Low oxygen water

[david00001]

Has anyone tried to make very low <1ppm oxygen water at home? I was wondering if hooking up CO2 to a diffusion stone and pushing the CO2 through the water while it as boiling would mimic the process breweries use?

 

[ajdelange]

Boiling alone should do it. The steam should be as effective at sparging out the O2 as CO2 is. Why waste CO2? The trick is to keep O2 from redissolving as the water cools. Blanketing the surface with CO2 might help in this regard or you could transfer to a cornie while the water is still hot and fill and purge the headspace with CO2 a couple of times.

 

[Phunhog]

Why would you want to make "low O2" water? What is the benefit?

 

[ajdelange]

The usual application is dilution of beer (as for example in high gravity brewing). The last thing one wants in his beer is oxygen as it is responsible for staling (though someone actually argued this point here I think). Any time water is to be added to post boil wort or beer it should be deoxygenated for this reason.

 

[afr0byte]

The usual application is dilution of beer (as for example in high gravity brewing). The last thing one wants in his beer is oxygen as it is responsible for staling (though someone actually argued this point here I think). Any time water is to be added to post boil wort or beer it should be deoxygenated for this reason.

I can understand for cases like Budweiser where they dilute finished beer, but if you're diluting post boil wort, presumably before it has been fermented (otherwise it'd be beer?), wouldn't the yeast just absorb that extra oxygen during the growth phase?

 

[david00001]

Why would you want to make "low O2" water? What is the benefit?

No pressing need. Mostly because I enjoy experimenting. I was curious about getting water to sub-boiling o2 levels for topping off brews in the secondary, managing a yeast bank, and even for dilution of a high gravity brew. I was thinking of preparing a five gallon batch of water with the c02 diffusion and kegging it. That way I'd always have super low oxygen water on hand. That is if it would work. Just fooling around!

 

[david00001]

No pressing need. Mostly because I enjoy experimenting. I was curious about getting water to sub-boiling o2 levels for topping off brews in the secondary, managing a yeast bank, and even for dilution of a high gravity brew. I was thinking of preparing a five gallon batch of water with the c02 diffusion and kegging it. That way I'd always have super low oxygen water on hand. That is if it would work. Just fooling around!

Sometimes I just need to hide in the basement if you know what I mean.

 

[Cavpilot2000]

No pressing need. Mostly because I enjoy experimenting. I was curious about getting water to sub-boiling o2 levels for topping off brews in the secondary, managing a yeast bank, and even for dilution of a high gravity brew. I was thinking of preparing a five gallon batch of water with the c02 diffusion and kegging it. That way I'd always have super low oxygen water on hand. That is if it would work. Just fooling around!

You can't really get below boiling O2 levels. Boiling for 5-10 minutes should take you into the ppb (billion) range, which is pretty much the lowest level you can get at the homebrew level without industrial processes.

Also, pumping CO2 into it would probably not displace as much of the O2 as you would think AND I think you would be creating carbonic acid, which would add a flavor component (think of the taste of sparkling water).