I am FINALLY going to start aerating my wort properly…until now I had been relying on the “rock the carboy” method. I am planning on going the aquarium pump route since I am not really set up to inject oxygen directly.
My question deals with the pump and the diffuser stones. Will any pump do? Will any aeration stone do? Also, Do I want the 2 or 5 micron (or is it .2 or .5…oh well, you understand the question)?
Basically, can I pick up what I need at my local Petco or do I need to special order anything. I am hoping that starting to aerate better as well as paying attention to proper pitching rates (rather than just pitching a single smack pack) will make a marked difference in the finished beer.
Before i gpt into olive oil aeration, i used a pump. Nothing to huge, or you’ll get foam faster than you want to deal with. Got for the . 2 micron filter. Smaller is better. I just used the airstones from the pet store, but they tend to fall apart, also maybe not the most sanjtary. You can get SS ones, from homebrew shops.
I have seen a couple tests on the homebrew level and there is no evidence that it produces a better beer. IRC, New Belgium stopped doing it because they found a reduced shelf lief.
Without derailing the thread, I would just like to state again, that I have used olive oil in several batches of beer now. As I have stated many times, I am not saying it works better than other methods. I get no better fermentation, or better quality beer using olive oil than by othe aeration methods. The reason I do it, is it is just so stupidly simple, and works just as well, again not better, than other methods. And, to date, I have found no ill effects on my beer. As for shelf life, my beer has a short shel life anyway. 8)
Here’s a challenge for ya, Barry. Next brew, split the batch in half. Use olive oil in one half and nothing at all in the other. Pitch a pack of dry yeast (same manufacture date if possible) into each one so that they’ll get pitched the same as closely as possible. Then see what happens. I know what my bet will be!
Yeah, I’ll give that a shot. Hoping to get a brew done when I get back home to Idaho on Saturday. Hopefully will get to brew next week, so I’ll take a whack at it. If you’re right, I’ll never use olive oil again . Not even for cooking. ;D
Is dry yeast the best thing to use for a test like this? The mfrs say aeration is not necessary with dry yeast because when it is ‘grown’ it is given all the sterols it needs for a typical fermentation whereas liquid yeast always needs aeration.
That’s a good point. I suggested it because it would be easier to get a comparable amount of yeast into the beer compared to a liquid yeast starter. Probably liquid would be better in that case.
From what I have read, shaking the carboy, the aquarium pump, and the mix-stir all get you to about 8 ppm dissolved O2. That is as good as it gets with air. That is good for most ale yeasts in beers up to 1.060 to 1.070 or so.
To get to the 10 ppm or more that is recommended for lager yeast, you need have an O2 system. That would also be good for a 1.100 beer.
What do I have? A mix-stir, a an aquarium pump, and an O2 system. I have been known to shake the carboy also.
Just curious, what’s the mechanism that causes aeration with the mix-stir? I assume you’re putting the mix-stir at the bottom of the vessel and it gets everything moving, maybe forming a vortex? Would a paint mixer do the same thing? I ask because I was thinking about using a paint mixer for faster cooling with an immersion chiller, but don’t want to aerate the hot wort (not trying to start an HSA debate here…).
As far as aeration, all you need is an aquarium pump, an inline filter cartridge, and an air stone. You should be able to get it set up for <$20, much less if you can get the filters locally.
