During my time on this forum I’ve come across several methods of aeration and some pretty elaborate methods. I once used a stirring rod that hooked up to my drill but have since even gotten away from that since I’ve started to filter my wort through nylon stockings into a bucket about 9 or 10 months ago. I was wondering if anybody else does the following or has any comments or concerns with my method…
As said above, I filter my wort into a fermenting bucket. Then I slowly dump the wort through a funnel and into a carboy. It appears that I have adequate aeration after this pour. I usually have active fermentation in 6-10 hours.
I will be pumping to fermentor after whirlpool settles. I then let my wort and yeast pitch sit in the refer over night. The next morning I aerate with a mix stir and pitch.
I pour from my kettle into two buckets through a strainer. I carry the two buckets downstairs and pour them into my conical. All that pouring whips up all the air my yeast needs.
After I transfer my cooled wort to conical, I aerate with 100% O2 for 50 seconds using aeration stone/rod (from Williams) hooked to small/cheap 02 welders tank u can get at any hardware store. I boil the stone and then soak in stars an prior to aeration.
I read somewhere once that dumping a couple of gallons of wort into a couple gallons of wort will oxygenate just as much as an air stone will. I have also read that there is some kind of disadvantage to this as well but I don’t remember what it was. I just do it so that I don’t have to carry 5 gallons of beer down my stairs in one shot and the oxygenating is just sort of a bonus.
Nope, you’re not. For beers sub-1.090 OG I’ve never found any real advantage to using 02. I think above that gravity a minute or two of 02 can be a benefit. A mix stir on a cordless drill is what I use for pretty much everything and I get quick starts and good attenuation.
I pour hard and/or shake the bucket for a few 15-second bursts for most beers. Beers over 1.080 or so get about a second of O2 for every gravity point. But if you don’t have oxygen, a second aeration with something like a whisk/mix-stir/slotted spoon after about 12 hours would make up for the lower O2 saturation from air. I did this prior to my O2 setup and never had an issue.
Fill the headspace in the carboy with oxygen, put a stopper in it, rest the carboy on the floor, tilt the carboy 45 degrees, and twist it back and forth - shaking the beejeebers outta the wort. You can supersaturate the wort with oxygen this way.
Using this method with ambient air (21% oxygen) is highly effective too.
I’ve been using a big whisk, but I think I’m going to purchase a mix stir…seems like it would be easier to let a drill do all the work. I also rarely brew above 1.060.
I used a Mix-Stir on a drill for years with good results. I recently switched to the William’s O2 system and have only used it on a few batches. The jury is still out for me as to whether one is better than the other. I’ll know better after I’ve used the O2 system for a few lagers.