Different wort aeration kits

[MHB]

The way bubbles form is very interesting, it isn't really the size of the hole that makes the bubble larger or smaller.
You cant see anything much smaller than 1/4mm (250um) yet we can all see the bubbles forming on a 2 or 0.5um airstone.
Frankly the pore size isn't all that important, the problem with 0.5um air stones is that they are so fragile, easy to block up and hard to sterilise that I think the 2um is a much better choice.

Mark

 

[SBOB]

As an FYI, I had some Bunnings vouchers to use, I ended up piecing together an aeration kit from scratch, so for reference you can piece together the following knowing that it will work (And you may already have some bits lying around etc).

Tradeflame 930ml Oxygen Gas Cartridge - $53.86 (https://www.bunnings.com.au/tradeflame-930ml-oxygen-gas-cartridge_p5910241)
Regulator - $39 (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/112007105123)
0.5 Micron Aeration Stone - $15 (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/291726879464)
Stainless Tube - $2.50 (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/221946049524)
Silicon Tube - $1.66 (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/311393611165)
1mx5mm Gas Line -$2 (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-5-mm-Beer-line-Flexmaster-II-Tubing-Food-Grade-/250562209516 - bought pickup)

Total - ~$115

This gave me an aeration setup with a stainless 'wand' type setup.
Setup goes

• Gas Bottle -> Regulator -> 5mm Gas Line -> Stainless Tube -> Silicon Tube(few cm) -> Aeration Stone

First run on the weekend and seemed to work pretty well/as expected.

 

[Crusty]

The Brewman's regulator is really just the equivalent of the "red wedge" dial on your CO2 regulator without the other "keg side" dial. So it's really there to show you if there's any oxygen left in the cylinder.
I just open the tap a crack and oxygenate for a minute using a flow that just about breaks the surface of the wort without massive foaming as I stir the tube around.
Probably not quite as much as the video posted earlier.

I believe another sponsor has a reg without a dial and you just do it "by eye" when oxygenating... cheaper setup.

Thanks for the info Bribie.

As an FYI, I had some Bunnings vouchers to use, I ended up piecing together an aeration kit from scratch, so for reference you can piece together the following knowing that it will work (And you may already have some bits lying around etc).

Tradeflame 930ml Oxygen Gas Cartridge - $53.86 (https://www.bunnings.com.au/tradeflame-930ml-oxygen-gas-cartridge_p5910241)
Regulator - $39 (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/112007105123)
0.5 Micron Aeration Stone - $15 (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/291726879464)
Stainless Tube - $2.50 (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/221946049524)
Silicon Tube - $1.66 (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/311393611165)
1mx5mm Gas Line -$2 (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-5-mm-Beer-line-Flexmaster-II-Tubing-Food-Grade-/250562209516 - bought pickup)

Total - ~$115

This gave me an aeration setup with a stainless 'wand' type setup.
Setup goes

• Gas Bottle -> Regulator -> 5mm Gas Line -> Stainless Tube -> Silicon Tube(few cm) -> Aeration Stone

First run on the weekend and seemed to work pretty well/as expected.

I like the ebay regulator idea as you can use it with the bigger tradeflame oxygen cylinders as opposed to the Bernzomatic cylinder that uses a different regulator fitting. I think I'll go this way & just order a 0.5micron oxy wand from one of the sponsors above. Under $150.00 so not too bad.

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

The way bubbles form is very interesting, it isn't really the size of the hole that makes the bubble larger or smaller.
You cant see anything much smaller than 1/4mm (250um) yet we can all see the bubbles forming on a 2 or 0.5um airstone.
Frankly the pore size isn't all that important, the problem with 0.5um air stones is that they are so fragile, easy to block up and hard to sterilise that I think the 2um is a much better choice.

Fig-3-VOF-simulations-of-bubble-formation-at-a-single-orifice-of-internal-diameter-09.png
Mark

There's been a bunch of research on this in wine re microoxygenation, the conclusion has been that pore size and surface energy are the most important performance parameters.

There's also good practical evidence that there's a direct relationship between pore size and minimum column height with stainless steel sinters, which have moderately high surface energy. I can't see why this wouldn't apply equally to wort but as usual I'm all ears if you know of any research done on the topic.

 

[MHB]

CBA spending a lot of time looking.
There are plenty of reports on measured O2 concentrations using both 0.5 and 2um stones. reportedly there isn't much if any difference at a home brew scale - low head, similar gravities, same materials, similar flow rates...
I can see high head and in-line sheer forces changing that, especially flow where the bubbles could be sheered off the stone before reaching full size.
Mark

 

[Zorco]

What about O2 injection velocity? High gas flow rates might throw off smaller bubbles?

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

especially flow where the bubbles could be sheered off the stone before reaching full size.

Thinking about it, that might be a possible difference between wort and wine: the flow rates used in mox are very, very low so the individual bubbles have longer to detach.

Also the diffusers with pores sizes < 0.5 um that I mentioned above have an extra low surface energy treatment applied: the manufacturer won't divulge exactly what it is but it feels like the teflon coating used on industrial rollers. Apparently this promotes bubble detachment.

As you say, none of this is relevant to oxygenating a cube but I think it's interesting anyway.

 

[JDW81]

FWIW you can get a simple O2 set up from grain and grape for about $110. You get an aeration stone, hose and air filter, a simple regulator and a 40g O2 bottle.

 

[SBOB]

More basic reg and half the O2 compared to diy or brewman kits though

 

[Crusty]

I went with the ebay regulator that SBOB linked..$39.25 ( has L/min gauge )
A 0.5 micron stone SS Oxy wand from CraftBrewer..$47.50
A tradeflame 930ml oxygen cylinder from Bunnings ( 110L of oxygen )...$53.86
Although slightly dearer at $140.61 compared to the $110.00 setup from Grain & Grape, I thinks it's a much better option that allows you to use the larger oxygen cylinder. At a couple of L/min & running it for a minute, that's 55 brews which is less than $1.00 per brew. Cheap enough for me.

 

[Bribie G]

As no doubt mentioned in previous posts another advantage of oxygen is that your starters will fire up like Donald Trump onto a Muslim.

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

As no doubt mentioned in previous posts another advantage of oxygen is that your starters will fire up like Donald Trump onto a Muslim.

Hi Bribie.

Have you noticed an improvement in taste with your aerated beers compared to non? Other than fasting starting and finishing? Cheers.

 

[Bribie G]

Well let's see how they do at the NSW comp this coming weekend B) B)

Definitely cleaner with less impression of unwanted esters / fusels etc, especially lagers.

 

[bradsbrew]

I am interested to see how the latest batch goes now that I have moved to starters and oxygen. Have an ESB on wy1968 currently going nuts at 18 deg, hopefully it won't do a Sally Robbins before the work is done.

 

[MichaelM]

I wonder how much aeration would improve compared to using an air pump by using a spray adaptor like one of these. https://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Brewing-BE510-Siphon-Aerator/dp/B00ODSS5J8

 

[Crusty]

I wonder how much aeration would improve compared to using an air pump by using a spray adaptor like one of these. https://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Brewing-BE510-Siphon-Aerator/dp/B00ODSS5J8

The only way to get maximum aeration into your wort is to use compressed oxygen.
You can spray the wort into your fermenter, shake the fermenter till the cows come home & a whole heap of other alternatives but oxygen will give you the most saturation possible. I ferment in a stainless keg & although not the ideal, I quite often have to fill the fermenter at higher than pitching temps & place it in the fermenting fridge. Sometimes I'm not pitching for 3 or 4 hours later or more & although I try & shake the heck out of it, it's bloody heavy. The new setup will simply allow me to place the sanitized wand into the fermenter & run it for 60sec then pitch. I often get a bit of lag time before fermentation starts kicking off & my last brew was about 18hrs in before I saw any airlock activity. This is way too long for my liking & although I haven't picked up on any faults or off flavours with my beers, I'm confident that the lag time will be greatly reduced & the beers will be even better than they are now.

 

[Bribie G]

I wonder how much aeration would improve compared to using an air pump by using a spray adaptor like one of these. https://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Brewing-BE510-Siphon-Aerator/dp/B00ODSS5J8

Wow that rings a bell, I used to have one of those, from Craftbrewer. I used it a couple of times but after drenching my shoes then the thing fell off the tube it was attached to and ended in the wort... I think a kitten ran off with it eventually h34r:

 

[Mardoo]

I wonder how much aeration would improve compared to using an air pump by using a spray adaptor like one of these. https://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Brewing-BE510-Siphon-Aerator/dp/B00ODSS5J8

IIRC 8mg/l of O2 is the max you can get using air. 12mg/l of O2 is said to be ideal. Then again this is both difficult to achieve even with O2, and strain dependent.

That said, any aeration is good aeration, as long as it's not introducing nasties.

 

[eldertaco]

Anyone know if there's adapters available to connect the bernzomatic-style gaugeless reg to a tradeflame bottle? The bernzomatic cylinders have always seemed like such a waste of metal for such a measly amount of O2, but since I already have a reg and don't mind that I can't dial in a specific output pressure I don't really see the point in buying a new one if I can get an adapter.

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

IIRC 8mg/l of O2 is the max you can get using air.

That's the O2 concentration in water at equilibrium with air at STP. You can get more at lower temperatures or higher pressures, Henry's Law applies. As noted somewhere above, if you sparge with air the nitrogen tends to knock some of the O2 out so it's very difficult to actually reach equilibrium.

12mg/l of O2 is said to be ideal. Then again this is both difficult to achieve even with O2, and strain dependent.

That said, any aeration is good aeration, as long as it's not introducing nasties.

12 mg /l is probably around the average of ideal levels, as you note it's strain and wort dependent. I use 8-10 unless I know it's going to need more in which case I'll usually just do it again 12 hours later rather than trying to hit it all in one go.

Then again it's easy for me to do that: as long as I've remembered to autoclave the oxygenation set up I just stick it on the end of my oxy acetylene torch and fire away.

Yes, I make sure the acetylene is off first. That shit costs money.