Oxygen system

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J

jagg

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OK, will some of you brewers that inject pure o2 into the wort give me some pointers, what I really need to know is do I need a regulator for my 02 tank or just crack the valve slightly, what type hookup if I dont need the regulator, if it matters Ill be using the huge industrial type 02 tank, and Ill have to get a stone, are they all the same size or what, thanks for any input for a new brewer.
 
Stones just diffuse the o2 into more bubble giving them more surface area enabling more to soak into the wort.

I say just give it a crack and run it through a stone for 1-2min.
 
You can buy just the regulator for the little red bottles from Williams Brewing for ~$20. You do want to get a stone, if you're just turning the valve on, the bubbles will be too big to get absorbed into the beer with any efficiency at all.
 
billyg said:
What do you use for a regulator? Some of them are 50 bucks! Is there a cheaper solution?
Click to expand...

Not a reliable solution...

I have the williams brewing O2 kit and love it. regulator works well, and it comes with the airline and a 22" stainless wand with airstone on the end (so it won't float like it would if there was just an airstone on airline).

That whole setup is $50 plus $8 locally for an O2 tank. That reg. does not hookup to a 'welding' type oxygen cylinder.
 
malkore said:
(so it won't float like it would if there was just an airstone on airline).
Click to expand...

Appologies to the OP for taking over for a minute, but is that a big issue if it floats? My O2 system has an airline but I haven't noticed that this is a negative. What are yours or others experiences?
 
My airstone doesn't float. I use an aquarium airstone on the end of aquarium line and just drop it into the wort and swish it around. The stone stays submerged.
 
I used mine for the first time today making a starter. I got the WB kit with the wand and regulator. I can see I'm gonna love this thing in the future.
 
Kilted Brewer said:
Appologies to the OP for taking over for a minute, but is that a big issue if it floats? My O2 system has an airline but I haven't noticed that this is a negative. What are yours or others experiences?
Click to expand...

I have read some complaints about airstones floating. I'm sure it varies by brand, and even wort gravity.

if it doesn't sink you get a lot less contact time between the bubbles and the wort, and contact time is what helps gas dissolve into a solution.

as long as you can get the airstone to the bottom, you're optimizing oxygen absorption potential.
one could easily buy an aluminum rod at Home Depot, and use cable ties to secure the airstone and airline to it if you had a floating problem.

I just like the all-in-one 22" wand + stainless airstone.
 
Just remember that adding to much O2 can rewin your beer really you only want to add around 10 PPM to the wort and too much can kill you I have found that just splashing around the wort in your fermentor as a home brewer you already have a huge problem with O2 uptake so as little O2 as possible is good, try to arate your starter way more than you have to so when you pitch that its good to go this is on such a small scale that we really dont need to worry as much as some people are here, the best thing that wort aration does is speeds up the lag time of a fresh yeast (generation one) but a second gen yeast will have a good start and would be ready to pitch with low O2
Also for further confusion Grady Hull assistant brewer at new belgium did a lot of tests with olive oil in place of O2 just a thought
Z
 
A 60 second shot of CO2 through an O2 stone will give you 8 to 15 PPM in 5 gallons of beer if the O2 pressure is at 5 psi on a regulator. I just use the 1/4 in. tubing and a barbed airstone that I handle with rubber gloves as oils from your hands can plug some of the exterior of the airstone.
 
WBC said:
A 60 second shot of CO2 through an O2 stone will give you 8 to 15 PPM in 5 gallons of beer if the O2 pressure is at 5 psi on a regulator. I just use the 1/4 in. tubing and a barbed airstone that I handle with rubber gloves as oils from your hands can plug some of the exterior of the airstone.
Click to expand...

+1 with WBC. Although the rubber glove is a good idea. I just use plastic bags...:drunk:
 
MR. Zak said:
Just remember that adding to much O2 can rewin your beer really you only want to add around 10 PPM to the wort and too much can kill you I have found that just splashing around the wort in your fermentor as a home brewer you already have a huge problem with O2 uptake so as little O2 as possible is good, try to arate your starter way more than you have to so when you pitch that its good to go this is on such a small scale that we really dont need to worry as much as some people are here, the best thing that wort aration does is speeds up the lag time of a fresh yeast (generation one) but a second gen yeast will have a good start and would be ready to pitch with low O2
Also for further confusion Grady Hull assistant brewer at new belgium did a lot of tests with olive oil in place of O2 just a thought
Z
Click to expand...

, . , , , , . . . ? ? ! ... , . ; ; ;

I just noticed you could use some punctuation marks. I happen to have some spares lying around.

I think I have a spare keyboard around here with some extra Cap Keys as well...

I'll send em your way... :D
 
MR. Zak said:
Just remember that adding to much O2 can rewin your beer really you only want to add around 10 PPM to the wort and too much can kill you I have found that just splashing around the wort in your fermentor as a home brewer you already have a huge problem with O2 uptake so as little O2 as possible is good, try to arate your starter way more than you have to so when you pitch that its good to go this is on such a small scale that we really dont need to worry as much as some people are here, the best thing that wort aration does is speeds up the lag time of a fresh yeast (generation one) but a second gen yeast will have a good start and would be ready to pitch with low O2
Also for further confusion Grady Hull assistant brewer at new belgium did a lot of tests with olive oil in place of O2 just a thought
Z
Click to expand...

Mr. Zak you are ruining the internet with your laziness and apathy.

We have had the O2 discussion on this board several times and to much O2 in the wort can't kill you. In short the yeast use only the O2 they need and the rest is forced out of suspension during the fermentation process. While it is "technically" possible to over oxygenate your wort and cause off flavors, it is Highly Highly Highly unlikely any homebrewer is going to do it with an O2 tank and a stone.
 
Anyhoo, I just picked up a Bernzomatic O2 bottle from Home Depot, and it warns that the canister and the by products of the combustion of its contents are known to cause cancer (Prop 65 warning).

Is there a different bottle I should be looking for?
 
BierMuncher said:
, . , , , , . . . ? ? ! ... , . ; ; ;

I just noticed you could use some punctuation marks. I happen to have some spares lying around.

I think I have a spare keyboard around here with some extra Cap Keys as well...

I'll send em your way... :D
Click to expand...

:off:
+1 Yeah! :D Seriously, apart from a few hilarous acronyms, we're into that old-fashioned grammer stuff around here. Not to be an EAC or anything;)
 
Always thought the O2 thing was a bit of overkill.

For years, from what I'm told, homebrewers used unfiltered air delivered through standard aquarium pumps to aerate wort with little or no contamination.

I run airpump air through a filter that, while not sub-micron, is near the 1-2 micron range. Just looking to filter the chunk rock out of the air. Wort is aerated for about 30 minutes, a 2L starter for about 15. No airstone, just a length of 3/8" dia rigid pipe. Inexpensive, and very, very effective.

Seems that using O2 gets to quickly to the point of diminishing returns. You may get a scintilla more oxygenation, however the difference may not be worth the price of the system and replenishing the O2.

Just my $0.02. Cheers.
 
Just pour a shot of hydrogen peroxide in there. Pure oxygen. :) j/k While it does produce pure oxygen, it is also used as a great alternative to bleach because it is a very good oxidizer.
 
Fenster said:
Anyhoo, I just picked up a Bernzomatic O2 bottle from Home Depot, and it warns that the canister and the by products of the combustion of its contents are known to cause cancer (Prop 65 warning).

Is there a different bottle I should be looking for?
Click to expand...
Nope. Thats the one. Just your standard California warning label.
 
This is clearly going to be debated for the next 300 years. There are plenty of "good enoughs" in homebrewing. I decided a while back that anything worth doing is worth doing better than good enough. A 60 second shot of O2 is barely on my radar in a long brew day while running a pump, shaking, and/or anything that takes me more than a few minutes is not going to work for this EAC.
 
I'm with Bobby in the sense that I want to be able to save time wherever I can. From the time I turn off the burner to the time I've pitched the yeast is maybe a half-hour, at most. I mean, I suppose I *should* whirlpool and get some of the cold break out, but I'll be damned if I can pick up any issues from doing so. The O2 lets me very quickly go from chilled wort, to aerated wort, to pitched wort, to wort that's sealed and secured. Better than spending an extra ten minutes shaking, or running an aquarium pump for a half hour. By the time the burner's off, I usually just want to get cleaned up and get stuff put away ASAP.
 
Fenster said:
Anyhoo, I just picked up a Bernzomatic O2 bottle from Home Depot, and it warns that the canister and the by products of the combustion of its contents are known to cause cancer (Prop 65 warning).

Is there a different bottle I should be looking for?
Click to expand...

I was going to pick up a bottle of O2 today to put together an oxygenation system, but the only regulators they had were threaded (the type I use for my turkey fryer), do these regulators work on the O2 bottles?
 
WBC said:
A 60 second shot of CO2 through an O2 stone will give you 8 to 15 PPM in 5 gallons of beer if the O2 pressure is at 5 psi on a regulator. I just use the 1/4 in. tubing and a barbed airstone that I handle with rubber gloves as oils from your hands can plug some of the exterior of the airstone.
Click to expand...


CO2??? Is that a typo?
 
I think he just meant air stone, but it shouldn't matter what type as long as the pore size is small. These type of air stones only need to be made specifically for a certain gas if they are going to be used constantly (say as CO2 injection in a fish tank). Short bursts won't do anything.

HTH
 

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