Aeration

Just a quick question now my brew is bubbling away in primary.

I know you should avoid splashing around the brew when transferring to bottles, but what about when transferring from primary to secondary? Is it good to aerate at this stage or should care be taken not to splash at this point too?

Cheers

you do not want to aerate after pitching, put the siphon hose all the way at the bottom of the secondary to avoid aerating.

ColoradoXJ13 said:

you do not want to aerate after pitching, put the siphon hose all the way at the bottom of the secondary to avoid aerating.

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You do have it right that you don't want to aerate when transfering to secondary, and that you should put your hose/racking cane all the way to the bottom of the carboy.

However, just so we don't confuse anything, you do want to aerate after pitching the yeast, it is very important for the yeast so that it can do its thing.

Beerhead said:

However, just so we don't confuse anything, you do want to aerate after pitching the yeast, it is very important for the yeast so that it can do its thing.

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In order to avoid further confusion, the only aeration AFTER pitching should be done IMMEDIATELY after pitching. Once fermentation has begun, NO MORE AERATING! (mostly...there are a couple of cases to the contrary...do your reading)

I prefer to aerate my wort just prior to introducing the yeast. That, however, is a matter of preference and opinion.

The reason you aerate the wort when pitching is because boiled water (or wort) has had all the oxygen driven off. Taste cooled, boiled water sometime and you will notice it has a flat taste. No air in there...

Yeast like some oxygen in order to go into a rapid phase of division before they start to munch on your sugars. After fermentation has begun, oxygen is bad because it causes oxydation of the goodies like esters, oils and things you want.

Don't get too paranoid about aeration though. Just transfer quietly without too much sloshing and everything will be fine.

Thanks chaps