one gallon aeration.

Just bottled my first batch today and plan on brewing my second tomorrow. My question is how long should i run a fish tank pump in my one gallon fermentation jug? Ive got a stainless steel diffuser and a .5 micron filter. Ive read that 15-20 minutes is enough but didnt know if the time was different for a one gallon batch.

I wouldn't even bother using the aquarium pump. Sanitize a small piece of plastic wrap, cover up the hole and shake that SOB for a minute or two. Works perfectly for me.

With normal air it is nearly to totally impossible to over aerate. For my 1.5 gal batches I aerate for 10-15 minutes while I am cleaning up. My 3-5 gal batches I clean up and eat so maybe 30 minutes.

IffyG said:

I wouldn't even bother using the aquarium pump. Sanitize a small piece of plastic wrap, cover up the hole and shake that SOB for a minute or two. Works perfectly for me.

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I agree with this, as long as you're not brewing high gravity beers. Cap it, shake it, call it a day.

While yes, it's probably impossible to over aerate with a stone, I would worry that the longer you pump air into your wort, the more chance you have of pumping something bad in and getting a secondary infection. The risks (and the hassle) far outweigh the benefits.

to aerate one gallon of wort, simply shake the snot out of the carboy before you put the yeast in.

any more than that is a waste of effort.

i brew exclusively one gallon batches, in carboys, and what i do is pour about half the wort into the carboy, and shake the stuffing out of it for a couple minutes, then pour the rest in and repeat.

then i pitch the yeast, and give it a couple gentle shakes to get mixed properly, put in the blow-off, and wait about 4 - 5 hours for the fun to start.