Backyard Biogas Digester: A DIY IBC-tote methane digester: gas to cook on, fertilizer for the garden · Alt Ordo Systems Guide

A biogas digester is a mechanical stomach. You feed it manure once and kitchen scraps every day, microbes digest them in a sealed tank with no oxygen, and the gas they give off is about 50–75% methane: the same fuel that comes out of a natural-gas line. What the microbes cannot turn into gas flows out the other side as a liquid fertilizer. This guide builds the open-source IBC tote design from standard plumbing parts, so you can fix every piece of it yourself.

This guide helps you build a repairable biogas digester from a food-grade IBC tote, start it safely, feed it well, cook on the gas it makes and water the garden with what is left.

What's inside. 19 pages in 9 chapters (At a glance, Where it works, How it works, Size it, Parts and cost, Build it, Run it, Rules and permits, How it connects), then the sources and a notes page. 8 numbered figures drawn for this guide. You also get a worked example with a fill-in worksheet, 13 numbered steps, a year-round calendar, and a troubleshooting table.

Sourced and fact-checked. Facts and figures are cited to the 25 sources listed at the back, and the whole guide was fact-checked before release. General guidance, not engineering advice: your county and a qualified pro have the last word on your site.

Pairs with other Alt Ordo Systems Guides: Composting; Black Soldier Fly Homestead Guide; Roof rainwater catchment; Solar hot water; Hoop greenhouses; Generators, propane and fuel; Composting toilets. For your county's permits and rules, see our county and state guides.

Instant PDF download. After checkout you get a download link by email. Letter-size pages, made to read on screen or print at home.