Poll: How do people aerate their wort?

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How do you aerate your wort?

  • Shake it like a mother

  • ambient O2 infusion (fish tank pump)

  • pure O2 infusion

  • wine degasser and drill

  • other

  • I don't

Results are only viewable after voting.
jlatenight said:
The vacuum T idea seems pretty cool. You could put one of those little filters on it too if you're worried about contaminating your wort.

What kind of fitting is that, automotive?
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Yeah, just an automotive T fitting. You could put a filter on it but that would probably restrict the airflow and pulling in outside air is no different than the other methods mentioned here save for the pure O2 method.
 
chumpsteak said:
Vacuum T inline seems to work well for me.

IMG_20120218_141818.jpg
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I don't have the exact same setup but same air sucking venturi effect. Works great!
 
I use pure O2 with a stone. There's something peaceful about being able to sit down at the end of a brew session and swirl a tiny wand around instead of trying to vigorously shake 5 heavy gallons of wort.
 
How come blowing bubble through the siphon tube isn't an option? Is that a bad idea? ;)
 
I ferment directly in the kettle. After chilling I simply stir, not overly aggressively, with a spoon for about a minute. Then I repeat about 12 hours later. I also use starters which were on a stir plate for 36-48 hours ahead of time, and chilled at the start of the brew day to decant a bit before pitching.
 
o2 and ss stone. i have noticed marked improvement in my fermentation and yeast health (post ferment) since moving to this method. my wife hates having welding gases in the house, because she's scared to death of exploding. i'm near flammable gasses most of the day, so it doesn't bother me. i determined my flow in liters per minute to set my reg with a stopwatch and an inverted 2 liter bottle full of water in my sink, also full of water. gas displacement, per aj delange- now i am confident i hit my ppms.
 
CCericola said:
How come blowing bubble through the siphon tube isn't an option? Is that a bad idea? ;)
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1. It's not sanitary
2. You want to oxygenate the wort, not carbon dioxideate (word?) it.
 
I pour vigorously from the kettle to the fermenter, then use a sanitized slotted spoon to stir the crap out of it. I end up with a nice foamy head on the top, enough so that I usually have to carve it away so I can drop the yeast into the wort and not on top of foam. I've only made two brews though so I'm no expert, just doing it the cheap way.
 
I use a plastic tip aerator by Fermentap that is gravity driven. It attaches to the end of your tubing from the kettle to the fermenator. It fans out the wort about 4-6 inches almost like one of those water fountains that fans out the water like a bubble. Very effective and very cheap....the added bonus is that it's being done as I drain the wort from the kettle. When it's done...I'm ready to pitch the yeast. Like another poster said - it foams up the wort in the fermentor pretty good.
 
"Other" I use one of those standard-issue white funnels with the screen in it. I run the beer through a racking hose and into the mesh and by the time I've moved transferred the beer there's a frothy head of about five or six inches, typically.
 
Oxygen for big boys (1.070 plus). 5 minute shaking for smaller beers. Not at all for dry yeast.
 
Pilgarlic said:
Oxygen for big boys (1.070 plus). 5 minute shaking for smaller beers. Not at all for dry yeast.
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Any reason for skipping on the dry yeast? I know the mfgr of Notty says aeration is unnecessary, but I believe Fermentis still recommends aerating the wort.

I ask because this is a step I would love to skip if I can, and I use dry yeast exclusively.
 
Franc103 said:
Any reason for skipping on the dry yeast? I know the mfgr of Notty says aeration is unnecessary, but I believe Fermentis still recommends aerating the wort.

I ask because this is a step I would love to skip if I can, and I use dry yeast exclusively.
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I don't do it and haven't suffered for it, with both Danstar and Fermentis. I'd probably give a big wort a shot, just in an abundance of caution.

From the Fermentis site's HB FAQ's:

8/ Does the wort need Oxygenation / aeration?
As the yeast is grown aerobically, the yeast is less sensitive on first pitch. Aeration is recommended to ensure full mixing of the wort and yeast.

So it's not aeration for oxygen's sake they're recommending, it's to ensure mixing.
 
Long and Hard.

Actually I use a double colander to separate and recombine the wort, its wonderful
 
Dan said:
I don't have the exact same setup but same air sucking venturi effect. Works great!
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+1 on the Venturi tube. I made mine out of a piece of racking cane. Poked a single hole in it with a hot paper clip.

I still shake the carboy a bit, just for good measure.
 
I drop it through a strainer, pitch my yeast and then shake the piss out of it.

Any reason I should pitch the yeast after I shake it vs. pitch and then shake? It is a pain if the arse getting those lids on and off the ale pails.
 
I use an immersion blender with a whisk attachment and whisk the bejeezus out of it.

Unconventional but works great.
 
Weizenheimer said:
I drop it through a strainer, pitch my yeast and then shake the piss out of it.

Any reason I should pitch the yeast after I shake it vs. pitch and then shake? It is a pain if the arse getting those lids on and off the ale pails.
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By thoroughly mixing the yeast in the wort, you run the risk of premature settling or yeast getting caught in the early trub formation. Though the effect is probably negligible.
 
Bobby_M said:
I'm just curious why people think that a head of foam on top of wort is an indication of dissolved oxygen.
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If you are referring to the wisking method I use, it really is about maximizing the amount of ambient air mixed in the liquid.

So called "micro- bubbles" are taken up as quickly or quicker by yeast cells and immediately metabolized. Whether I'm achieving this or not is subjective but I can tell you it makes a big difference in my fermentations vs shakin the carboy.
 
Brewskii said:
If you are referring to the wisking method I use, it really is about maximizing the amount of ambient air mixed in the liquid.

So called "micro- bubbles" are taken up as quickly or quicker by yeast cells and immediately metabolized. Whether I'm achieving this or not is subjective but I can tell you it makes a big difference in my fermentations vs shakin the carboy.
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But you don't have to take my word
For it...
http://www.esau-hueber.de/dl/Englisch/Flyer/BGT/Flexi_Prop_Flyer.pdf
 
Previously i mixed the wort with a spoon/whisk which worked well. I just picked up the aeration kit from Austin Homebrew, So this weekend i'm doing my aeration with 02.
I've heard good things, so i cant wait... figures this brew wont be ready until September.
 
I use one chest high dump from BK to Bucket lots of foam then pitch yeast and cover it works everytime and never had a stuck fermentation.
 
Euphist said:
Kettle on the stove...fermenter on the floor...open the spigot and let it fall! :D
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Pretty much the same here. I brew outside and just open the spigot on the BK where it pours into a funnel with mesh colander inside it. It splashes around when it hits the funnel/colander and splashes some more it falls to the bottom of the carboy. Also I usually use dry yeast so don't really need a lot of O2.
 
Bobby_M said:
I'm just curious why people think that a head of foam on top of wort is an indication of dissolved oxygen.
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I'm just curious as to why you don't enlighten us instead of being smug about it.

I perceive the six inches of foam on top of my carboy following a pass through my funnel strainer as a good indicator that the wort was very well "splashed around" on the way in. I tend to liken it to the aerator on my kitchen sink which introduces air to the water while running it through a screen that is remarkably similar to the strainer on my funnel.
 
Shake like a madman for 5 minutes. Works fine, if anything, I will investigate the drill based stirs before any O2 pumps/stone. TBN stated the, "possibility of reducing head when overfrothing," but I'd rather test that myself. Honestly if it's not much difference, 1 minute versus 20 ... No comparison there, I'll go with the shorter time.
 
psymonkey said:
I'm just curious as to why you don't enlighten us instead of being smug about it.

I perceive the six inches of foam on top of my carboy following a pass through my funnel strainer as a good indicator that the wort was very well "splashed around" on the way in. I tend to liken it to the aerator on my kitchen sink which introduces air to the water while running it through a screen that is remarkably similar to the strainer on my funnel.
Click to expand...

i use pure o2- i gto a general feel for how much volume per minute my reg is putting out using gas displacement in a bottle filled with liquid held in a vacuum upside down in sink full of water- so i am saying from what i learned from this little science project (many thanks to ajdelange- getting me the hands on info over the hum of the equations) that i can very quickly produce a HUGE "head" of foam in my fermenter just by blasting my reg, or by not even using a stone at all. BUT this, in itself, doesn't mean my ppms of o2 for the solution are where i want them to be. If i run at the right rate, for the right amount of time, the foam on the top of the wort is not all that buxom. So i guess the moral is, the appearance of the top of your wort does not necessarily indicate the quantity of o2 in it.
 
spearko520 said:
i use pure o2- i gto a general feel for how much volume per minute my reg is putting out using gas displacement in a bottle filled with liquid held in a vacuum upside down in sink full of water- so i am saying from what i learned from this little science project (many thanks to ajdelange- getting me the hands on info over the hum of the equations) that i can very quickly produce a HUGE "head" of foam in my fermenter just by blasting my reg, or by not even using a stone at all. BUT this, in itself, doesn't mean my ppms of o2 for the solution are where i want them to be. If i run at the right rate, for the right amount of time, the foam on the top of the wort is not all that buxom. So i guess the moral is, the appearance of the top of your wort does not necessarily indicate the quantity of o2 in it.
Click to expand...

See, now I am enlightened and if you were a vendor, I would consider shopping at your place of business.
 

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