Forget aeration! Use Olive Oil.

[antiphile]

A recent post on the Brewsmith Blog suggests there may be some merit to this idea (and it wasn't posted on 1st April).

I'm not going to throw away the aerating equipment just yet, but it may be worth a pilot batch of an ESB at some stage.

 

[JDW81]

There are some commercial breweries who use a similar technique, although I don't know if they also augment it with traditional aeration. Jamil Z talks about using a canola based product in his fermenters at Heretic in the brew strong podcast on aeration.

As I don't have an accurate way of measuring olive oil by the mg I think I'l be sticking to my aeration methods that have served me well all these years.

JD

 

[mxd]

There is some threads on here about it, I've tried it once with a side by side and couldn't pick the diff I think they both got to the same fg

 

[Jack of all biers]

You learn something new everyday don't you? Sounds ok doesn't it. Like antiphile, not sure I'll be changing my method for this latest thing, but I look forward to the many who will.

Soon someone will come onto the market with a non-olive oil lipid alternative that they can sell for 100 times the price and we will be hearing the many new devotees to not airating worts. I can hear it now...

Or am I just too cynical.

EDIT - Yes I'm too cynical. Once the below was pointed out, I clicked on the thesis link and found it was written almost exactly ten years ago 26/9/2005). Obviously not a craze that took the world by storm!

 

[barls]

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/82546-olive-oil-for-yeast-health-experimentation/
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/31756-olive-oil-in-starter/
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/29969-wort-aeration/
Well covered

 

[antiphile]

Ahhh. I didn't think that through very well. A "back of the envelope" calculation suggests 4 mg is about one-thirteenth of a drop!

Edit added: Brain no work on Sundays. Maybe thats 4 micrograms? :unsure:

 

[MHB]

Guys can we put this one to bed - there is no point in adding olive oil at any time other when the yeast is in storage. It (the yeast) simply isn't expressing the geans required to use oil except under very specific conditions, those being where the yeast is scavenging sterols and fatty acids from other yeast cells that have died i.e. being cannibalistic.
Yeast can also make an enzyme called Invertase to break Sucrose up into Glucose and Fructose, It doesn't express this gene (make invertase unless it detects sucrose)

If you read the original Hull Olive Oil thesisView attachment hull-olive-oil-thesis.pdf, there are some reasons offered why Olive oil was chosen, mainly to do with the length of the carbon chain of one of the primary ingredients. If you were looking for an alternative, I would try Wheat Germ Oil, I tried to find Barley Germ Oil but couldn't get any. there are some references to Barley/Malted Barley germ being used. Wheat germ oil (and olive oil) also form a colloid with water (just like making Mayonnaise) pretty easily, would make measuring ridiculously small doses a lot easier.

But seriously this was first published 26/09/2005 so ten years some time next week - it has in that time hardly become "Standard Practice" anywhere even at New Belgium Brewery, where Grady Hull worked (maybe still works), and it isn't a substitute for aeration once the yeast goes into the wort (and possibly not even all that effective when yeast is being stored).
Mark

JOAB, I hadn't read your post when I started typing, having a coffee answering the phone... well life got in the way, wasn't trying to talk over your very good points.
M

 

[Bribie G]

There's a reference to olive oil in the Chris White, Jamil Z Yeast book but it's presented in a bit of a nudge wink fashion, I think they brought the subject up just to show that they knew the idea was doing the rounds.

 

[MHB]

I think they might also make reference to the genes only being expressed during storage to. Been a while since I read the book.
M