I used to aerate with oxygen bottle stainless wand and diffuser but couldn't notice any difference in final product so don't bother anymore also I stopped using liquid yeast, definitely made my brewing sessions easier.
How many of you guys aerate with an oxygen tank?
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VikeMan
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It is. But OTOH, you can't get as much O2 dissolved into the wort by pumping air into it as you can with pure O2. With air, you hit a limit where you're losing O2 as fast as you are gaining it.
I use pure O2 from a 40 cf tank.
My regulator/flow controller goes down to 1/32 liter/minute and goes through a 0.5 micron stone on a homemade wand. The lower flow rate results in far less surface bubbling than the common standard of 1 liter/min and hopefully more O2 is being dissolved on the way up. I give it 4 minutes at 1/8 l/m in a 5-5.5 gallon batch in a plastic brew bucket, and seems to do the job.
I also oxygenate yeast starters in their 2 liter flask or 1/2 gallon jar, at 1/32 l/m for 4 minutes. It usually generates 1-2" of dense foam during those 4 minutes.
Occasionally I've forgotten about it, and left the starter on O2 for 10 minutes or so.
What I wonder if one can over-oxygenate a wort and what the downside of that could be? Poisonous to the yeast, perhaps?
IIRC, 40 ppm of DO is about the maximum wort can hold onto.
My regulator/flow controller goes down to 1/32 liter/minute and goes through a 0.5 micron stone on a homemade wand. The lower flow rate results in far less surface bubbling than the common standard of 1 liter/min and hopefully more O2 is being dissolved on the way up. I give it 4 minutes at 1/8 l/m in a 5-5.5 gallon batch in a plastic brew bucket, and seems to do the job.
I also oxygenate yeast starters in their 2 liter flask or 1/2 gallon jar, at 1/32 l/m for 4 minutes. It usually generates 1-2" of dense foam during those 4 minutes.
Occasionally I've forgotten about it, and left the starter on O2 for 10 minutes or so.
What I wonder if one can over-oxygenate a wort and what the downside of that could be? Poisonous to the yeast, perhaps?
IIRC, 40 ppm of DO is about the maximum wort can hold onto.
IIRC, the maximum DO saturation one can achieve using air, is 8 ppm. It depends on the temperature too, cooler worts holding onto a higher DO than warmer ones.
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I use O2 with the disposlable bottles. Worls well. Probelm is getting the bottles now. Looks like it will ve a while before they are available again. The bottle maker is in China and none has been shipped in awhie. There is a few months delay in getting more bottles.
I use the Blichmann O2 regulator on a new O2 cylinder--seems like a lifetime supply, which is fine because I got tired of leaks on hard to find little red cylinders. For 5G batch, I run O2 through a 5micron stone for 3:30 @ 0.25L/min. I let the pressure equalize for about 30sec before I put the "wand" into the fermentor. Sometimes I stir a little, other times I let the stone sit at the bottom of the elbow at the bottom of the fermenter. I'll note that the yeast is already in the tank when I add O2.
VikeMan
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0.5 micron perhaps? Or are you really using a 5 micron stone (which sounds really big to me for oxygenation)?
Yes, 0.5 micron. Oxywand from Morebeer.
MicroMickey
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Yes, I guess I'm a nerd. To prove it, I also use a stir plate for my yeast. Honestly, if it didn't really make a big difference, I wouldn't do it.
VikeMan
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Necessary to make beer? No. Necessary to make better beer? I would say yes.
Oleson M.D.
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How many do not aerate? No artificially induced O2?
We are in that camp. Never have, never will.
We are in that camp. Never have, never will.
I keep an O2 tank on my brewing cart. Very handy and the tank does not fall over this way.
I started using medical oxygen shortly after getting into brewing. Buttoday, after 5 years I read an article that there is a possibility of over oxygenation.....who knew?
Willygilly
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Maybe that's what happened to my Pale Ale and my Wheat beer. Those were the first 5 gallon batches that I oxygenated and probably the last. Both turned almost black in color and tasted horrible. I probably wouldn't have done it if my wife was not using oxygen tanks for her breathing disorder. Maybe someone can confirm that over doing it with oxygen will do this to your beer.
I just read an article...over 20 ppm is toxic to the yeast and results in attenuation of the development of cell walls and this directly impacts cellular respiration and over all viability. Darker colors are a sign of oxidation.
Willygilly
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OK, well brewers BEWARE!
It is not possible to over oxiginate without actual oxygen.
msjy2008
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I oxygenate my beer for 90 seconds thru my co2 aeration stone on my ss brewtech 14 gallon conical before I pitch my yeast starter.
I’d suggest pitching your starter first. That way the yeast is there and established, shortening the uptake time for the oxygen in the wort.
Willygilly
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That's the way I did it, but I think now that oxygenation should be done first.
jerrylotto
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I'm surprised nobody mentioned temperature. Your boil drives pretty much all of the dissolved oxygen out of solution and not unlike carbon dioxide, there's an inverse relationship between temperature and oxygen solubility. So you want to be down at fermentation temperature before you oxygenate. This might be a little bit off topic but I thought it was important to document.
I did the disposable cylinders for a little bit. I think if that was the only option, I'd skip it. To expensive, and the cylinders are almost impossible to find. I got the Blichmann oxygenation regulator, as it uses a regular welding tank. A 20lb bottle is basically a lifetime supply, and it pays for itself by not having to buy the disposable cylinders. I think I was getting 2-3 batches per cylinder, and I think they were like 12 bucks each. I did already have an oxy tank for my torch. I can't remember exactly how much they are.
As to whether or not you have to use oxygen, I really don't know. I just (almost) always have. I always have good fermentations, usually getting to FG days before they "should" My last batch, a 1.052 altbier went from 1.052 to 1.014 in 48 hours. (healthy pitch of Kolsch yeast, fermented at 58F). Not sure if that is the O2, or just a combination of things.
https://www.morebeer.com/products/b...EUh94JyWIOv7XgO185Bdhjz08Ly9YT2BoCa_MQAvD_BwE
As to whether or not you have to use oxygen, I really don't know. I just (almost) always have. I always have good fermentations, usually getting to FG days before they "should" My last batch, a 1.052 altbier went from 1.052 to 1.014 in 48 hours. (healthy pitch of Kolsch yeast, fermented at 58F). Not sure if that is the O2, or just a combination of things.
https://www.morebeer.com/products/b...EUh94JyWIOv7XgO185Bdhjz08Ly9YT2BoCa_MQAvD_BwE
The devil is in the details. Someone may read this and say "see, this guy is successful and doesn't use oxygen". The problem is that they also are not likely following all the other things you do that mostly negate the benefits of oxygen.
A few cases where oxygen is not going to make any noticeable improvement:
Lower OG beers, say under 1.050.
Dry yeast pitches
Liquid yeast grown up on a stirplate
Pitching a bunch of liquid yeast from a week old pack(s).
Sever overpitching from a freshly harvested cake
Where it may make a noticeable difference:
Higher OG beers
Pitching an older pack of liquid yeast with no starter
or pitching a fresh pack, but still technically underpitching from a cell count perspective.
Reusing harvested yeast that has sat in the fridge for a while
Well, it is an oxidizer!
BrewnWKopperKat
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BeerSmith podcast #269 may offer some ideas.
Wow. I saw this thread title and assumed the responses would be overwhelmingly pro-oxygen.
I believe that in Jamil and Chris White's yeast book, they say too much can O2 isn't really a practical concern. It can be bad, but you'd have to do something weird to get high enough for it to matter.
I believe that in Jamil and Chris White's yeast book, they say too much can O2 isn't really a practical concern. It can be bad, but you'd have to do something weird to get high enough for it to matter.
I use the red bottles and oxygenate for one minute with an oxygenation stone. I watch for bubbles in the beer without too much reaching the top (waste). The bottle las 15 to 20 batches of 5 gallons. Other than providing good O2 my main reason is not to bother shaking a heavy glass carboy.
mashpaddled
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I tried it out with a couple tanks a while back around the time Yeast came out and we all decided it was really important. I don't dispute the science but I never felt like it improved my beers over my usually sloshy racking process on brew days. After the two tanks ran out I never bought more. I would return to that process if I brewed higher OG beers or larger batches. I don't seem to have a problem with my typical 1-3 gallon 4-6% ABV batches.
You using dry or liquid yeast? Oxygen isn't really needed with dry yeast and a moderate starting gravity.
For what’s is worth the ACE hardware in Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 just got about a dozen Red O2 bottles today . The tools manager told me their warehouse just got a good batch in for a number of stores in SoCal. So if you are on the hunt right now I’d check ACE. He said it was the first batch they have had at this location in almost two years. Picked up 2, just in the nick of time, used up what I had left on the last batch.
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