Brew pots - ball valves and oxygenization

Thinking about going AG. I will need a new bigger brew pot however - I was thinking of the 10 gallon mega pot from Northern Brewer with valve and thermometer. I am only interested in 5 gallon batches, so I think this will be more than big enough for me.

Now my question is... with my extract batches I pour the cooled wort from the pot through a strainer into my fermentor. If the pot has a valve, I presume you run a hose from the valve on the pot to the fermentor?? Now is that ok, because I thought that you need to aerate the wort as you put it into the fermentor. If you run it though a hose, it wont add so much oxygen right?

Richie said:

If you run it though a hose, it wont add so much oxygen right?

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If that hose has a number of tiny holes in it, then yes, it's called a venturi.

It sounds like you aren't aerating very well (extract or now). You might consider investing a few dollars in an aquarium pump, inline hepa filter, and ceramic air stone. Another option is to use an oxygen tank and air stone.

or you do what most of us do, and add oxygen to the fermenter...stirring, shaking or using an airston and oxygen bottle. Or you could NOT use a hose, and let the wort fall and splash into the fernenter...or clip your hose to the top of the fermenter and let the beer fall.splash it's way in..

There are many options available.

Here is another option. I know many brewers who use this as their only source of oxygenating. Its not the best, but it works and is cheap. got this pic from northern brewer.

You could put a T-fitting in line with a hose coming off the tee that sits above the level of the exit (to prevent wort coming through that tube too). It'll introduce a lot of bubbles and should aerate the wort nicely. You can also just shake and vigorously stir the wort once it is in the fermenter, that's what I usually do.

I see AHS has a aeration kit for $35.99. It says to run the pump 15 minutes to an hour in your cooled wort. So exactly when should I run it? In the cooled wort before I transfer it to the fermentation bucket and pitch the yeast?

Thanks in advance.

in the bucket before you pitch the yeast....

If you want my opinion, skip the aquarium pump setup and opt instead for the oxygen bottle setup instead. Rather than 15 or more minutes further delay before you can pitch and seal, and more time where somethign could fall in...the )2 bottle pumps pure oxygen into it...and it takes only two minutes to deliver plenty.

It costs about the same as the pump version, just that it comes with a regulator and an airstone...and you can use any of those red oxygen bottles found at every hardware store.



If you can't find one with the wand attachment (some just has a hose, and the stone will sometimes float to the top, which is useless) you can do what I did, take a piece of racking cane, and a 1 inch piece of the hose that it comes with, stick the piece of hose on one end, and stick the airstone in the hose bit...works great

I use the airstone + oxygen bottle setup myself. It takes about 1-1.5 minutes to saturate a 5g batch with oxygen and you get a very rigorous fermentation. Only setback is that you have to replace those oxygen bottles every so often which means more cost per batch.

Obviously the hobby has its cost, but its nice to be avoid excess spending if you can help it. If you can't be bothered with the oxygen cost or the pump time, than you can do what most of us started out doing, which is just shaking the crap out of the fermentor.

Gl with whatever you choose.

It is my understanding that when pitching dry yeast, oxygenating or aerating the wort is not as critical, as the cell count pitched is adequate, and reproduction of the yeast is not required.

If I repitch a slurry, I attempt to aerate the wort. If pitching dry, I'm not as concerned. I also brew pretty standard gravity stuff, for a heavyweight, I would be more concerned, or maybe just double pitch dry??

Anyone else lazy like me when pitching dry, or do most always attempt to add O2?

I have the oxy tank and airstone, but for most of my general normal gravity beers I will just shake the carboy(carefully, protected) after transferring the cooled wort. I recently set up the venturi tube which is even easier but takes some experimentation to get right, at least it did for me, my CFC and pump.

Pure oxygen is great for higher gravity beers.

I put my keggle up on a table and open the ball valve letting the beer fall 3 to 4 feet into the bottom of my primary. It splashes and froths really well, and I've never had any problem with lack of O2. Oh and gravity is free.

A T in the line works great, just keep your thumb over the open end until the siphon gets started.

IXVolt said:

Oh and gravity is free.

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You should talk to Señor Blaine...