I'm getting ready to brew my second batch today, a Hop Devil Clone.
I have an aeration question. How much?
I did a search and got varying techniques. Some just pour the wort into their cool water and consider that enough while others mix it up. Still others close the fermenter and shake it and others buy fancy mixers to whip it up to a bubbly head.
As long as its a one-shot infusion, no matter how its performed, will never be too much. Aeration is a vast subject with no hard and fast rules. Not all brewing yeast strains have the same oxygen requirements for satisfactory fermentation. Then there is the percentage of O2 in air as opposed to some what pure O2 in medical or purer O2 in welding tanks. I personally started out pouring very cold sanitized water from 7' above my fermenter to aerate. Now with full boils, I add 30 seconds of medical O2 through a 0.5 micron stone. Try whatever you have available and see what your lag time is compared to others.
Good luck,
Wild
__________________
On Tap -
3 year old Oak Aged Bourbon Porter
Barleywine
Irish Red Rye
Chipotle Smoked Porter
Russian Imperial Stout
Robust Porter
Pale Warrior Ale
Traditional Sparkling Mead
Squeeze My Grapefruits Summer Blonde
Scottish Session
Irish Red Rye
Kolsch
Primary - Nada
Secondary -
From man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world. -- Saint Arnoldus
If you are not doing a full boil then chances are the un-boiled water will have enough O2 in it that you will more than likely be okay. You don't want to aerate hot wort though! Make sure it's cooled before you aerate to avoid oxygenating the wort.
I do full boils and once the wort is cool and in the primary I stir the crap out of it with my sanitized mixing spoon for a few minutes. Soon I have a bunch of foam and call it a day and pitch the yeast. Never had any problems with lag time..
I don't do full boils, but I separatly boil and cool the water that I user to make up 5+ gallons. I use a plastic primary, so, before I pitch the yeast, I slap the cover on, hold my thumb over the airlock bung, and shake the primary like a drink mixer for a bit. I do all this AFTER making sure that the combined mixture is down to temp (in the 70*F range). Then I crack it open again and pitch, cover, shake again, and add the airlock. It works fine for me, and I have gotten some great response times and ferments. You just need to make sure that when you are opening and closing the primary a couple times, that you take care to not let anything in, and keep the lid sanitary.
__________________
Even the strongest blade of grass bends in the wind
-------------------------------------------- Primary: Octoberfest
mini 1G Primary: nichts Secondary #1: #97 Pale Ale Secondary #2 nichts
Bottled/Conditioning: nichts Fully ConditionedDrinking: nichts
All Gone!: Everything
Ahhh, make sure it's cooled.
Thanks, so in other words, take my wort off the stove, cover and cool it in a sink of ice water for awhile, then pour it into my fermenter of cool water and when it's cooled to pitch temp, aerate?
Didn't know that.....thanks.
Damn. After I took my wort off the stove today I put it in a sink of cold water and stirred it around a bit to cool it down. It wasnt until after I did this that I realised not to aerate hot wort I'm guessing this was a bad move? I dunno. I didnt like shake it around, I just stirred it. Do you think I oxygenated my wort? What happens if it is oxygenated?
I hope I didnt wreck my brew
__________________ Primary
Belgian wheat lager Secondary
None Bottled
None Drinking
Nothing left to drink Planned
European Lager
You want oxygenated wort. You don't want HOT oxygenated wort. When cooling, it is best not to agitate the wort at all. At most, I slowly move my wort chiller up and down a coupl inches to clear the thermal barrier that can form around the coils (cold water/hot water form find of a wall and prevents hot from contacting colder coils.) I do not stire it until it is below 80*F. Then I stir it hard to whirlpool it (debris collects in middle). Then I do what I mentioned in my 1st post.
__________________
Even the strongest blade of grass bends in the wind
-------------------------------------------- Primary: Octoberfest
mini 1G Primary: nichts Secondary #1: #97 Pale Ale Secondary #2 nichts
Bottled/Conditioning: nichts Fully ConditionedDrinking: nichts
All Gone!: Everything
Shaking/stirring 6 ppm O2
Air & stone 12 ppm O2
Oxygen & stone 33 ppm O2
The more oxygen the better, you get more yeast. They all work.
__________________
Remember one unassailable statistic, as explained by the late, great George Carlin: "Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!"
You want oxygenated wort. You don't want HOT oxygenated wort.
Right theory wrong wording
You don't want to oxygenate wort ever... You do want to aerate the wort. If you aerate hot wort you will run the risk of oxygenating it. When you aerate the wort you add O2 into the mix.. But when you oxygenate it you are actually fusing the O2 to the wort. This is released but not as fast as when it's aerated cool... If you did it hot the O2 will be released after fermentation has started and that's the time you do not want the O2 in there...
If you just stirred it around a little when hot it's prolly not going to be a big deal. If you let loose on it when it was 140F then you might get some off flavors.
Aeration
I'm guessing this was a bad move? I dunno. I didnt like shake it around, I just stirred it. Do you think I oxygenated my wort? What happens if it is oxygenated?
Linear Mode
