Oxygenation and shoulder challenges

[Basement_Brauerei]

I made my firs attempt to graduate from 3 gallons to 5 gallons (Vienna Lager)
My aging shoulders protested during the "vigorous shaking carboy" stage
Has anyone on the forum tried adapting the rocker style butter churn design to hold the carboy during oxygenation?
I will need to make sure I have a way to secure lid/stopper
May the Wort be with you
Thanks
Don

 

[bradleypariah]

I always vigorously whisk my wort while it's still in the kettle, then I pour through a wire mesh filter that's sitting in my carboy funnel.
I always get a nice thick head of foam, and I never get aeration problems.

If you don't want to do that, get a degassing wand attachment for your power drill. You can even make one out of a coat hanger.

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

Are you opposed to spending a few bucks?? I would invest in an O2 kit you don't have to shake anything and you will get a better fermentation for about $50 - AIH # Item Number: 99-2979

 

[GPP33]

Are you opposed to spending a few bucks?? I would invest in an O2 kit you don't have to shake anything and you will get a better fermentation for about $50 - AIH # Item Number: 99-2979

^ What he said. An oxygen tank may not have made my beer better (or may have, I don’t know) but it certainly made brew day a lot easier.

 

[Calder]

I don't claim to support this position, but you may want to look it up. Many dry yeast producers are saying you don't need to aerate the wort with dry yeast, as it has everything contained in the package. Maybe minimal aeration is OK with dry yeast.

Personally I shake the crap out of every batch. I don't use dry yeast, but if I did, I wouldn't do anything differently.

 

[MaxStout]

Glass carboys? If so, you're just tempting fate by shaking them. Get an O2 system--money well spent.

 

[TechFanMD]

I don't claim to support this position, but you may want to look it up. Many dry yeast producers are saying you don't need to aerate the wort with dry yeast, as it has everything contained in the package. Maybe minimal aeration is OK with dry yeast.

Personally I shake the crap out of every batch. I don't use dry yeast, but if I did, I wouldn't do anything differently.

I never aerate beyond what happens from splashing during the transfer from the brew kettle to the fermenter. Vigorous and fast fermentation every time, no off flavors.

Not saying that aeration isn’t necessary - but I bet most people get enough aeration in most beers (not including big beers here) that additional shaking or oxygenating makes little difference for all of the money spent and effort put forth.

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

I don't claim to support this position, but you may want to look it up. Many dry yeast producers are saying you don't need to aerate the wort with dry yeast, as it has everything contained in the package. Maybe minimal aeration is OK with dry yeast.

Personally I shake the crap out of every batch. I don't use dry yeast, but if I did, I wouldn't do anything differently.

I know this to be false having heard this before and thinking it sounded great only to have my beer stall on me around 3% as opposed to 5% not a big beer

 

[mrdauber64]

Check Brulosphy's website on their aeration experiments. I believe all have shown no significance between aeration and nothing. The only time I use my oxygen tank now is on big beers. I have not noticed any difference from when I used to oxygenate every beer. I do pour vigorously through a steel colander so I'm guessing I get some oxygen pick up at that point.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Check Brulosphy's website on their aeration experiments. I believe all have shown no significance between aeration and nothing. The only time I use my oxygen tank now is on big beers. I have not noticed any difference from when I used to oxygenate every beer. I do pour vigorously through a steel colander so I'm guessing I get some oxygen pick up at that point.

In my opinion, oxygenation has shown a few differences as opposed to no oxygenation. Prior to getting an oxygen tank, my fermentations had a long lag time, 36-72 hours. Additionally, it took them a long time to ferment out. Now, I'm usually seeing a full krausen by 12 hours and it's done fermenting within a week or two. I know some of those benefits can be partially attributed to starters but I know the oxygen helped some.

Did it make a difference in the flavor? Probably not, but it did affect fermentation noticeably.

 

[Jhu1321]

I use a wine degasser that attaches to a drill.

 

[NGD]

Are you opposed to spending a few bucks?? I would invest in an O2 kit you don't have to shake anything and you will get a better fermentation for about $50 - AIH # Item Number: 99-2979

Just a side note on this. As quite a few people use the small $10 bottle of O2 from the hardware store and complain about only getting 1-2 beers before the tank is empty. You do not need to fully open the regulator on those things.

Just sanitize the wand with starsan, turn the regulator until you start seeing bubbles and dip it in the wort for 30-60 seconds. Make sure to pull it out before shutting it off. Do it this way and one of those little bottles will last you several batches. Or just buy a 5lb bottle and let’er rip! Make sure no flames are nearby [emoji91]

 

[Rob2010SS]

Just a side note on this. As quite a few people use the small $10 bottle of O2 from the hardware store and complain about only getting 1-2 beers before the tank is empty. You do not need to fully open the regulator on those things.

Just sanitize the wand with starsan, turn the regulator until you start seeing bubbles and dip it in the wort for 30-60 seconds. Make sure to pull it out before shutting it off. Do it this way and one of those little bottles will last you several batches. Or just buy a 5lb bottle and let’er rip! Make sure no flames are nearby [emoji91]

+1. I'm still on my first tank and this is what I do. I'm pretty sure I've gotten almost 10 batches out of mine. I just picked up my second tank about 2 weeks ago and only because I feel like I've gotta be getting low.

 

[TurnipGreen]

I use a wine degasser that attaches to a drill.

Me too. I think it set me back 10 bucks and I don’t have to manhandle a glass carboy or giant bucket.

I’m convinced it does much, but it’s fun to make the tornadoes of wort!

 

[RM-MN]

I made my firs attempt to graduate from 3 gallons to 5 gallons (Vienna Lager)
My aging shoulders protested during the "vigorous shaking carboy" stage
Has anyone on the forum tried adapting the rocker style butter churn design to hold the carboy during oxygenation?
I will need to make sure I have a way to secure lid/stopper
May the Wort be with you
Thanks
Don

Good!!! You should never shake a carboy. They are fragile and if they break while you are shaking them you lose all the beer and may end up in the hospital or morgue. Ditch the carboy and go to something plastic, something with a top opening big enough that you can use a whisk or a paint stirrer attachment on your electric drill or do the oxygenation while moving the wort to the fermenter by splashing.

 

[balrog]

Just a side note on this. As quite a few people use the small $10 bottle of O2 from the hardware store and complain about only getting 1-2 beers before the tank is empty. You do not need to fully open the regulator on those things.

I get 10-12 using these small bottles and a 0.5micron stone. I read and followed the advice <somewhere> that the rate of O2 to release is the amount that will be absorbed by the time the bubbles travel from the bottom of the vessel to the top -- anything faster and bubbles are bursting on the top and releasing to the atmosphere, not being trapped/used in the wort.

And I also agree with @NGD that starts are noticeably, consistently, quicker than before I used O2.

 

[madscientist451]

Put a funnel in the carboy and dump the beer in from the kettle.
If the kettle is too heavy you can use a sanitized pitcher to remove some of the wort before dumping it.
It works pretty good for me, your results may vary.