Different wort aeration kits

[SBOB]

Hoping to put my new brewman o2 kit to use tomorrow and just wondering how everyone cleans and sanitise the stone/wand?

spray wand with starsan, dunk stone in starsan when o2 flowing for a few seconds then into wort

after aerating, leave o2 running slowly and rinse off wand/stone under water then spray stone with starsan and store in ziplock bag


no idea if thats a good method, but its working for me currently

 

[Bribie G]

Hoping to put my new brewman o2 kit to use tomorrow and just wondering how everyone cleans and sanitise the stone/wand?

I just let it bubble for a few seconds under a stream of hot water from the tap, If there's gas coming out then there's nothing coming in.
If you want to be nazi I suppose you could just let it sit into a container of strong perc for a while, but when I tried that, there was nothing happening, so all good.

 

[Lionman]

I have used the trade flame cylinder with ebay reg/flow meter on 2 batches now.

Definitely much better/cleaner fermentation. Not crazy fast finishing though.

Fist batch was a 7.5% IPA. It had very vigorous fermentation (lots of turbulence in the fermenter) but still took a good 7 days to hit FG.

I have been boiling the stone and hose for a few mins before use, then sanitising with starsan, then rinsing afterwards and sanitising again. Hopefully this is enough to not introduce any infection.

 

[kaiserben]

I store my stone, wand and tubing in a spare fermenter filled with no-rinse.

After using it in wort I dunk it in a sink of tap water before returning it to the no-rinsed-filled fermenter.

 

[technobabble66]

I have used the trade flame cylinder with ebay reg/flow meter on 2 batches now...

Just to be sure I'm looking at the correct one, and that it's *definitely compatible* with the trade flame bottles at bunnings (ie: both thread & depressing the valve/safety pin), could you please post a link to the regulator you bought off eBay?
Cheers!

 

[Lionman]

Just to be sure I'm looking at the correct one, and that it's *definitely compatible* with the trade flame bottles at bunnings (ie: both thread & depressing the valve/safety pin), could you please post a link to the regulator you bought off eBay?
Cheers!

Sure.

I bought this one

It has a flow meter inbuilt but the first marked reading is 1.5L/min so it's not super accurate for oxygenating wort. Works fine though.

I notice the trade flame 02 bottles at Bunnings are slightly different than the ones mentioned early in this thread. They have reduced the capacity of them while maintaining the same price.

 

[Curly79]

Just used my Brewman kit for the first time. Looks the goods. Cant wait to taste the difference in the final product. Should I be un screwing the cylinder from the regulator for storage or just winding the reg right out?

 

[warra48]

Definitely unscrew the cylinder from the regulator. It's the only way to be sure your oxygen doesn't slowly leak out.

 

[TidalPete]

I just let it bubble for a few seconds under a stream of hot water from the tap, If there's gas coming out then there's nothing coming in.
If you want to be nazi I suppose you could just let it sit into a container of strong perc for a while, but when I tried that, there was nothing happening, so all good.

Pretty much like you Bribie.

Before aeration ---

Boil the kitchen kettle.
Take kettle lid off, insert wand\stone & open O2 valve to clear any blockages
Pour (the still near-boiling) water down the entire wand\stone
Spray your sanitiser over the entire wand\stone & you're done

After aeration ---

Run wand\stone under tap to clean, then insert the wand\stone back into the (still pretty hot) kitchen kettle & open O2 valve to clear any blockages
Dry & store your wand\stone as per usual
Too easy!

Edit --- Agree with warra! Always disconnect your regulator when not in use.

 

[Curly79]

Definitely unscrew the cylinder from the regulator. It's the only way to be sure your oxygen doesn't slowly leak out.

Cheers. I got a bit excited screwing it all together and didn't take any notice of the fitting on the cylinder. Thought it might have been a case of once it's on its on for good. Thanks

 

[Crakkers]

Oxygenated my second batch with the Brewman setup yesterday.
That's 2 batches at 75 seconds each, just bubbling lightly.......and I've only used 4 grams of O2! Fermenting away beautifully this morning, as was the first batch.
By my calculation, that gives me 68 brews per cylinder - I reckon 1 cylinder will see me out!

 

[mofox1]

Definitely unscrew the cylinder from the regulator. It's the only way to be sure your oxygen doesn't slowly leak out.

D'oh. So that's what happened... I just figured I'd bumped the reg on slightly while moving it around the brewery.

Might give the O2 setup another go then.

 

[pirateagenda]

how many brews is everyone getting out of the 136g tradeflame cylinders?

I would have gotten maybe 10 double batches max using the bunnings "regulator" - which is really just a tap. I normally have it on for 60 seconds and it bubbles quite vigourously. Am I over using it, or is $5 a brew for oxygen the norm?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

That is all I have, I was putting a 5 to 10 second burst into the head space and giving the fermenter a vigorous shake on a sack truck (will be converting an old golfing trolley specifically for the shaking) could get 10 ppm using oxygen and 8 ppm without. Made no difference to fermentation start or time. Dave Miller in his book Home Brewing Guide suggests home brewers to just aerate, and for the 2 ppm or there abouts it isn't worth the cost of oxygen.

 

[pirateagenda]

That is all I have, I was putting a 5 to 10 second burst into the head space and giving the fermenter a vigorous shake on a sack truck (will be converting an old golfing trolley specifically for the shaking) could get 10 ppm using oxygen and 8 ppm without. Made no difference to fermentation start or time. Dave Miller in his book Home Brewing Guide suggests home brewers to just aerate, and for the 2 ppm or there abouts it isn't worth the cost of oxygen.

yeah i'm thinking i might hook up a sanitised aquarium pump. apparently you can get close to the same with about half hour of running that.

My beers definitely did improve when I started using oxygen. Although it was at around the same time I started fermenting in stainless and making yeast starters, so it could have been a sum of all 3.

 

[MHB]

Guys this has been done to death so many times.
You simply cant get "Ideal" levels of Oxygenation any other than with O2 and an airstone.
I seriously doubt that just filling the head space will get what you need. Am absolutely certain that splashing, shaking pumping air through the wort even with an airstone wont do it.
If you are going to aerate invest in the right equipment and do it properly. There is little point in spending some time or money if it isn't going to get you where you want to go - its completely wasted.

Do a bit of research but if you want the opinion of someone who knows and doesn't sell Aeration Equipment try Wyeast for a start.
Worth remembering that both Air and Oxygen are roughly equally soluble in wort, but that Air is only 21% Oxygen (because of the relatively low solubility of N2, the effective O2 concentration just over 30%, so 10ppm of Air is only 3pp of O2).

From the Wyeast Website

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I know its been done to death, there is a 40 something post about it on this forum somewhere, but I think it is debatable. As I mentioned above Dave Miller advises against oxygenating wort in home brewing as does Jamil Zainasheff I respect and follow a lot of your input, but I have found no difference with aerating and oxygenating the wort. I aerate the wort vigorously and do the same with the yeast on a stir plate and haven't had any problems with the yeast taking off on the other hand I have read on this forum of those pumping the oxygen (probably too much and the yeast stalling).
Here is a link to what Eric Watson has to say.
https://www.beertools.com/html/articles.php?view=251
And another article by Tracy Aquilla another biochemist who is also a home brewer.
https://www.morebeer.com/articles/how_yeast_use_oxygen
Also Sierra Nevada brewery aerate their wort as against the using of oxygen.
I am not trying to put anyone off from using oxygen, just think the money would be better spent elsewhere.

 

[pirateagenda]

Guys this has been done to death so many times.
You simply cant get "Ideal" levels of Oxygenation any other than with O2 and an airstone.
I seriously doubt that just filling the head space will get what you need. Am absolutely certain that splashing, shaking pumping air through the wort even with an airstone wont do it.
If you are going to aerate invest in the right equipment and do it properly. There is little point in spending some time or money if it isn't going to get you where you want to go - its completely wasted.

Do a bit of research but if you want the opinion of someone who knows and doesn't sell Aeration Equipment try Wyeast for a start.
Worth remembering that both Air and Oxygen are roughly equally soluble in wort, but that Air is only 21% Oxygen (because of the relatively low solubility of N2, the effective O2 concentration just over 30%, so 10ppm of Air is only 3pp of O2).

From the Wyeast Website
View attachment 112360

How much DO are you actually shooting for? I have read that 5PPM minimum and 8-10PPM is ideal, so based off that chart above isn't the shake method sufficient (not absolute best I agree)?

I brewed a batch on Sunday and had run out of oxygen so I employed a different method (a variation of the viability starter method from one of WEAL's links above):
- built a large enough starter in advance and chilled
- on brew day decanted, brought to room temp and pitched to another small starter
- put on the stir plate for 4 hours before pitching time. By this time it was well active
- Gave the fermenters a good shake (about 1-2 mins each)
- Pitched the active starters to the wort

This took off almost instantly, and I had pressure building in the pressure fermenter within 3 or 4 hours. It's now day 3 and it's still fermenting very actively.

Anecdotal evidence I know, but i've never had an oxygenated and decanted starter take off this fast.

 

[Schikitar]

Has there been any further discussion of using a pin prick of olive oil as a substitute for aeration? Any more science-literate guys out there able to cast any light/shade on that method?

I don't brew enough to warrant buying an O2 kit, the last few brews have done just fine without (but I've been using yeast nutrient and healthy starters to somewhat compensate)..

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Some more info here, but if you are doing fine why bother.I did read that the New Belgium who was quoted gave it away through stalling yeast and off flavours.
https://yeastbuddy.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/olive-oil-vs-aeration-experiement/