Olive Oil In Fermenter And It Went Nuts!

[SJW]

I pitched a Wyeast 2124 (fresh one) into a German Pilsner last night that I did not aerate. I just dipped a tooth pick in some olive oil and swirled it around in the wort after I pitched the yeast, with no starter. Anyway, to my surprise 12 hours later this thing has gone nuts. I pitched at 18 deg C and dropped it straight down to 12 deg C and by the morning it was jumping.
Has anyone else done this? I read an article about how the the New Belgum Brewing Co. uses this method and its got something to do with the yeast getting what it needs from the oil on some molecular level.
Just wanted to confirm if this was a fluke or fact?

STEVE

 

[.DJ.]

fact I believe.. lots of info on it...

 

[malt_shovel]

I pitched a Wyeast 2124 (fresh one) into a German Pilsner last night that I did not aerate. I just dipped a tooth pick in some olive oil and swirled it around in the wort after I pitched the yeast, with no starter. Anyway, to my surprise 12 hours later this thing has gone nuts. I pitched at 18 deg C and dropped it straight down to 12 deg C and by the morning it was jumping.
Has anyone else done this? I read an article about how the the New Belgum Brewing Co. uses this method and its got something to do with the yeast getting what it needs from the oil on some molecular level.
Just wanted to confirm if this was a fluke or fact?

STEVE

Yeah I gave it a try once a little while back. It was an english ale that I used a Wyeast pack on. It was underattenuated and had the hallmarks of stressed yeast. I figure it is easy enough to swirl / aerate the fermenter and went back to conventional wisdom afterwards.

No scientific comparison with control batch etc, so my results may be entirely un-related to the olive oil addition.

 

[Florian]

I guess pitching a lager yeast at 18 degrees is somewhat similar to pitching an ale yeast at 26 degrees, so I wouldn't be surprised if that is art of the reason for the early activity, especially seeing it was a fresh pack or starter.

 

[sponge]

I read about this a few years back when I first got into brewing and hadn't really seen it mentioned since.

I remember there's a thread or two on here about it so it's definitely not a fluke at all, and specifically remember that only the smallest amount should be used (as you have done using the toothpick method)

I believe TB (or someone as knowledgeable) gave an explanation as to the chemical activity behind this practice.

Havent tried it myself as the wort gets nice and aerated from dumping it from cube to fermenter, but its good to know that its always a possibility.



Sponge

 

[Amber Fluid]

MHB provided a PDF to a thesis on doing this HERE

 

[Deebo]

Would be interested if anyone had done a split batch experiment like:
aerating alone
aerating with olive oil
olive oil alone

I did see one on a forum when I googled it but the posts stopped before any conclusion was mentioned

 

[donburke]

I pitched a Wyeast 2124 (fresh one) into a German Pilsner last night that I did not aerate. I just dipped a tooth pick in some olive oil and swirled it around in the wort after I pitched the yeast, with no starter. Anyway, to my surprise 12 hours later this thing has gone nuts. I pitched at 18 deg C and dropped it straight down to 12 deg C and by the morning it was jumping.
Has anyone else done this? I read an article about how the the New Belgum Brewing Co. uses this method and its got something to do with the yeast getting what it needs from the oil on some molecular level.
Just wanted to confirm if this was a fluke or fact?

STEVE

funny enough, that old thread was dug up yesterday

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...=31756&st=0

 

[Glot]

So, This technique seems to have faded, Does it work or not?

 

[Yob]

yes but its steak without the vegies, not much chop if you want to harvest the yeast...from what I read..

I try to re pitch my yeast a lot so have never tried myself.. my paint stirrer only takes a few minutes..

 

[Glot]

Ur a retailer. Ur supposed to discourage repatching yeast lol
I lot track of that idea and just picked a thread at random. thanks for the update