O2 containers

My local TSC has oxygen canisters for welding on sale this week. Does anyone know if it would be ok to aerate with? The guy I brew with says he thinks it is not a food-grade oxygen. Are there really different grades of oxygen canisters?

I sure wouldn't.

as long as it's just O2 and not a welding gas mix then yes it will work... O2 is O2...

I (and others) use the O2 canisters you can get at a hardware store for oxygenation. If it's pure enough for welding, it's pure enough for beer. I think medical grade oxygen doesn't even have to be as pure.

I use the little red bottles from the welding section of The Depot. As mentioned, welders have pretty exacting standards with regards to their materials.

Do some research before you use it though. I am sure people on here that use pure oxygen would be happy to help. The reason I am mentioning this is because I believe you can over-oxygenate with pure oxygen pretty quickly. I think you are only looking at about 30 seconds of O2 and no more. But don't take my advice, I don't use pure oxygen; I am going off of memory.

I personally use between 1-2 minutes of pure O2 on a stainless stone at a very slow delivery rate.

cubbies said:

Do some research before you use it though. I am sure people on here that use pure oxygen would be happy to help. The reason I am mentioning this is because I believe you can over-oxygenate with pure oxygen pretty quickly. I think you are only looking at about 30 seconds of O2 and no more. But don't take my advice, I don't use pure oxygen; I am going off of memory.

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60-90 seconds. There's a school of thought that says you don't need much O2 if you pitch a properly-sized starter (since O2 is used in the yeasts' reproductive phase), but it's rare that a homebrewer pitches the "optimal" amount of yeast.

OK, thanks for the advice guys. I'll check into it a little more before I pick one up I think. Maybe take a look at the canister and see if it gives anything less than 100% O2.

Buford said:

I (and others) use the O2 canisters you can get at a hardware store for oxygenation. If it's pure enough for welding, it's pure enough for beer. I think medical grade oxygen doesn't even have to be as pure.

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but you apparently need a prescription to get a medical grade O2 tank re-filled.

People say you can oxygenate 20 batches from one little red 'home depot' welding bottle...a mere 1.6ounces of liquid O2.

For $8, I'll take that vs having to find a place that'll refill a larger O2 tank every 5 years, and having ot pay the recertification on the pressure test.

Don't forget, you will need a regulator for this setup as well. A HEPA filter in line before a stainless oxygen stone will keep any nasties upstream out of your unfermented wort. Unless you're welding or otherwise using the tank for double duty, I would not think it would be at all cost effective as compared to the brew specific setups that use the little red BernzOmatic disposable tanks.

raceskier said:

Don't forget, you will need a regulator for this setup as well. A HEPA filter in line before a stainless oxygen stone will keep any nasties upstream out of your unfermented wort. Unless you're welding or otherwise using the tank for double duty, I would not think it would be at all cost effective as compared to the brew specific setups that use the little red BernzOmatic disposable tanks.

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Yeah, it was my intent to save some money by buying it onsale at TSC, but it doesn't sound like that would happen. You did bring up something else I was going to ask about with the inline HEPA filters. Do you need to use one even on the small red tanks from the DEPOT.

I already have the stainless steel oxygen stone, but the aquarium pump I tried on it wasn't strong enough, so it sounds like I just need to go to the red tanks.

I use a Bernzomatic (Red) O2 tank from the Depot/Lowes with no worries or issues.

I don't see a need to run a HEPA on a benzomatic type O2 system. sanitize the SS airstone, and just 'purge' the air line with a quick blast before running it into your wort.
if you were real worried, I'd just rig a filter with some cotton balls. no need to get real fancy.

Do you know if you can get the regulator for the Bernzomatic tanks at HD/Lowes as well?

I don't know if the HEPA filter is absolutely required or not. The kit I bought included one: http://www.breworganic.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=462

I guess I'm just quite paranoid about keeping as many wild things as possible out of the unfermented wort before the yeast has a chance to get a foothold. The filters are not expensive at all: http://morebeer.com/view_product/16797/102363

There are also other uses for them: http://morebeer.com/view_product/18872/102286

I never did find the regulator elsewhere, but I understand that the paintball places may have something.

I think you can buy the reg separately from Williams Brewing; around $20, IIRC.

I got my regulator from Williams. i got the $49 version that has the 22" stainless steel wand, with a SS airstone on the end. early christmas present.

I got my regulator from Williams as well.

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/OXYGEN_REGULATOR_P700.cfm

A good friend of mine works in the medical oxygen industry and he told me the big deal with medical oxygen is that it needs to be completely free of....... not contaminants but water! There are always trace amounts of contaminates in bottled gas. In fact there is usually higher levels of those contaminates in the air you're breathing right now. The water is scary in medical applications because it can condense in the regulator and even freeze, blocking the flow and killing that 80 year old emphazema (sp?) patient. Gas from welding supply places is just fine!

The real practical difference is I think medical tanks must be evacuated before filling (due to the water issue, I'm assuming), and welding tanks do not need to be. All O2 tanks contain USP oxygen, although there are several grades of purity. All grades are at least 99.0% pure, however.