Wort Aeration

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Anecdotally, I usually only aerate by pouring from cube to fermenter with a fair amount of frothing and have never had a stuck fermentation. Also I believe it depends a lot on the yeasts. For example I'm currently experimenting with Mauri yeasts for my Aussie Lagers and olds. The Mauri Lager yeast (aka Morgans Lager yeast etc) has very low oxygen requirements according to their website and sure enough did its thing vigorously in a sealed fermenter and finished in five days and is currently in cold conditioning. On the other hand some highly flocculating yeasts like Ringwood and Wyeast West Yorkshire do best if they are thrashed to death twice a day and thoroughly aerated during fermentation. I'm about to give my Ringwood a spanking right now.

I always aerate my starters nowadays and use the Buttersd70 method of placing in a flask (schott bottle in my case) in a prominent high traffic area of the house and shake it to buggery whenever I'm passing. :beerbang:
 
Any further updates Chappo??
JA,
I have brewed now about 6 batches with the Olive oil in starters and the wort plus about 4 with using oxygen to aerate the wort. What have found is that the Olive Oil brews do kick off quicker and more lively than the oxygen aeration IMO. I have done a side by side using the same wort with a LAGER but unfortunately got too busy with day to day life that I couldn't make the observations that I want to. I guess until I can actually get some serious holiday time to do this properly it's pretty much going to be my word against the known science.

I have also been feeding the results to unawares Brewers I know that have the experience to detect faults and traits. Thus far NO ONE has picked it at all. Certainly no one has detected yeast stress thus far. I did have a brew that had some DMS issues which was more me and my process than to do with aeration.

Currently I have backed off the amount from 3mls to 1.5mls directly in the wort and to be honest I have not noticed any difference in the results. In the starters I have stuck to 0.5mls as that is the smallest I can measure ATM. I am waiting for a better more accurate pipette to arrive stortly so I can make smaller increments of additions.

Chappo
 
Interesting, I've got a cube ready and a starter on the go (a n Aussie Dark) for pitching this afternoon or tomorrow AM at the latest, I'll get out the ALDI Oro y Sol and give it a go this time. A level teaspoon is around 5 ml so I should be able to do a roughish dose. I'm using US-05 which I have always found a bit slowish compared to kit yeasts and Notto so if there is a significant difference in activity it should be discernible, being a yeast I'm well familiar with.
 
Interesting, I've got a cube ready and a starter on the go (a n Aussie Dark) for pitching this afternoon or tomorrow AM at the latest, I'll get out the ALDI Oro y Sol and give it a go this time. A level teaspoon is around 5 ml so I should be able to do a roughish dose. I'm using US-05 which I have always found a bit slowish compared to kit yeasts and Notto so if there is a significant difference in activity it should be discernible, being a yeast I'm well familiar with.

BribieG don't you have a pocket sparkler you could use to measure the dose?

I would love to hear how it goes for you. I'm sure we can compare notes at the next BABBS meeting.

Chappo
 
My pocket sparkler is 30 ml - a Man's pocket sparkler but I have to go up to the Chemists later so if I remember I'll get a 3ml (Nice to see that that poor drug addict man is cutting down on his doses :lol: )

It's going to take a lot of extremely fast talking if the cops ever decide to pop into my garage to see what's going on :unsure:

lab.JPG
 
My pocket sparkler is 30 ml - a Man's pocket sparkler but I have to go up to the Chemists later so if I remember I'll get a 3ml (Nice to see that that poor drug addict man is cutting down on his doses :lol: )

It's going to take a lot of extremely fast talking if the cops ever decide to pop into my garage to see what's going on :unsure:

View attachment 27117


ROFL! :lol: Classic!

BTW BribieG you have been one of my test subjects with Olive Oil. :ph34r:

*Cue Evil Laugh Voice* BWAHAHAHAHA!
 
ah cool. reckon there is much difference in your ferments?
 
Yeah those are the ones. I cant really say as for the fermentation. But I have read and read about the saturation levels not getting high enough with just a shake and also with a pond pump. I brew ales generally so it is not as much of an issue for me as the average lager brewer. But the ferments are quick and busy and it certainly isnt hurting. It does add to the cost a bit as the bottles at masters are thirty dollars and I seem to go through the o2 pretty quickly. But I dont mind wearing that cost to help my yeast stay healthy. But the aquarium pump worked great too and I was getting a great ferment using it too.
 
Torn a little between these two aeration kits:

Mark's Home Brew $175.
PRO's: looks to be a better build quality. O2 by volume is cheap.
CON's: expensive. 0.2 micron stone (have read 0.5 is better?). Replacement O2 not as easy to come by.

Conor Breware $111.
PRO's: cheaper. 0.5 micron stone. Easy to find replacement cylinders (Masters, Bunnings).
CON's: O2 by volume is more expensive. Doesn't have a gauge. Attaching regulator can result in issues.

Not sure on freight costs between the two.

Can anyone more knowledgable than I, in the art of aeration (i.e. all of you), shed any light and/or make any recommendations?
 
I have the connor brew are set-up and like it. It is my understanding that a 0.5micron stone is best for oxygen and 2 micron best with air. The Mark's HB is a 2 micron stone (not 0.2 micron).
 
Black n Tan said:
I have the connor brew are set-up and like it. It is my understanding that a 0.5micron stone is best for oxygen and 2 micron best with air. The Mark's HB is a 2 micron stone (not 0.2 micron).
Aah, yes - 0.5 v 2 micron - thanks.
 
I would have thought more people oxygenated their wort round here...
:beerdrink:
 
I just syphon from my pot into my fermenter from a height of 40-50cm or so, then give it a good thrashing with my mash paddle. But I use dry yeast which I hear doesn't need so much aeration.
 

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