Methods of aeration.

[templewater]

I think im having a few issues with aeration and its causing the fermentation to finish slightly high so whats your method of aeration.
Airstone
shake the f$ck outta'er
decant from height?

 

[Runwell-Steve]

I just decant from a reasonable height. The boiler is tap is just over a metre from the ground and I stand the fermenter on the floor.

 

[templewater]

Yeah ive been doing that as well and I was getting a decent foam head.
Ive been paying a lot more attention to my mash temp but still ended up with my IIPA finishing around 1023.

 

[Muddy Funker]

Tesco hand blender with whisk attachment works well :

 

[Dunfie]

I just give it welly with a big stainless steel whisk.

 

[guyb]

I made a three sectional whisk from four stainless steel barbeque skewers £1.25 total - it mounts in the drill and works like the wine degassers - arms extend under centrifugal force.

 

[Aleman]

In line 05 micron stainless aeration stone connected to a oxygen cylinder . . . aerate the wort on the way from the copper to the Fv

 

[Dunfie]

In line 05 micron stainless aeration stone connected to a oxygen cylinder . . . aerate the wort on the way from the copper to the Fv

 

[borischarlton]

In line 05 micron stainless aeration stone connected to a oxygen cylinder . . . aerate the wort on the way from the copper to the Fv

Can you let us have some links/photos of that equipment?

Rob

 

[unclepumble]

In line 05 micron stainless aeration stone connected to a oxygen cylinder . . . aerate the wort on the way from the copper to the Fv

How do you regulate the flow of the wort & Oxygen to ensure a consistent uptake of oxygen each brew?

The method you are employing is spot on should you be able to measure the PPM of the dissolved oxygen, however, without oxygen analysis equipment (Mucho £££££££££££) or Flow meters and accurate flow control for your oxygen & wort transfers (also Mucho £££££££££) it is like playing russian roulette with your brew.

Too much oxygen is as bad if not worse than too little in the brew, I think you would be better, dropping an air stone in the FV & Giving a timed burst of O2, doing this over several brews & measuring the fermentation profile, to get the optimum time.

However to get the optimum you would need to do this using the same recipe each time, & have very good control over your fermentation temperature, as well as the rest of the brew house to ensure consistency.

Hope it keeps on working for you, Tony, but for the average Joe, dropping from height, beating the feck out of it with a whisk, or if pumping the wort, spraying into the FV out of a flattened copper pipe at the end of the hose, will give much better results without the risk of over oxygenating.

If your making lagers where you ideally want 12-14PPM of dissolved oxygen to get best results then Its worth pursuing injection with O2 and an air stone, however for ales where you want 8-10PPM its not worth the risk of ruining your brew should you get it wrong.

UP

 

[Vossy1]

I found one of the easiest ways, in the old days (read lazy) is to use a plaster paddle and a drill, it literally takes less than a minute, or until foam starts to try and escape :grin:
Now I tend to use an air pump, 0.5micron in line filter and stainless airstone, Rack the beer to fv, put airstone in, forget about it for a few hours or until foam escapes fv and that's it...very unscientific :lol:
I did try and add air (not oxygen) whilst racking to fv but just ended up with an fv full of foam :lol:

 

[templewater]

I found one of the easiest ways, in the old days (read lazy) is to use a plaster paddle and a drill

funnily enough I was thinking of a plaster paddle for breaking down the doughballs when doughing in!, looks like there will be another use for it.

Im thinking of sterilising 2 fv's and for the first quarter of the batch "juggling" the wort between the two. After that I think i'll go for the "drop from a height" then a quick whizz with the paddle on the drill.

 

[Aleman]

In line 05 micron stainless aeration stone connected to a oxygen cylinder . . . aerate the wort on the way from the copper to the Fv

How do you regulate the flow of the wort & Oxygen to ensure a consistent uptake of oxygen each brew?

The method you are employing is spot on should you be able to measure the PPM of the dissolved oxygen, however, without oxygen analysis equipment (Mucho £££££££££££) or Flow meters and accurate flow control for your oxygen & wort transfers (also Mucho £££££££££) it is like playing russian roulette with your brew.

Yep . . . I had access to a DO meter, and my O2 regulator is calibrated in L/Min . . .So set to 2L per minute, and run for 60 seconds at the end of transfer with wort flow around 5L per minute, gives me 12ppm in the fv . . . The FV is filled from the bottom so the foamy O2 rich wort mixes well, and the foam provides an O2 Rich atmosphere (reservoir) above the wort when it collapses.

Pitching BIG with healthy yeast also helps to prevent problems with too much O2.

I'm also looking at using a HEPA filtered air compressor instead though, primarily because of O2 toxicity

 

[Glen]

I made a three sectional whisk from four stainless steel barbeque skewers £1.25 total - it mounts in the drill and works like the wine degassers - arms extend under centrifugal force.

Ohh, given me an idea. have to rob it from the good lady :twisted: but we have one of these and im sure it could fit in a drill :
http://www.clickshop.com/product/3014/t ... 4QodMC0G9A