I am not sure what a "Propeller-type milk frother" would be.
What size batch are you brewing? I have read of people using a metal paint stirrer and a drill, which seems like an interesting option. I don't use it much these days, but I have a simple kit that uses an air stone and an aquarium pump.
I’m now picturing them all with lil glow brac and necklaces and they oxygenate the wort so well it turns into a foampartyYou might need all your buddies to come over with their milk frothers and have a wild party...frothing your wort.
When I was oxygenating after putting the wort into fermenter, I used a stone on wand that I sent deep into the wort. Basically either at/on the bottom or damned close to it. Now I oxygenate the wort as it leaves the plate chiller (more even infusion).Thanks for the suggestions, but one thing is still not clear to me - do you really need to aerate the whole wort or just the top layer where you sprinkle the yeast (I use dry yeast)? If it's just the top layer, then even a milk frother should be sufficient to create enough foam.
Foam is a byproduct of aeration, not the goal. That foam is foam that you ultimately won't get when pouring the finished, carbonated beer.
Of course the foam is not a goal, it will obviously dissipate at a later stage, but after "frothing" it should stay for a while. Isn't the foam a more oxygen-rich bed for the sprinkled yeast than regular wort?
BTW, a brulosophy experiment that compared pure oxygen aeration vs. nothing
resulted in beers that were "incredibly similar" (but distinguishable by most testers), and another experiment that compared pure oxygen vs. shaking the fermenter resulted in beers that most testers couldn't reliably tell apart.
This makes me think that perfect by-the-book aeration might be somewhat overrated.
If you're talking about air trapped in the bubbles, as opposed to actually dissolved in the wort, the yeast can't use that O2. And the foam actually makes it harder (longer) for yeast to rehydrate.
It's only n=1, but did you notice that in the "NOTHING VS. PURE OXYGEN" experiment that the non-oxygenated beer finished three gravity points higher? (And that recorded measurement gap is generously small if you look at the actual pics.)
The difference in another experiment was 9 points yet the majority couldn't reliably tell the difference.
Specifically for the "SHAKEN VS. PURE OXYGEN" experiment, your criticism is valid, but I don't think the point you raise make the experiment "virtually meaningless". Of the 21 testers, 9 could tell the different, but among them only 2 were very (or absolutely) confident in their selection. If the difference was that significant, I'd expect the number of them to be much higher.
And I'm pretty sure that 2 minutes of pure oxygen at any flow level is more than I'm ever going to achieve with 20 or 30 seconds of rocking the fermenter back and forth (which is what I've been doing so far).
I have been using 1 drop (yes 1 drop) of olive oil from a sanitized eye dropper for years instead trying to oxygenate my wort. Here is a link: Olive Oil in Beer Fermentation Instead of Oxygen - Winning HomebrewThanks for the suggestions, but one thing is still not clear to me - do you really need to aerate the whole wort or just the top layer where you sprinkle the yeast (I use dry yeast)? If it's just the top layer, then even a milk frother should be sufficient to create enough foam.
Ditch the frother concept already.Maybe it would be more effective to add the yeast, then froth?
I have been using 1 drop (yes 1 drop) of olive oil from a sanitized eye dropper for years instead trying to oxygenate my wort. Here is a link: Olive Oil in Beer Fermentation Instead of Oxygen - Winning Homebrew
I have been using 1 drop (yes 1 drop) of olive oil from a sanitized eye dropper for years instead trying to oxygenate my wort. Here is a link: Olive Oil in Beer Fermentation Instead of Oxygen - Winning Homebrew
Thanks for the suggestions, but one thing is still not clear to me - do you really need to aerate the whole wort or just the top layer where you sprinkle the yeast (I use dry yeast)? If it's just the top layer, then even a milk frother should be sufficient to create enough foam.
No issues with head retention or anything flavor related, just great beer without the possibility of contamination/infection of my wort with the oxygen apparatus.Interesting method. I wasn't aware of this option. Isn't 1 drop about 1000 times more than needed (as recommended in the article)? Have you noticed any downsides using this much oil, compared to adding oxygen?
No issues with head retention or anything flavor related, just great beer without the possibility of contamination/infection of my wort with the oxygen apparatus.
While the impact for lower OG beers will be reduced, once you pass a certain OG level, the need for proper O2 levels is higher. I just include it in my process for a couple of reasons.
One. It's easy to do since the O2 stone is in the assembly that controls wort flow out of the plate chiller.
Two. With the welding gas bottle (20cf IIRC) I have plenty of O2 on hand.
Three. Keeping it as a standard process/step means I'm less prone to skip it where it's more important/critical.
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