Aerating With A Karcher.

[Spork]

While blasting the crud out of some brewing gear recently I thought to myself "Could I spray wort through this thing to aerate it?"
I'm thinking: run some starsan through. Then blast sweet (cooled) wort from cube into FV, then pitch yeast and run water through pressure washer to clean it.

I'm sure there is something I'm missing here that makes this a really stupid idea, but not sure what it is... I know the aim is to oxygenate, not aerate, but aeration is the next best thing (?) and I really don't want the expense and hassle of having O2 bottles. This seems a viable alternative to "shaking the shit out of (and the air / O2 into) the cube or even the aquarium pump and airstone method.

Anyone tried it? Any reasons not to?

 

[pk.sax]

I siphon out of the cube and rubber band a $2 milk frother thingo to the end of the hose and let it rip into the fermenter. Get more than enough aeration fwiw. Also avoids me having to hold up the cube with my long arms. I hate shopping bags made for peeps with stubby lil arms.

 

[geoffd]

I use the garden hose on jet setting to aerate my wort, I have never had an infection (about 2 to 4 litres in a 25 litre batch), I have just bought a water filter today at the G&G sale, so it will be filtered from now on; I bought the filter for other reasons, just so happens it will be useful for this. I was quite content using the unfiltered. have never let wort sit around unpitched though, this is the last step just before pitching.

I actually have an air filter & aeration stone, I just coulnd be bothered using it, coz it's one more thing to wash up & sanitize

 

[toadskin]

While blasting the crud out of some brewing gear recently I thought to myself "Could I spray wort through this thing to aerate it?"
I'm thinking: run some starsan through. Then blast sweet (cooled) wort from cube into FV, then pitch yeast and run water through pressure washer to clean it.

Why not try one of those thingoes they use at the prawn farms to aerate the wort. You know, for large batches. :beerbang:

 

[geoffd]

I'd also suggest you'll need more than water to clean the kaercher, you dont want any bacterial colonies growing in there. I'd be inclined to think you need to put an organic cleaner in each time & an inorganic cleaner for calcium etc every now & then

 

[kymba]

as long as the pump and lines will not leach nasties into your beer, i say go for it!

 

[vykuza]

Considering how many bubbles I get from pouring, you'd spend half a day waiting for your wort bubbles to pop so you could fit the lot in a fermenter! Logic is sound for sure, but I think it may be a bit of overkill. I must admit I did get excited when I read the thread topic.

 

[Superoo]

Still using your pressure washer, Maybe just blow a litre or two of tap water into you fermenter full of wort, using chlorinated water shouldnt be an issue.

That would surely aerate it more than stirring.

 

[geoffd]

Still using your pressure washer, Maybe just blow a litre or two of tap water into you fermenter full of wort, using chlorinated water shouldnt be an issue.

That would surely aerate it more than stirring.

It will be too powerful to jet it, wort will most likely splash out of fermenter, Nick has also picked up on an important point, it will be far to foamy & wont fit in the fermenter. Even my method with the garden hose requires a switch to mist spray to get the head to settle down. I also switched to a new spray gun & found it's spray setting too powerful, lucky I can regulate the flow rate from the tap.

 

[spog]

using a karcher like you asked i reckon you will get the beer airbourne not aerated..cheers..spog.....

 

[Truman42]

Karchers use lithium grease on their seals which Im sure would come in contact with the wort.

Add that to the other reasons posted here and I wouldn't want to risk it.

 

[brettprevans]

Elbow grease or a $10 paint stirrer that goes into ur drill r ur best bets. I love thr idea of ysi.g a kartcher but not tge reality. Too many risks

 

[pk.sax]

CM. 2 words - stick blender.

Best invention fwiw. Almost everyone has it, easy to sanitize, control etc...

 

[Hogan]

While blasting the crud out of some brewing gear recently I thought to myself "Could I spray wort through this thing to aerate it?"
I'm thinking: run some starsan through. Then blast sweet (cooled) wort from cube into FV, then pitch yeast and run water through pressure washer to clean it.

I'm sure there is something I'm missing here that makes this a really stupid idea, but not sure what it is... I know the aim is to oxygenate, not aerate, but aeration is the next best thing (?) and I really don't want the expense and hassle of having O2 bottles. This seems a viable alternative to "shaking the shit out of (and the air / O2 into) the cube or even the aquarium pump and airstone method.

Anyone tried it? Any reasons not to?

Using a pressure spray would generate a huge amount of foam. This foam contains your head retention protein and once it has foamed once it wont foam again. You may think you are getting good aeration but at the cost of poor head retention on your finished beer. This is the reason why bottled O2 is injected into the ferment at pitching time. In that case a small amount of foam that is generated does not mean that it has not been oxygenated. It is the oxygen that bubbles to the surface and sits in the headspace and is drawn back through the wort surface that feeds the yeast.

Cheers, Hoges.

 

[CONNOR BREWARE]

It would seem the consensus is the karcher is a no go for several reasons, but if someone decides their gonna do it anyway you can draw water from a bucket rather than water from the garden tap. That way you have control over whats going in.

I'll stick to using the karcher to clean

 

[bradsbrew]

I reckon go for it but make sure you take a video and post it up. FWIW I would not do it for many reasons but I would love to see someone do it :icon_cheers:

 

[RobH]

I just read yesterday in Beer & Brewer / Homebrewer an article in athe Q&A section by John Palmer & Jamil Zainasheff. The article stated that ideal amount of dissolved oxygen in your average wort would be 8 - 10 ppm ... & that the spalshing tecnique used by most homebrewers results in approximately 4 ppm ... if you try really hard with alot (don't have the definition of what "alot" is) of vigorous shaking, or use an aqurium pump with a sintered stone you can get it up to 8 ppm ... aside from that, an oxygen tank & sintered stone.

 

[Spork]

Thanks all. I knew there must be a reason / reasons it wasn't common practice. I don't want to make a huge mess, get infections, or loose head retention.
Stick mixer eh? Hmmm.... Got a milkshake maker here somewhere...

 

[Dazza18]

Thanks all. I knew there must be a reason / reasons it wasn't common practice. I don't want to make a huge mess, get infections, or loose head retention.
Stick mixer eh? Hmmm.... Got a milkshake maker here somewhere...

 

[Dazza18]

So a Bamix wand with the aeration attachment should be perfect?