Aerate the Wort and other question

I am real new to brewing and have a few questions.

The first is the aeration of the wort. I have been reading different methods. It seems like the most common is to splash it around the fermenter. I have read about using a better method, aquarium pump and stone to do this. Anyone use that method and suggestions?

Second question, what is the major differences in using priming solution and Carbonation Drops or other tablets you add to the bottle itself? Does one improve the quality over the other? I see that the drops are more expensive.

Thank you!
Tom

There are a lot of ways to get oxygen into the wort. Shaking the fermenter for 30-60 seconds will actually give you as much oxygen as an aquarium pump does for 10 minutes or more. There is a maximum amount of disolved O2 your wort can have depending on the temp and atmospheric pressure of O2... So you can get more using pure oxygen, but shaking works well for most people.

You get better consistancy if you prime the whole batch. The carbonation drops are just pre-measured priming sugar, though some people report they leave white floaties. I always prime the whole batch in the bottling bucket when I bottle. I put the priming solution in first and then when siphoning from the carboy I make sure it swirls to mix the sugar in.

conpewter said:

You get better consistancy if you prime the whole batch. The carbonation drops are just pre-measured priming sugar, though some people report they leave white floaties. I always prime the whole batch in the bottling bucket when I bottle. I put the priming solution in first and then when siphoning from the carboy I make sure it swirls to mix the sugar in.

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The muntons carb tabs are the ones that leave floaties, since I believe they are made with DME, sugar, and maybe something else. The coopers carb drops are the cough drop looking things and are just straight sugar, they don't leave any floaties.

I've used the carb drops successfully before, they just always seem to take a lot longer to carb up properly for some reason.