Aeration v Shaking your carboy - is it worth it?

[Big_Belgian]

I've done 4 extract brews and love my new hobby. I'm lucky to live in Milwaukee where we have an excellent resource with the Northern Brewer retail store about 10 minutes away from my house. I enjoy the bigger gravity beers and am thinking about doing some lagers, and one topic that has interested me lately is aeration. Currently, I use the "shake the bejeesus out of it" method (cooled wort in carboy, before pitching), which is what all my friends do. One very experienced homebrewer I know, who makes excellent all grain brews, says he has an aerator but never uses it anymore - got tired of having one more thing to clean, always running to the hardware store for more oxygen tanks, etc.

So my question - how many of you use these things and do you recommend it for someone like me, just starting out?

This is what I would buy: http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/marketing-categories/landing2/aeration-system.html

Thanks!!

(edit: I realize what I am talking about above is oxegenation, not technically "aeration". I'm interested in opinions and suggestions on the topic generally - shaking, aerating, pumping oxegen and other gadgets.)

thanks again

 

[weirdboy]

I have a friend who had a few batches in a row end up with high FG, which he blamed on aeration. Since that time he kinda goes nuts with aeration. He racks from the BK into the primary using a funnel/screen setup, and then he pipes in oxygen with a stone. When I asked him how much oxygen he uses, he said he got 2 bottles at the time, but has been on the same (first) tank of oxygen for a long, long time. I'm not sure exactly how many batches he's done with it, but it's a pretty big number, so I am not sure why your friend would always be having to run to the store to get more oxygen.

 

[erock2112]

I haven't tried multiple techniques, so I can't make a comparison, but I've been using the same method for about a year and a half and haven't had any problems... I dump the cooled wort back and forth between two sanitized 5-gal buckets several times. It's cheap and seems to do the job.

 

[duckmanco]

I typically use dry yeast, so I don't worry about it all that much but this video pretty much says carboy shaking ain't all that bad...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/user/NorthernBrewerTV#p/u/48/75gpehf_6Gk[/ame]

 

[LizardBrew83]

I love this little 3 dollar siphon sprayer that goes directly into the carboy after the chiller.
http://www.rebelbrewer.com/shoppingcart/products/Siphon-Sprayer.html

I haven't had a problem with poor attenuation since I got this. I still shake the carboy for about a minute jor so just to be sure. Also, using a yeast starter helps with attenuation.

 

[sjbeerman]

Shaking the primary vs. aeration with an aquarium pump will not deliver more than 8 ppm O2 to the wort. Although some aerate with the aquarium pump for up to 20-30 min, I believe you hit the saturation point around 5 min or so and additional time will not deliver additional O2. Shaking, as you know, is perhaps harder on some people and therefore they may use an aquarium pump.

For standard gravity beers, 8 ppm O2 in the wort is sufficient. For higher gravity beers (>1.070), the yeast should have around 10-15 ppm O2. This amount of O2 can only be delivered with pure O2. I used to use the aquarium pump, but now I use pure O2 because I prefer beers with an OG>1.060. I have had my disposable O2 tank for several months and I have made several batches with it. So, I don't know how much longer it will last.

If your interested, there is quite a bit of discussion on O2 requirements for yeast in Jamil's book called none other than "Yeast." I highly recommend this book as it gives a pretty thorough look at yeast and fermentation. After all, making beer is all about the yeast.

 

[erock2112]

For standard gravity beers, 8 ppm O2 in the wort is sufficient. For higher gravity beers (>1.070), the yeast should have around 10-15 ppm O2. This amount of O2 can only be delivered with pure O2. I used to use the aquarium pump, but now I use pure O2 because I prefer beers with an OG>1.060. I have had my disposable O2 tank for several months and I have made several batches with it. So, I don't know how much longer it will last.

Good info - hadn't heard that before. Most of my beers tend to be below 1.070, so that might be why I haven't had any problems.

 

[TTB-J]

Not to hijack the thread, but do you get extra O2 by doing a partial boil? As I understood it, the problem is chiefly with full boils, were the O2 is boiled out of the wort and has to be added back in by either direct injection or shaking the carboy. With a partial boil, adding in a significant amount of non-boiled water into the mix adds a decent amount of oxygen, such that shaking the carboy to add a little more and properly mix the wort is sufficient.

 

[CereousBrewer]

I used to shake my carboys to aerate, but it seemed like the onset of fermentation (via airlock activity) still took a long time. My wife suggested using our immersion blender. Since using that little darlin' I've been getting activity in the airlock within 2-3 hours, plus no additional equipment to buy (aerator, O2, etc.)

 

[ongreystreet]

I've only done two brews, but 2 minutes of good shaking and re-hydrating dry yeast and they've both taken off within 12 hours, which seems more then enough for me. I also strain my wort, I am assuming that helps as well.

 

[BIGREDIOWAN]

I've only done 1 brew so far, but I just shook my primary and had activity in my airlock in 4 hours or so. I don't see a need to buy something to do something I can do before I let it sit for 3 weeks or more.

 

[Big_Belgian]

Great help everyone - many thanks. I think I'm going to get an oxygen delivery system of some sort when I get a bit of disposable income (for example, if the Packers win by +2.5 and the total stays under 45). Until then, I'm kind of intrigued by the immersion blender idea - might try that out.

 

[rudu81]

I can't take credit for my method, but I get nice bubbling foam on top before I pitch.

I rack from kettle to bottling bucket, stir the crap out of it for a min, and then let the wort splash down into fermenter to further aerate.

I've also seen (can't remember where) a piece of copper tube cut and flared at the end to spray the wort around the carboy. Probably a cheap and easy method.

 

[Grinder12000]

From what I have been told by a brewer from an actual craft brewery, for 5 gallon batches it really makes no difference at all if you aerate or not. I can not remember exactly why but it had something to do with size and the fact THEY need to be near perfect EVERY time!

I still aerate with an attachment to my drill just to make me feel better!


BTW - I do a lot of wagering and the Packers will win going away but I'm on the OVER (along with 80% of the betting public which I hate SO - the UNDER is the better contrairian pick)

 

[Covert]

Remember one thing. The more stuff that goes in contact with your beer, the more chance you have of infecting it and the more stuff you have to sanitize. I used an aquarium pump setup many years ago and I finally went back to just letting the wort splash as it goes into the fermenter. I also make sure that they yeast are wide awake and that there are a lot of them swimming around. Aquarium pump/no aquarium pump, shaking the carboy/not shaking the carboy....I've never noticed that much of a difference.

K.I.S.S.

 

[Hermit]

Chris White, in his new book, says that the yeast will scavenge all available oxygen from the wort in about 30 minutes. So, I shake a little, wait an hour, shake a little..... depending on how much yeast I pitch, gravity, etc.....

 

[mikebowman]

Not to hijack the thread, but do you get extra O2 by doing a partial boil? As I understood it, the problem is chiefly with full boils, were the O2 is boiled out of the wort and has to be added back in by either direct injection or shaking the carboy. With a partial boil, adding in a significant amount of non-boiled water into the mix adds a decent amount of oxygen, such that shaking the carboy to add a little more and properly mix the wort is sufficient.

i generally put a bunch of cold water in the bucket, then pour the wort from the kettle to the bucket from a few feet up, then pour in pitchers of tapwater until its full. i've never aerated any more than this, and ive never had a problem. I usually get some serious bubbles on top of the wort when i'm done.

I used to shake my carboys to aerate, but it seemed like the onset of fermentation (via airlock activity) still took a long time. My wife suggested using our immersion blender. Since using that little darlin' I've been getting activity in the airlock within 2-3 hours, plus no additional equipment to buy (aerator, O2, etc.)

i like this idea! very clever

 

[camus]

Strain and aerate:

Stir a bit:

Pitch and done.

 

[JNye]

Remember why yeast need oxygen. They need it to multiply. If you pitch the proper amount of healthy yeast, you'll be fine. I always still shake, but thats plenty for me, because I make starters and pitch fresh. Or I use plenty of dry yeast.

 

[CTS]

so would an tank of oxygen for about 30 -45 seconds be good for lower gravity beers?

 

[drathbone]

I do par-boils (~2gal) and haven't had any issues dumping chilled water into the wort to assist cool and aerate from splashing. No issues yet 5 batches in