Getting Oxygen into your Wort - Aerating

[meadowstream]

In Chris White's book, "Yeast", he spends time describing the reasons for needing to oxygenate your wort to 8ppm-10ppm and the various methods used to oxygenate wort and their relative effectiveness.

Optimally, you want 10 ppm and that will help give the yeast what they need to propagate before going into their productive anaerobic, alcohol-producing phase. It appeared that no homebrew method will supply the appropriate levels of O2 without using pure oxygen and a aeration stone.

Has anyone here made good beer using their own methods and then invested in pure O2 thereby achieving full aeration? And did you notice a real change in your beer for the better?

 

[IFP]

I noticed a real change in my beer when I went from shake to aquarium pump, and the biggest change when I went to pure Oxygen. I've since tried skipping that step a couple of times, and was amazed at the difference. I will never skip the Oxygen again.

 

[ruffdeezy]

I noticed a real change in my beer when I went from shake to aquarium pump, and the biggest change when I went to pure Oxygen. I've since tried skipping that step a couple of times, and was amazed at the difference. I will never skip the Oxygen again.

Can you explain the differences you notice. I'm interested in getting an oxygen system.

 

[IFP]

The difference I notice is that I just get a much cleaner fermentation. I can't say that I've noticed any effect on the attenuation or length of fermentation, as I've never really focused on that. But my biggest complaint about my homebrew was always just these little off flavors that bugged the crap out of me, even if others claimed not to notice; I frequently detected aldehyde and solventy flavors, or just strange things that I couldn't put my finger on. I've yet to have that complaint with pure oxygen. In fact I made a super light Blonde ale that was very delicate in flavor, and I did it twice; once with oxygen and once with a good shake, and the difference was staggering. One tasted like "Johnny's First Homebrew" and the other tasted like a "Golden Light American Blonde Ale". (i.e., a marketable, quality commercial product)

 

[meadowstream]

Thanks IFP. Can you recommend some hardware?

 

[Randar]

In Chris White's book, "Yeast", he spends time describing the reasons for needing to oxygenate your wort to 8ppm-10ppm and the various methods used to oxygenate wort and their relative effectiveness.

Optimally, you want 10 ppm and that will help give the yeast what they need to propagate before going into their productive anaerobic, alcohol-producing phase. It appeared that no homebrew method will supply the appropriate levels of O2 without using pure oxygen and a aeration stone.

Has anyone here made good beer using their own methods and then invested in pure O2 thereby achieving full aeration? And did you notice a real change in your beer for the better?

I never noticed a specific flavor difference like a flaw or thing you can pick out, but my lag times are far shorter with pure O2 vs aquarium pump+stone that I used to use. My overall brew to active ferm complete times is shorter by at least a day I would guess.

 

[kanzimonson]

Sure, you can make beer without optimally oxygenating, but it's the subtleties that you'll be missing.

Also, there's a chart in there (don't have my book nearby right now) that shows how under-oxygenating affects later generations' ability to attenuate fully, and each generation takes longer to reach terminal gravity. So if you want to get the best use out of repitched yeast, you need to be using oxygen.

Go to practically any of the online homebrew vendors and look for "oxygenation system"... it'll be a regulator, some tubing, and a stone that you can attach to the little red canisters of oxygen you can buy at a hardware store for like $7.

 

[Wayne1]

Here is the O2 regulator, tubing and stone sold at Austin Homebrew:

I had Wayne at bargainfittings.com assemble some parts for me that allow me to inject O2 into the cooled wort as it is flowing into the fermenter.

This allows me to visually see how much wort and O2 are flow and to monitor the temperature of the wort.

 

[Bombo80]

good luck finding an O2 regulator valve. It seems nobody has them anymore.

 

[Mustangj]

Wayne1

Do you have any worry's in over doing it with that setup? I'm still new to using pure oyxgen.

 

[kanzimonson]

Question about an inline system: so most people with oxygen system out there have the red tank/immersible stone setup, and the general rule is to oxygenate for about a minute. How do you "know" how much you're oxygenating with an inline system?

I realize that my method is just as inaccurate as an inline since I don't have an O-meter, so is it the same kind of thing where you just oxygenate X amount, see how you like the fermentation, and adjust from there?

 

[Bigscience]

Can you explain the differences you notice. I'm interested in getting an oxygen system.

I find that I could ferment to lower FGs with O2. Without it, it was hard to get much below 1.020 no matter how low I mashed.

 

[meadowstream]

This discussion is really helpful to me. Thanks to all for contributions so far. I have some more questions:

1. If you notice a difference in your beer, what styles do you brew where you notice the difference?

2. Chris White has a table where he shows DO levels achieved by some craft brewers of various commercial scale sizes (5BBL-30BBL) and almost none of these craft brewers achieves optimal DO (most are in the 5PPM range) despite actively aerating beer...and one would have to assume that through history DO was much lower. So (here is the question) are some styles of beer best made with suboptimal DO levels?

3. Attenuation: Chris White makes the point that this becomes an issue principally after several generations of re-using the same line of yeast. Time to full attenuation seems to be affected by inital DO (in his charts) but level of attenuation that can be achieved does not seem to be affected. ruffdeezy - do you wash and re-use yeast or are you finding lower attenuation with lab propagated yeast when you don't raise DO levels?

4. Does the use of a proper starter change the need for more DO in the primary fermenter? If you use a stir plate then you should have outstanding O2 availability in a dense starter - resulting in very healthy yeast and, at least in my experience, no substantial lag time...does a healthy starter make up for lower DO in the primary?

If you have gone from sub-optimal to optimal DO without substantially changing other parts of your process, please share your experiences with changed taste/smell!

 

[kanzimonson]

You're incorrect about the later generations - not only do they take longer, but it's noted in the book that by the 5th generation the beer was finishing a full degree plato higher than normal (1.004). I know some people who would be super pissed just to miss out on 4 points. Personally I don't care as much about the lack of alcohol/extra sweetness, but I don't like it when my yeast gives me evidence suggesting it's not as healthy as it should be.

 

[meadowstream]

kanzimonson - I must have written my thoughts poorly. I was trying to say that YES after multiple generations attentuation IS a problem. But with lab propagated, fresh yeast, attenuation is not different (it just takes longer.) My question was: does ruffdeezy see the difference in only later generations or also in lab propagated yeast. Thanks for your correction.

 

[kanzimonson]

Ah, gotcha. I definitely want to hear the answer to that question.

 

[enid]

Here is a good article on oxygenation levels using a mixer and O2.

http://blog.flaminio.net/blogs/index.php/beer/oxygen/081408-wort-aeration