How do I determine when a compost pile is "done"?

[oggy]

I started a compost pile last year, August 2013. It is comprised entirely of grass, fallen leaves and organic scrap material from the kitchen.
I stirred it every week until the first snow(sometime in November). I believe it did some cooking because billows of steam would rise out of the center. The heat was even noticeable by having my hand in the air over it.

Anyway, I went to stir it this morning and noticed that on the top of the pile has a bunch of sprouts, probably weeds. I'm curious how I can tell when it's done, or at least to the point that I can use it to create a tea.

I keep the pile covered by a tarp with two pieces of firewood on the top of it. Would it be better to have it exposed to the sun?

[tomc]

At some point in time the bin will be full and it'll be time to fill another bin. Once the first bin doesn't heat up any more, its done.

Things rich in lignin, Leaf-stems and such may still be recognisable, the bin is still done. As you shovel out the first bin, woody items can go into the second. The rest can go into garden stems and all.

[imafan26]

good compost should be dark, smell earthy and you should not be able to recognize the source material except for the slow composting sticks, and coconut husks.

The pile should be a lot smaller than when it started and yes if it was hot composted it should have been steaming for awhile and then cooled down. There should not be many actinomycetes present.

https://compost.css.cornell.edu/microorg.html

[rainbowgardener]

Agree ... it should look and smell like rich, dark earth, without recognizable stuff in it.

It will compost a lot better and quicker without the tarp, not so much for sun exposure, but for air circulation. Composting is an aerobic process; the more oxygen the better. That's why we turn compost piles. From last August was a long time to wait for compost.

[toxcrusadr]

The best way to find out is to dig into it. I would guess that a pile that was hot in the fall is going to be very nice compost by spring and should be used.