How on earth do I submerge my aeration stone?

So I recently purchased the aeration kit from Austin Homebrew. It was a total impulse buy because I was in the store and decided that I needed to aerate a batch of mead that I was planning. While attempting to aerate the must that night, I found a serious limitation in this kit. Because the aeration stone is attached to a length of flexible tubing, it just floats up to the top...not very ideal for aerating a 5 gal batch of liquid. If I had done my research before buying this kit, I probably would have gone with the aeration wand from William's Brewing. It has a rigid stainless steel tube permanently attached to the stone.

Well, since I'm already in for the cost of the Austin Homebrew aeration kit, I'd like to know if you guys have any ideas on how I can improve upon/salvage it. My thought was to replicate the William's aeration wand by attaching a length of rigid tubing to the stone. The problem is, I don't really know what I'm looking for. I figured I'd just throw in a 2-foot piece of 1/4" OD rigid tubing on an Amazon order that I've been working on, but I can't find what I need, partially because I don't know what it would be called.

Does anyone have any suggestions on ordering what I need or even other ideas? My aeration kit currently seems worthless, so all ideas are welcome.

sanitize a nut, place near end of stone, submerge.

KBentley57 said:

sanitize a nut, place near end of stone, submerge.

Click to expand...

I'd love to try this, but do you recommend that I sanitize my left nut, or my right nut?

Here's what I did:

I bought a stainless steel racking cane (3/8 inch OD). I connect my regulator to a length of 3/8 inch OD (1/4 inch ID) vinyl tubing, secured with a hose clamp. I connect the vinyl tubing to the curved end of the racking cane with a 3 inch length of 3/8 inch ID silicone tubing (goes over the vinyl tubing) which is secured using stainless steel hose clamps at each end. I attach the stone to the straight end of the cane as follows: I attach a 2 1/2 inch length of 3/8 inch ID silicone tubing to the barb on the stone using a SS hose clamp. I attach the other end of the silicone tube to the racking cane with another hose clamp, but this hose clamp is not clamped down totally tight. I leave it just loose enough that I can slide the silicone tubing on or off the racking cane, but with some force required to do this, allowing me to remove the stone for sanitization by boiling. I sanitize the stone and its attached silicone tube in boiling water and sanitize the racking cane with StarSan or Iodophor. I pull the stone from the boiling water with tongs, dump it into some sanitizer to cool it off and keep it sanitary, then using sanitized gloves, I slide the tubing onto the racking cane (grasping the tubing, not the stone) and I'm ready to go. The important thing is to keep the hose clamp on the end of the silicone tubing which slips over the racking cane tight enough that the stone/tubing combo will not fall off (or you could slide it on and then tighten the hose clamp with a sanitized screwdriver). I normally leave everything connected after use except the stone with its short piece of tubing which is removable for sanitization or cleaning in boiling water. It's easier to use than it is to describe.

I vote go with the stainless nut or washers on the end. If you can't find any I am sure JPC will share his. Who is he you say? The guy making noise when he walks.

jpc said:

I'd love to try this, but do you recommend that I sanitize my left nut, or my right nut?

Click to expand...

If you happen to be iron man, or wolverine, I would say either, so long as they are made of some type of non pours metal.

I attach mine to the long end of a racking cane with a rubber band.. KISS method.

Yes, all sanitized..

I used a stainless hose clamp down towards the stone, then I slid on some stainless washers/nuts that the I.D. was smaller than the hose clamp so they couldn't fall off.

-G

Just get some thicker silicone hose. Then you can boil both to sanitize. I always boil my stone before use....

I run the hose from the pump to the stone through a racking cane.

I bought a plastic racking cane, cut off the bend. Cut a 1" piece of the airstone hose and used it as a bridge piece to connect the airstone to the cane.

Revvy said:

I bought a plastic racking cane, cut off the bend. Cut a 1" piece of the airstone hose and used it as a bridge piece to connect the airstone to the cane.

Click to expand...

+1. Works wonderfully. Except I didn't bother to cut off the bend. I use a spare cane and orange cap, so it's a dedicated aeration wand. The orange cap is great because you can use the extra outlet for a blowoff tube for the excess foam. Just let 'er rip and come back in 20 minutes.

I currently use the Williams Brewing wand, but when I used a stone, I never had an issue with it sinking in wort.

I bought one about 15 or so years ago at MoreBeer. It is tiny.. about 2/3's the diameter or a pencil and about an inch long. It came as an oxygenation kit with vinyl tubing, a can of oxygen and a SS locknut. I never could get that to sink.. which is why I rubber band mine to a racking cane.. sanitized of course. One of these days, I'm going to modify that thing so I don't have to do the rubber band thing. Possibly find a nice piece of SS tubing and attach it to the stone with something like JB Weld. Otherwise, get a larger stone.

BTW, how do you clean these things properly? Washing and sanitizing aren't really an issue.. but, I have somewhat hard water.. who doesn't? I can see the water hardness gradually building up in the stone so that it isn't really efficient as when new.

HbgBill said:

...
BTW, how do you clean these things properly? Washing and sanitizing aren't really an issue.. but, I have somewhat hard water.. who doesn't? I can see the water hardness gradually building up in the stone so that it isn't really efficient as when new.

Click to expand...

You should always rinse the stone with distilled water after each use.

I have the exact same thing from AHS (MIL got it for me for xmas last year! ). I've had your issue, but it was mostly because the tube was rigid and coiled from storage. I always make fresh starsan on brewday with hot water, so I just dunk it in the starsan and the tube uncoils. I've never had issues with it floating.

BUT, I'll add that these racking cane ideas are fantastic!

HbgBill said:

BTW, how do you clean these things properly? Washing and sanitizing aren't really an issue.. but, I have somewhat hard water.. who doesn't? I can see the water hardness gradually building up in the stone so that it isn't really efficient as when new.

Click to expand...

I'd soak that puppy in some white vinegar overnight. Any acid really, I bet a long soak in StarSan would do the same thing. The acid will dissolve the calcium/magnesium and leave it clean. You can do the same thing with your faucet aerators, if you have hard water I bet they get gunked up after a while...