How to Make a Sprouter

Posted by Wisdom Lion on June 21st, 2009 at 07:16pm

For growing bean sprouts (e.g. chickpeas, lentils, etc.) you need not worry about building a sprouter. Just clean out a pickle jar and find a rubber band and a clean piece of cloth. Soak the seeds in water over night then empty the water out and give them 2 rinses per day for 2-3 days. Rubber band the cloth over the opening in the jar and store it tilted upside-down between rinses.

Other sprout types, like alfalfa and fenugreek, require some extra equipment. You could purchase a small sprouter for about $100, but one thing that I like about sprouts is that they are cheap. Spending an extra $100 didn’t quite fit into my game plan. I have also read that they can be grown in a basket inside a plastic bag. While this is a cheap solution, it will leave my kitchen window sill looking like I forgot to put away a bag of groceries. Or worse, I may accidentally refrigerate my sprouts and leave out a bag of groceries to spoil in the sun. So with all this in mind, I set out to build a sprouter of my own.

In the following set of instructions, I will show you how I built my sprouter. This is actually its second incarnation. I quickly found out that version 1.0 was flawed. First of all, I made it on a wooden frame. This turned out to be a choice hang out place for a few varieties of mold. Second, I did not leave much room below the screen for roots to hang down. I had envisioned them growing more upward and less downward but wound up with the opposite. The roots all piled up on the bottom surface and collected water. Again, good for the mold, not for the sprouts.

The new design will be be a big upgrade. While I will likely continue to strive for the perfect design, I should be able to get by with this for a while. Well enough with the chit chat – here’s what you need.

Materials

-Screen: Get a fairly tight weave, but not too tight. The roots need to fit through.
-Screen Door Framing and End Connectors: This will be the frame of the sprouter. Grab something that looks like it won’t rust.
-Screen Spline: This is a rubber strip of material that holds the screen in place.
-Clear Acrylic Sheets: These are used to make the enclosure for the sprouter that will help retain moisture. I made this one out of four 14.5″ x 11″ plates. The top and bottom I left in tact and cut up the other two to make the sides.
-L-Brackets (Plus Nuts and Bolts): I used these to connect the acrylic plates. This may not have been the best or easiest method, but it was the first thing that popped into my head while wandering Home Depot so I went with it.

Tools

You will also need a few tools for this project.

-Hacksaw: For cutting the screen frame.
-Drill: For drilling holes to connect the L-brackets to the acrylic.
-Acrylic Cutter: I found some tool on the rack that is used to score the acrylic. It was only about $4.
-Screen Tool: There may be a more technical name for this. Anyways, its a roller that you use to push down the screen spline and hold the screen in place.

Building the Sprouter

Step 1: Cut the pieces of screen frame to size. To fit the enclosure that I had planned, I cut two 12″ lengths and two 9″ lengths.

Step 2: Connect the four pieces of frame with the end connectors.

Step 3: Rest a section of screen over the frame. Starting in a corner, force the spline into the channel of the frame. Continue until the screen is pinned in place then clip off any access spline. Now it should look something like this:

Step 4: Now to build the enclosure. I used full 14.5″ x 11″ acrylic plates for the top and bottom. For the two long sides, I split one plate directly in half to make two 14.5″ x 5.5″ plates. I cut the other plate into two 11″ x 5.5″ plates and just tossed the scrape in the trash. To connect the four sides and top, I first used the L-brackets to line up some places to drill holes. I marked some spots with a Sharpie. I stuck two brackets on each top edge and one on each side. It looked a little something like this:

Step5: Now just throw it all together. You can use whatever to prop the screen up off the base. I used some brackets off an old curtain rod that I found in my toolbox. I will come up with something a little classier after taking this bad boy for a test drive.

Related Posts!

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• Save Money by Growing Sprouts
• Brand New Sprouter

Tags: How to Make a Sprouter, Sprouter, Sprouts

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