Cleaning And Sterilising Aeration Stones

[Doc]

Last weekends brew session was going well, until it came time to switch on the aeration stone. The dam thing appeared to be clogged.
All was well the night before when I was throwing everything in the sterilising bucket. Attached the pump to it and it was working.
When rinsing everything next day, no go on getting anything through it
I used Pink Stain to sterlise and clean it.
I've just ordered a new stone (1/2" in MPT Oxygen Stone - 2 Micron) from Morebeer to screw into my inline diffuser and don't want to have any problems with this one.

How do you guys clean and sterlise your aeration stones ?

Beers,
Doc

 

[neonmeate]

to tell the truth i haven't used my aeration stone for a couple of months now cause it's such a hassle to sterilise it + the tubing. i've just got one of the crappy fishtank dooberlackers, should get a steel one so i can just boil the bugger rather than trying to rinse bleach off the thing for half an hour.

actually when i've got enough slurry i dont worry about aerating (apart from a decent shake) except for high-gravity numbers. seems to work ok.

 

[pint of lager]

As soon as I have used mine, I napisan it and the tubing.

Then rinse thoroughly.

When it comes around to brewday, I boil the ss stone, then hook on the hose, then dunk in iodine till ready to use. Then, run the pump for a bit to clear the iodine from the line, then drop it in the brew.

From my reading, never soak it in bleach. I read about one bloke on the HBD, his stone turned into a pile of ss dust in the bleach solution.

 

[Darren]

Doc,
Its probably a good idea to filter the air coming into the filter. 2 uM is fairly small. Wouldn't take much dust to block it.
Just a thought
cheers
Darren

 

[Doc]

Darren,

I forgot to mention I do have and use an inline filter as well.
The boiling approach sounds good. They maybe a bit easier.

Doc

 

[Darren]

Stupid question but is the filter is restricting greater than 2 uM particles?

Darren,

I forgot to mention I do have and use an inline filter as well.
The boiling approach sounds good. They maybe a bit easier.

Doc

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[Doc]

Yes.
It is this one from Morebeer. Filters down to 0.023 micron.

Beers,
Doc

 

[Darren]

Another stupid one! Have you tried the stone without the filter on it? Maybe it is the filter that is blocked!

 

[pint of lager]

Yes, good suggestion Darren. I use the in line air filters from G&G. It doesn't take much to block them. Sometimes, a drop or two of iodine ends up in the filter and it is permantly blocked.

 

[Doc]

Yeah I did give that a quick go, but didn't want to do it for too long so that I didn't risk clogging the stone :lol:

Doc

 

[deebee]

I bubble my air through bleach solution and cotton wool in a tall pasta sauce jar on the way to the airstone.

It works like a hookah with the pump blowing air through a tube down into the bottom of the sealed jar where it bubbles up through the solution into another tube up the top of the jar (above waterline) leading to the airstone. The air has to make its way through cotton wool and bleach solution and hopefully catches spores and microbes on the way through.

Immediately after use I push the tube leading to the airstone down into the bleach solution and this forces bleach through the airstone. I follow this up with water and the airstone is clean for next time. I clean it the same way immediately before each use, letting the tube soak in the bleach as well.

I am using cheap $1 airstones from the petshop. I have not found bleach to corrode these airstones but orthophosphoric acid turns them into mud.