Is it crazy to add more air (via sterile aqaurium pump) one day into ferment?

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Ted123

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Hello all,

I am a bit worried that I may not have aerated my wort enough prior to the pitching of the yeast. I used my new "Mix-Stir" for only about 5 min, moving up and down thru the carboy, and it did not seem to kick up much foam, even when I came up into the airspace above the wort and brought it back down (maybe I don't have the "wings" on it set up correctly? Am I using this thing right?)
It is a +80 OG beer, a strong DIPA, made with a 2-vial/2-liter WPOO1 starter . . . . . . it is thus a big beer, and I really want to be sure it has enough air.
Thus, is it absurd to think of setting up my (old) aquarium pump system, with sterile filter, into the beer . . . it being 1 day since the pitch and at pretty vigorous kraesen?

Thanks--ted
 
one day in? The yeast will be very active at that point, and will quickly take up any O2. Whether it will be helpful may be debatable, but I really don't think it's going to hurt anything
 
It caused quite a stir when it first came out a couple years back at a conference Chris White of Whitelabs presented that info about adding 02 within 12 hours of a big beer. IIRC there was some pretty heated arguments on here. But yes it is recommend for big beers that you give it a second period of aeration within the first 12 hours after yeast pitch. Before enough fermentation has happened to have to worry about oxydation. !2 hours and for beers above 1.080 I think.

edit I found some of the initial info from way back then. It was Chris White of Whitelabs not the guy from Wyyeast

I just heard it last week on Basic Brewing radio...It was in the NHC follow up. Shocked the crap out of me when I heard it...

It was during the I-view with Chris White from White Labs.

Considering he makes the yeasts, methinks he'd know. :D

July 3, 2008 - NHC Wrapup Pt. 1
Steve joins James as they begin their collection of interviews gathered from experts at the National Homebrewers Conference in Cincinnati. This week: Dave Wills, Michael Ferguson and Chris White.
http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr07-03-08nhcwrapup01.mp3

It's about 3/4's of the way into the I-view...

Considering he says that we need 10-12 PPM's of oxygen for good fermentation and vigorous shaking is only good for 2 ppm's, hitting a stuck fermentation @ under 10-12 hours with a minute of O2 may be may be just the thing. Especially for really big beers.

New info comes out all the time...Even John Palmer has gone back on what he wrote about IBU's after going to a confrence on hops....And a lot of the stuff we come to believe as 'conventional wisdom' is wrong anyway, yet we perpetuate it...

It was a good discussion here;

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/adding-oxygen-during-fermentation-71456/

I'm all for a post yeast pitch blast of O2....but BEFORE it begins to turn into real beer......within the first 12 hours...but with already a 20 point drop in gravity, I still maintain that you don't want too much o2 exposure now...

Flyguy gives a good elaboration on it...

This is an accepted practice, but specific to high gravity beers and only before active fermentation begins (typically within the first 12 to 18 hours). When the yeast are still in their lag/growth phase, they need a lot of oxygen, and it is hard to get enough into solution in a high gravity brew, even with an oxygenation setup. But if you add it in two 'doses' you can get a lot more into solution. Since the yeast are are actively metabolizing O2 in the lag and growth phase, all of that O2 will get scavenged quickly, provided you do it before they hit active fermentation. If timed correctly, there is little worry of oxidation.
 
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