oxygenation set-up

I put this together with some ideas from many places. I wanted precise control over oxygen flow, compared to the normal disposable tank kit. Still have to add a pressure gauge on the outlet of the O2 regulator. Excited to use it this weekend!

.5 micron stone from Northern Brewer




20 CF tank and 0-15 Lpm regulator from ebay


Sight glass and wort outlet temp gauge, all fittings from mcmaster

very niiiiice. And yes, I'm still using the Borat accent. Sheesh.

The sight glass is cut from a spare piece you sent me with the kits I ordered last year.

Is the hose just pushed through the fitting or is it sealed some other way?

The fitting was necked down on the inside. I drilled it out just to fit the hose all the way through and to make it difficult to install the stone. It's a very very snug fit even without screwing on the compression fitting nut.

How do you determine the flow rate for the O2?

There's a knob on the left side of the regulator that lets you choose 0, .12, .5, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15 Lpm. I've read that some breweries use 3.5 Lpm over 30 min @ 70F for an average OG 20 bbl batch which according to my math gives .12 Lpm over ~18 minutes during transfer for a 12 gallon batch. That may be over simplifying it but it sounds like a good starting point.

dstar26t said:

There's a knob on the left side of the regulator that lets you choose 0, .12, .5, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15 Lpm. I've read that some breweries use 3.5 Lpm over 30 min @ 70F for an average OG 20 bbl batch which according to my math gives .12 Lpm over ~18 minutes during transfer for a 12 gallon batch. That may be over simplifying it but it sounds like a good starting point.

Click to expand...

Makes sense to me! (I impressed myself that I could do the math!)

What was the apprx cost of that rig, if you don't mind me asking?

The CFC already had the gauge on it with one tee and a barbed fitting. The rest of the stainless parts and the blue tubing were $58 + shipping. I re-used the clear polycarbonate from an old sight glass. The tank was $66 from ebay plus $13 to fill and the regulator was $30 from ebay. Lastly, the stone was $14 from Northern Brewer plus shipping.

That is awesome...

Nice job. It looks like you went with the silicone tubing. Did you secure it to the barb or just slip it over?

The tubing is part number 51135K211 from mcmaster. I just slipped it on, it's a snug fit. I took a video of a test with water before I brewed with it on sunday. My buddy who doesn't use a pump wanted to see if it worked with gravity, it does. In the vid, you can see the extra pressure gauge I tee'd in the line. It held at 4.5 psi @ .12 Lpm during gravity flow (0-15 psi gauge). When I used it on brew day, things didn't go quite as planned. The hose water was too warm for the cfc so I couldn't get good wort flow going, especially trying to fill 2 carboys at once. I had the wort pump valve barely cracked open. The bubbles wanted to go through one leg of the wye and not split between both which would kill the flow to the other. I had to pump to one carboy at a time and it was still slow when trying to keep the output @ 70. I have since picked up a heater core to use as a pre-chiller for next time.

I decided against trying to fill 2 containers at the same time. I felt it would be more hassle balancing the flow than it was worth. Besides I sit right beside the buckets so the hose transfer is too easy. Good luck with it, and post your method if successful.