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**aarong** · 01-24-2013, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbobhat

If you wanted to, could you hook up oxygen to that, and not have to buy an air stone?

Theoretically yes. That's a great idea.

alien · 01-24-2013, 07:17 PM

What's to haete? Good idea and simple to make.

**aarong** · 01-24-2013, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alien

What's to haete? Good idea and simple to make.

Thanks brother

**nickmv** · 01-24-2013, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skibikejunkie

I don't understand why people are always trying to build a better mousetrap for wort aeration. Unless you are using bottled O2, you are never going to get more than 8ppm oxygen into your wort. You can get to 8ppm by shaking the carboy for 40 seconds.

http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_oxygenation.cfm

Or by simpling pouring it through a funnel into the carboy, which causes tons of foaming and agitation by itself.

**aarong** · 01-24-2013, 09:50 PM

So there are a lot of great ways to aerate wort! I would like to find the best way though! So instead of talking about it I decided to conduct some experiments to aerate without buying pure oxygen(I'm cheap and the wife would not be happy

)

I tried to make it as scientific as possible by keeping everything in a controlled environment and consistent.

I am planning on posting the experiment later tonight but for now here is the results.

Number one is the most effective way to aerate and number 7 is the least.

1) picking up the bucket and shaking vigorously like a bartender shaking a drink.
2) Venturi effect (Wormaeter) pouring on top
3) Venturi effect (Wormaeter) directly to the bottom
4) pouring through a funnel
5) siphoning on top of a spoon
6) rocking back and forth hard while keeping the bottom of the bucket on the ground(rocking method)
7) siphoning to the bottom of the bucket and doing nothing

I just want to reiterate that there are a ton of methods out there that make great beer. I just want to use the most effective, cheapest, safest, and easiest method.

**aarong** · 01-24-2013, 11:55 PM

For this experiment I wanted to find what aeration method put the most air in wort without buying a pump or pure oxygen.

So I did some research and found a diffused oxygen meter. The problem is that they cost a ton of money.

The cheapest way to test this that I could think of was using soap and water and making bubbles( who doesn't like bubbles)

Soap Bubbles are a thin layer of soap surrounding air.

Theoretically more bubbles equals more air.

To test this I took an empty jug and filled it with soapy water to the top. I then shook it as hard as I could and got no bubbles.

Photo 1

Next I drained half of the jug shook it violently like a bar tender and it created a thick layer of bubbles on top. Therefore the air in the free space mixed with the soap and water and it created soap bubbles.

Photo 2

So using the assumption more bubbles = more air I set up a simple experiment.

I took a pot and put soap and water in it and mixed it up with a spoon. This is the water I used for each experiment (control water). This is to make sure I had the same concentration of soap and water in each test.

I then took the same jug and drew a line on it. This is where I will fill it for each experiment.

I filled the jug by taking a siphons hose and filling the jug from the bottom up avoiding any air entering the soapy water.

So here are the photos of each test in the order I tested it
1) no shaking

Photo 3

2) vigorous shake (bartender) 40 seconds

Photo 2

3) siphon on top of spoon

Photo 4

4) rock the jug back and forth without picking up the jug. I did this as violent as possible for 40 seconds.

Photo 5

**aarong** · 01-24-2013, 11:56 PM

5) Venturi attachment in line with the hose and running it to the bottom

Photo 6

6) Venturi attachment in line with the hose and running it on top

Photo 7

7) pouring in a funnel

Photo 8

Results in order of most bubbles(air) to least.

1) picking up the bucket and shaking vigorously like a bartender shaking a drink.
2) Venturi effect (Wormaeter) pouring on top
3) Venturi effect (Wormaeter) directly to the bottom
4) pouring through a funnel
5) siphoning on top of a spoon
6) rocking back and forth hard while keeping the bottom of the bucket on the ground(rocking method)
7) siphoning to the bottom of the bucket and doing nothing

Conclusion

The most effective way to aerate is to pick up the bucket and shake the crap out if it. Unfortunately I do 6 gallon batches so I can't pick it up and shake it like a bartender without pulling a muscle.

The next effective way is an inline Venturi which sucked air in with the soapy water and created a large amount of bubbles=air.

So for me the winner is the Venturi tube. It is simple it does not involve lifting the bucket and shaking it and it seemed to add the most amount of air to the water.

Sweet

**mbobhat** · 01-25-2013, 12:47 PM

Nice work and good job with the illustrations! While I think I may try your wormaeter, I still may end up giving the carboy a shake or two because of my OCD

Edit: So that's just like the aerator on a kitchen faucet yes? Have you given any thought to the most optimal design (it looks like it works quite well and comparable to shaking), or do you think it's pretty good the way it is?

**aarong** · 01-25-2013, 01:22 PM

The optimal design for the test run was the Wormaeter design I just had the end of it outside of the water and not on the the bottom of the container. This created an overflow of bubbles in the container. The straw attachment in my video was for demonstration purposes during my test I didn't have and straws in the hole.

It is different then a faucet aerator. The faucet one is simply a grate that the water runs through and spreads the water flow like the common pouring on a spoon method.

The Venturi effects sucks in air at the same rate the water comes out the end so it mixes both in the siphon tube.

If you have any problems with the build or questions please let me know ill be more then Happy to help!
Cheers!

**pickles** · 01-26-2013, 05:08 PM

Nice experiment! I've built something similar in stainless steel and it works great. I've read a lot of people saying why bother, just shake the carboy? I ferment in 15.5 gal sankes, shaking isn't an option. For me I needed something different and didn't want to plunk down $70 on a oxygen system.