When is it too late to oxygenate?

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Mike_A

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Got my hands on a William's oxygenation kit with wand a little while back, and last weekend I brewed a belgian strong dark which the OG came out to 1.101. I oxygenated the 5gal batch with pure oxygen for 75 seconds, swirling the wand around in the bucket, then decanted & pitched my 2L starter of WLP500. This was all about 36 hours ago. There were notable signs of fermentation at approximately 8 hours after pitching and it's going very strong now.

Now, I'm wondering if a) it will be beneficial to oxygenate again and b) if it is now too late and would contribute significant off-flavors to the brew. If it IS too late, when is the cutoff?
 
The longest I go is 12 hours or so with lagers... I can say that I have never made a beer that big though so I'm not sure.
 
For a really BIG beer, I've oxygenated 24hrs after pitching. But, I wouldn't go much past that.

24 is too far into fermentation actually.

The recommendation really is no more than within the first 12 hours, and that's ONLY for big beers.

Here's the info from an older post of mine;

It caused quite a stir when it first came out a couple years back at a conference Chris White of Whitelabs presented that info about adding 02 within 12 hours of a big beer. IIRC there was some pretty heated arguments on here. But yes it is recommend for big beers that you give it a second period of aeration within the first 12 hours after yeast pitch. Before enough fermentation has happened to have to worry about oxydation. !2 hours and for beers above 1.080 I think.

edit I found some of the initial info from way back then. It was Chris White of Whitelabs not the guy from Wyyeast

I just heard it last week on Basic Brewing radio...It was in the NHC follow up. Shocked the crap out of me when I heard it...

It was during the I-view with Chris White from White Labs.

Considering he makes the yeasts, methinks he'd know. :D

July 3, 2008 - NHC Wrapup Pt. 1
Steve joins James as they begin their collection of interviews gathered from experts at the National Homebrewers Conference in Cincinnati. This week: Dave Wills, Michael Ferguson and Chris White.
http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr07-03-08nhcwrapup01.mp3

It's about 3/4's of the way into the I-view...

Considering he says that we need 10-12 PPM's of oxygen for good fermentation and vigorous shaking is only good for 2 ppm's, hitting a stuck fermentation @ under 10-12 hours with a minute of O2 may be may be just the thing. Especially for really big beers.

It was a good discussion here;

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/adding-oxygen-during-fermentation-71456/

I'm all for a post yeast pitch blast of O2....but BEFORE it begins to turn into real beer......within the first 12 hours...but with already a 20 point drop in gravity, I still maintain that you don't want too much o2 exposure now...

Flyguy gives a good elaboration on it...

This is an accepted practice, but specific to high gravity beers and only before active fermentation begins (typically within the first 12 to 18 hours). When the yeast are still in their lag/growth phase, they need a lot of oxygen, and it is hard to get enough into solution in a high gravity brew, even with an oxygenation setup. But if you add it in two 'doses' you can get a lot more into solution. Since the yeast are are actively metabolizing O2 in the lag and growth phase, all of that O2 will get scavenged quickly, provided you do it before they hit active fermentation. If timed correctly, there is little worry of oxidation.
 
Hahaha... Thanks for the feedback Revvy. Going to not oxygenate again, still have high hopes that I'll get a quick & complete fermentation.

Smartasses abound on the intarwebz... It's sure as hell easier to pay $1.50 for 12oz of a chimay blue clone than $6. Plus I'm really curious to see how close I get.
 
Right again Revvy. I checked my notes from the BYO 15th anniversary that I brewed and it did call for the second aeration at 8-12 hours after fermentation started. Only brew that I've done that with and I guess my memory is as long as my.......
 
I've heard someone on a pro brewers panel say you can get away with more oxygen until you reach about 50% apparent attenuation. I guess for you that would be over 1.070 or so. However, if it's going strong, I'd leave it alone.
 
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