and good luck.
-CK
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
-Robert A. Heinlein