For the past few years I’ve simply swung my Speidel 30L around like a pendulum for about a minute or so before and after I’ve pitched with (what I think) is good results.
Given I don’t want to throw out my back, I’m curious how you manually oxygenate your wort? Would other methods (wands/stones) ever be worth it?
Finally, what’s an under-oxygenated beer look like?
Please don’t do this. Back injuries are serious and often permanent.
http://byo.com/videos/item/1894-aerating-wort-techniques
Here’s what I use. Guaranteed 1 LPM oxygen flow rate every time for consistency.
JT - that’s fancy. Where did you get the meter?
Yeah, don’t trash your back. I use a mix stir on a cordless drill. Works like a champ, even on big beers.
Online, but I don’t remember where. A Google search for oxygen flow meter will turn up some similar products.
I have gone back to using what I refer to as a poor man’s aerator. It’s a piece of racking cane with holes drilled downward at a 45-degree angle. The aerator is inserted into the end of the length of tubing that runs from the ball valve on one’s kettle to one’s fermentation vessel. The wort mixes with air as it passes the holes. I did not invent the device. It was a tool of the trade in the nineties. An improved version can be made by using something like a White Labs preform as a shroud. A hole that is just large enough for the non-perforated section of the aerator to pass through is drilled into the closed end of the White Labs preform (alternatively, a larger hole and rubber grommet can be used). The aerator is inserted into the shroud, and sterile cotton is packed loosely between the aerator and the open end of the shroud to filter out any house dust that could possibly get sucked into the aerator. Wild microflora does not crawl into one’s fermentation chamber. It rides through the air on house dust.
A Poor Man’s Aerator
I use an inline oxygenator. The chilled wort passes over \ around the airstone, which is fed by O2. Pretty efficient, you just need to ensure that you don’t overdo it as the foaming can issue from the FV. One big advantage is that this can be disassembled for cleaning and autoclaved prior to use.
cheers
steve
In over 10 years of brewing, I’ve never once use pure O2 and I’ve never had a stalled fermentation. But I always pitch big, healthy starters, which I think may mitigate the necessity of the former. I recently made a 1.092 Imperial Stout that fermented out to 1.017 in 5 days without O2. I do use this doohickey when racking form kettle to carboy.
Time for some blasphemy.
I’ve never aerated my wort. Not once.
I rarely if ever make starters.
I’ve had two stalled fermentations in a string of 30-or-so brews. One was with a vial of WLP300 hefeweizen which I reckon travelled for too long before ending up in sub-optimal condition on my doorstep.
The other was a Wyeast2000 Budvar Lager which I realise in hindsight is the single one occasion where I really should have made a starter (first time lager so I’m putting this down to ignorance on my part).
The one time where I used a starter was for a 1.120SG imperial stout, and even there, starter can be literlly translated to “pitched with activated US-05 plus the two-weeks-old cake of another US-05 brew”.
I used to shake my 5gal fermentation vessel for 5’ or so, but recently I find myself relying on whatever oxygen the wort sucks up as it splashed in the fermentor when it exits my plate cooler.
I worry about oxygen when I’m planning a brew, and until now, have always opted to put my faith in healthy yeast, often in the form of a single sachet of activated yeast.
None of which implies I advocate against aerating. In my case, nonchalance seems to get the beer brewed, and I reckon one reason why I stick to this approach is because a) it seems to work for me and b) I want to understand at which point oxygen starts to matter on my system.
I rack into fermentors by pouring through a strainer so all of my batches get some amount of aeration. Other than that I tend to rely on pitching a healthy volume of yeast for most beers. Most of my beers also feature a lot of yeast character and a little stress is good for producing that character. However, I do have the typical oxygen set up and use it religiously with lagers and big beers.
Here’s a good article. Wort Oxygenation & Aeration | MoreBeer
Same here. I brew small batches, so I’m just pouring my kettle through a strainer (or series of strainers) by hand. After I seal the lid, I’ll shake it for 30 seconds or so and call it a day. The only exceptions are big lagers or barleywines. Those will get a minute or so of O2 from a tank.
I use a stir stick on a cordless drill at high speed, but my neighbor uses a simple sanitized kitchen whisk and froths it up pretty good.
O2 through a stainless diffusion stone for me.
If you primarily use dry yeast, then there’s a reason why you can get away with not aerating your beer. Dry yeast is not propagated the same way as liquid yeast. Dry yeast is propagated continuously in a device known as a bioreactor. The use of a bioreactor allows a dry yeast manufacturer to hold the medium in a steady state below the Crabtree threshold while continuously adding O2 and removing yeast cells. This type of propagation is known as aerobic propagation because biomass growth is accomplished via the aerobic metabolic pathway. Aerobic propagation produces yeast cells with fully charged ergosterol and unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) reserves. The downside of aerobic propagation is that it produces yeast cells that have experienced little if any ethanol stress. It also places selective pressure on the culture that favors cells that reproduce well via the aerobic metabolic pathway, which is not the way that yeast is propagated in a batch of wort.
On the other, liquid yeast is propagated anaerobically in batches. The medium starts out above the Crabtree threshold, which causes biomass growth to be handled via the anaerobic metabolic pathway. Dissolved O2 is shunted to the aerobic metabolic pathway for the production of ergosterol and UFAs at the beginning of the process. These stores are partially or fully consumed during propagation, resulting in cells that place a higher initial O2 load on a batch of wort/starter wort when pitched. However, anaerobic propagation has the advantage that it goes through all of the phases and experiences the stresses that are experienced during fermentation; hence, liquid yeast has less of tendency to produce funky flavor and aroma compounds.
Mark, Excellent explanation for us laymen. Thank you.
I use mostly dry yeast, which I treat the same as I do liquid yeast, which I use when I am brewing a beer in which its character is yeast dependent, Belgian, Kolsch, Biere de Garde, etc. I shake the fermenter violently for 45 seconds with proper posture for back support. I have never had a stuck fermentation in 21+ years. I have brewed a few lagers, but have always used either S23 or 34/70, which I think is a great dry lager yeast. Again, I use the shimmy shake method. Works for me, and others seem to like my beer.
My 2 cents.
Thanks Mark! Excellent run-down!
