Interesting experiment on the effects of areation

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EdWort

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This is a great video experiment on the effects of areation on fermenting wort. The guy breaks it down to 3 catagories, No Shake, Shaken, and Oxygenated. Check it out, it's very interesting and worth your time.

 
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ED!!!!!!!!

Where have you been. This is our Own BobbyM.....
There's a couple of big threads on here.

Check out his signature.

Do you need to lay of that apple stuff for a while?:p
 
orfy said:
ED!!!!!!!!

Where have you been. This is our Own BobbyM.....
There's a couple of big threads on here.

Check out his signature.

Do you need to lay of that apple stuff for a while?:p

Orfy- you took the words right out of my mouth.

Ed, while you gallivanting through the Bavarian countryside, we were watching and debating Bobby's video. But thanks for the link to the video for those who might have missed it. Very interesting!
 
Doh!

Where did that thread come from? I must have been out of the country under the influence of fine Bavarian Hefeweizen.

I had just ordered an Oxygen aeration system from Williams Brewing and came across his vid on Youtube on the Tasty Brew Board.

S78.JPG


It just validated my purchase.

Oh well, never mind. :)

Great Job BobbyM! Thanks!
 
EdWort said:
This is a great video experiment on the effects of areation on fermenting wort. The guy breaks it down to 3 catagories, No Shake, Shaken, and Oxygenated. Check it out, it's very interesting and worth your time.

Interesting video, but I'm wondering about the aeration technique. I remember seeing one video where they aerated with pure oxygen but before that they had aerated the mix by shaking, pouring water in quickly, etc.

Now, in theory oxygenation should work best if you have wort which has very little disolved gas - if you've already agitated the mix then you've mixed in air (79% nitrogen) which the oxygen is going to have difficulty driving out. Most of the oxygen you aerate with is just going to bubble straight out.

Theoretically, the best technique should be to boil the water to remove nearly all gas, then chill (preferably sealed), then mix into the wort agitating as little as possible, then bubble the oxygen through; finally, seal in a carboy leaving as small an air gap as possible so that there is minimal gas exchange with the air sealed in the carboy.

Hey, I might be a newbie brewer but you learn a lot about gas laws as a tec. scuba diver :)
 
BarryNL said:
Interesting video, but I'm wondering about the aeration technique. I remember seeing one video where they aerated with pure oxygen but before that they had aerated the mix by shaking, pouring water in quickly, etc.

Now, in theory oxygenation should work best if you have wort which has very little disolved gas - if you've already agitated the mix then you've mixed in air (79% nitrogen) which the oxygen is going to have difficulty driving out. Most of the oxygen you aerate with is just going to bubble straight out.

Theoretically, the best technique should be to boil the water to remove nearly all gas, then chill (preferably sealed), then mix into the wort agitating as little as possible, then bubble the oxygen through; finally, seal in a carboy leaving as small an air gap as possible so that there is minimal gas exchange with the air sealed in the carboy.

Hey, I might be a newbie brewer but you learn a lot about gas laws as a tec. scuba diver :)


Hey barry, I'm also a diver. Well, the wort was boiled, all three samples that is. The one that was injected with O2 was not shaken in any way. That was the whole point of it actually, to compare the various methods that people normally use. The one i omitted was the aquarium pump method.
 
I'm stoked. My areator system from Williams Brewing arrives tomorrow. I went with theirs because of the stainless tube which gets the stone to the bottom of the fermentor. All the others use the stupid plastic hose which curls up and does not go where you want it.

Great stuff Bobby_M!
 
EdWort said:
I'm stoked. My areator system from Williams Brewing arrives tomorrow. I went with theirs because of the stainless tube which gets the stone to the bottom of the fermentor. All the others use the stupid plastic hose which curls up and does not go where you want it.

Great stuff Bobby_M!

I have that one, Ed, and it's nice. The ability to move it around and aerate all sections - and stir while aerating - is a bonus.
 
Bobby_M said:
Hey barry, I'm also a diver. Well, the wort was boiled, all three samples that is. The one that was injected with O2 was not shaken in any way. That was the whole point of it actually, to compare the various methods that people normally use. The one i omitted was the aquarium pump method.

Which one do you think worked best in the end. After you punctured the gloves its a bit difficult to see. Maybe you could try it next time with condoms; I see to remember from my student days that you can blow those things up to an amazing size :)

I had wondered if there was a way to aerate my last batch with my scuba gear but wisely decided against it - shame I have a half empty tank of 100% oxygen decompression gas that's going to cost me the same to get filled whether I use the rest or not.
 
The gloves were just for an indicator of lag times and amount of fermentation in the first 24 hours or so. After that, I was letting gravity tests dictate how well the attenuation was progressing. With that, I think the numbers speak for themselves. The O2 injected batch attenuated the furthest while shaking and doing nothing were pretty close. I'm not 100% satisfied with my results because I think the high pitch rates I used (meaning quantity of initial yeast cells pitched) was probably higher than the typical batch. I'd love to repeat with a low pitch rate like liquid yeast without a starter to see if the results are similar or maybe more dramatic. I THINK this whole thing would be moot if you make a starter and pitch an army of yeast in the first place which would not require this initial aerobic reproduction cycle that O2 rich wort produces.

No reason you couldn't use your O2 deco gas, just put it through an aquarium stone. I'd even be prone to use Nitrox before I would resort to the shaky shake method.
 
I'm new to brewing, with my first batch now fermenting, and I'm still trying to sort through all the equipment that I need, and equipment thats not very necessary. I think from this initial experiment O2 injection falls in the later category. A 4% difference from the worst performer to the best performer can be considered 0 difference given the data is from one small sample size.

If you were going to redo the experiment I would use a minimum of 3 samples for each and take the average. This way you can rule out any outside interference. Of course the more samples the better, but realistically I think 3 is a good number.

Otherwise, great job and I wish I had the equipment because I would love to do the experiments myself.
 
I called a friend of mine who works in a clinic, "Hey man, I need an O2 tank... what will it cost me?

Him: What do you need it for?

Me: To brew stronger beers.

Him: You gonna give me some?

Me: Yeah, that'd be a small price to pay.

Him: When do you need it?

Me: I'm doing low grav bers for the next two batches. No hurry.

Him: I can get you one tonight? What do you need? The 50 lbs ones? The ones that are 4 feet tall?

Me: No no.. just one of the tiny ones filled with O2.

Him: Ok. Come over in an hour... I'll have one for you..

Me: I'm not in that much of a hurry.. can you have one for me, full, on monday?

Him: Of course. Stop by anytime...



Woohooo!!!!!!!! :ban:
 
Cheesefood said:
I have that one, Ed, and it's nice. The ability to move it around and aerate all sections - and stir while aerating - is a bonus.

Yep, it arrived on schedule. Pretty slick system. I picked up and O2 cylinder at Lowes on the way home and stepped up my Kolsch starter with it. The starter is humming along nicely.
 
joejoe1881 said:
I'm new to brewing, with my first batch now fermenting, and I'm still trying to sort through all the equipment that I need, and equipment thats not very necessary. I think from this initial experiment O2 injection falls in the later category. A 4% difference from the worst performer to the best performer can be considered 0 difference given the data is from one small sample size.

If you were going to redo the experiment I would use a minimum of 3 samples for each and take the average. This way you can rule out any outside interference. Of course the more samples the better, but realistically I think 3 is a good number.

Otherwise, great job and I wish I had the equipment because I would love to do the experiments myself.

My methods and results have been questioned enough (including many of my own self criticisms) in the "definitive aeration experiment" thread and I welcome anyone to put the effort into attempting to duplicate the test. I consider the experiment to be a small piece of the puzzle to help people make their own decisions. I might do a second test, but I'm not going to split a batch into 9 or 12 different samples unless people start sending me some jugs.
 
Bobby_M said:
My methods and results have been questioned enough (including many of my own self criticisms) in the "definitive aeration experiment" thread and I welcome anyone to put the effort into attempting to duplicate the test. I consider the experiment to be a small piece of the puzzle to help people make their own decisions. I might do a second test, but I'm not going to split a batch into 9 or 12 different samples unless people start sending me some jugs.

I think you did an outstanding job. Perhaps if you called it the 'really powerful' aeration experminent instead of the 'definitive' one, people would be a little less nit-picky. But I think most of that was meant to be constructive, regardless. Seriously, though, I think you nailed all the essential elements of the test, and were up-front with your limitations. That's a first rate scientific study in my mind!

I wanted to add this to emphasize the POSITIVE response to your excellent thread. For whatever reason, it is sometimes easier to be critical than to heap on praise, even when praise is deserved. So while I know you received some critical comments (including my own), far and away I think everyone was very impressed with the experiment you shared, it stimulated some interesting thought and discussion, and in the end, I think many of us really learned something that will be useful in the future. Thanks again!
 
EdWort said:
I'm stoked. My areator system from Williams Brewing arrives tomorrow. I went with theirs because of the stainless tube which gets the stone to the bottom of the fermentor. All the others use the stupid plastic hose which curls up and does not go where you want it.

Great stuff Bobby_M!

I have the curly one and cut the hose 2 inches from the stone and fitted an old racking cane to it so it now goes to the bottom and I can stir it as well.
 
I watched the aeration clip. It was well done Bobby. Very nice.:D

But I have a question, or at least an observation. Remember where you said that #1 was late for the party? Do you think it had anything at all to do with the fact that it was farther away from the light, which was also a heat source, than the other two? :confused:
 
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