Oxygenation without diffusion stone

[jcubz]

My diffusion stone is back ordered. There is nowhere near me that I can pick one up. I have everything else including oxygen reg and tank. I am all set up to brew this weekend but wont have the stone.

Can I oxygenate my wort without the stone just using the open hose? Or do I dare go and get a pet store stone?

 

[petrolSpice]

Not using a stone probably won't do much good.

 

[broadbill]

My diffusion stone is back ordered. There is nowhere near me that I can pick one up. I have everything else including oxygen reg and tank. I am all set up to brew this weekend but wont have the stone.

Can I oxygenate my wort without the stone just using the open hose? Or do I dare go and get a pet store stone?

Alot of people have managed just fine without a oxygen setup. I've brewed for years without one. I focus more on a healthy pitch of yeast. Sometimes I'll shake, a lot of times I don't bother. I've yet to notice a difference between shaking and not shaking...

I say brew away.

 

[cobrem]

I heard on one of the Brewstrong Q&A shows that you can purge the carboy with the O2, rack into it (or pour it in), then top off with O2, and shake it up like normal. The O2 uptake apparently happens on the surface. The bubbling action serves more to churn the wort, rather than uptake O2.

Never done it, so I can't vouch for it, but I've yet to be misled by Brewstrong.

 

[jcubz]

Thanks for the feedback. Im going to go for cobrem's suggestion. Ive been brewing without o2 for a while but im luke a kid with a new toy. I needs to use it!!

 

[Smellyglove]

It depends on the OG. Higher OG (Over 1.060-70-ish and up) needs more oxygen than you can shake into the fermentor.

The oxygen is being picked up in the wort at the surface (surface where oxygen meets wort). So no stone means less surface of the o2 in contact with the wort. With a stone you'd get a whole lot of tiny bubbles, and if you compare this accumulated surface to the surface of the bubbles you'd get without a stone (fewer but bigger bubbles), its a huge difference in favor of the stone.

If it's not a big beer go ahead, if it's a big beer I'd brew something different.