Flynz

Recipes 

Hey guys, picked up a S.S. 2 micron air stone from NB and an aquarium air pump from the pet store for aerating my wort. Straight from the plastic bag the stone came in, then on to the tubing and the air pump to test it in a glass of water... nothing. I tried blowing into the tube, again... nothing. Now I'm getting a little peeved. Out to the garage to the air compressor, now I get air to go through... okay, now what I think.

Is a 2 micron stone too restrictive for an air pump? If I picked up an O2 bottle, is there enough pressure in it to use the stone? If so, as the bottle pressure drops through use, how much O2 will remain in the bottle before pressure is too low to push through the stone?

Flynz

grathan

Recipes 

I use 2 micron with a bottle. I forget how many psi the regulator is set for, can check later. How many psi can the pump do?

Flynz

Recipes 

The aquarium air pump has no data plate to show it's output. It's nothing more than a cheap $10 pump from the pet store.

buzzno

Recipes 

I just bought a 2 micron as well and did a similar test with an aquarium pump in a bucket of water. I had a little better results. I'm using a cheap pump for a 10gal aquarium, through a filter then to the stone. I had some bubbles coming out but not much. Was going to step up my pump to a 40-60gal and see if that works better.

Flynz

Recipes 

Yup, gave it some thought too. However, I don't think for my stone it would work, I can't even get it to work by blowing into it so I think an upgraded aquarium pump still wouldn't have the needed output.

Let us know how you make out.

aiptasia

Recipes 

That's pretty constrictive. I bought the NB kit with airstone, rod, tubing and adapter for welding O2 tanks. It's worked well for me for a while now. I know it sounds weird but you might try boiling it in some water for a few minutes and then hook it up to the air supply. If there's anything stuck in there that's heatable or water soluable, this should dislodge it in theory.

As an alternative, an aquarium products company makes disposable airstones that you can attach directly to aquarium tubing, and just toss out the airstone afterwards. Dirt cheap. Just sanitize, attach to airline/pump and let er rip. Link: http://www.petco.com/product/6126/Lees-Discard-A-Stones-Aquarium-Airstones.aspx

__________________
Paranormal Brewing
Beer so good, it's frightening.
2013: Wamphyri Belgian Dark Strong, Trinidad Scorpion IPA, Shadowman Stout, Bermuda Triangle Barleywine, Bloody Mary RyePA, Pruno.

jbaysurfer

Recipes 

Did you handle the stone itself with your bare hands? The oils from your hands can clog the pores of the stone...or so I've been told. The boiling advice above is probably good advice, then don't handle the stone with your fingers. Maybe wear some clean latex gloves while you put it on the tubing.

__________________
First Brew was thanksgiving 2011, I'm at 46 batches and counting, and ran out of room in my signature to list them all ;-)

brewskisteve

Recipes 

Hmmm, watching this one closely. And I thought it was mine or the pump but I could not find which of the 2 it would be. Boiled the crap outta my stone for 15 mins and well over a half hour and still nothing. Blow thru the stone and I get restriction, but it blows. Put it on the pump, nothing at all. Lost the use of it for 2 brews now. Was gonna get another bigger micron stone or pump, but was a little gun shy to find maybe the opposite of what I replaced was the culprit. The pump I have is also for a 10 gal tank, the box says nothing about what psi it uses.

buzzno

Recipes 

Did you handle the stone part? There was a warning on mine to not touch it as the oils on our skin would plug it up. Might want to do a search for how to remove the oils and see if that helps.

buzzno

Recipes 

Oops, already suggested. Guess I should have read the previous posts! ;-)