I've been thinking a lot about my compost lately. I'm wondering if it makes sense to have it on the ground during the winter. Does the air flow through the pallet cool it down considerably?
Trying to make a hot compost and looking for the flaws in my technique.
#asknostr #permaculture #keeplearning 
In my experience airflow is not important unless the material is very fine and capable of compacting or if itiss way too wet. Id suspect the C to N ratio assuming it had a good moisture level
Working on fine tuning it.
You could add air tubes to your stack to add air exposure to the interior of the pile. This is a good way to make a static compost. Very similar to Johnson-Su. 
Pipes can be removed after one week to promote more air exchange.
I'm turning it enough it should be getting enough oxygen. I have 1 Johnson-Su going, but hoping for something faster.
For long term hot compost piles I have found besides the right c to n ratio you need about a two yard pile.
Thanks. I may need to go bigger in the winter here.
It looks like you're making compost inside of a hoop house. Does your weather get below freezing overnight right now? That could be slowing down the microbial activity.
Besides that possibility, the best way to heat up a compost pile in my experience is to turn it over and add some nitrogen to each layer as you turn it. Green plant waste, urine or animal manure is great.
If you don't have anything like that then you can use a bit of fertilizer or soaked alfalfa pellets (sold in feed stores for animals). This adds to the expense, but it does work really well.
Thanks. It is freezing in there at night. I appreciate the advice.
I raise my piles to keep the bottom from getting soggy. The surface area of the bottom is small compared to the rest of it, so I doubt it would make much difference.
This time of year the low ambient temperature is the biggest challenge. The material is going to be cold so the microbes won't be very active, so they won't produce much heat and it never really gets going.
A bigger pile should help because there's more insulation for the center. And it will probably need more nitrogen. I've had good results with a seed meal like cottonseed meal or some cheap cat food sprinkled in between layers every few inches. About 1-2 handfuls each layer depending on how much help I think it needs.
Made some additions and turned yesterday. If it still doesn't get hot I'm going bigger.
