Aeration With Malt Extracts

Hey guys, I am going to attempt my first malt extract after the kit I purchased shows up. Now I have been informed that the instructions that come with ingredient kits are lacking at best.

I have not decided on my ingredient kit yet but was wondering what I needed to do to aerate the malt on its way to my primary fermenter. I had plans to siphon from the brewpot to the fermenter with a hop bad rubber banded to the end of the siphon to catch any lingering impurities.

Most of the videos i watched and instructions I read said nothing about aerating your malt as you move it from the brewpot to fermenter yet I heard that boiling the malt removed a lot of oxygen and the yeast require this oxygen to feed.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

Catching any "impurities" ? probably isn't needed. As far as aeration, there are several methods but the easiest is to simply pour the wort from the boil pot into the fermenter from a height of several feet. Or, if you feel it needs more, pour into a sanitized bucket and then pour back into the boilpot, repeat as desired before pouring into the fermenter.
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Beer Diary...

 

The EASIEST way to aerate (IMO) is BEFORE pitching yeast take a sanitized long handeled spoon and give it a strong swirl so that you get some bubbles and what not (this is also after I dump it into the bucket) if you see foam its good.

if your using a carboy, just stick your hand over the hole and hold on real tight and shake the bad boy like its never been before.

just make sure to aerate before pitching yeast...

Also I'm going to disagree with MBIRD: filtering your wort isn't a bad idea (as long as everything properly clean and sanitized. There are junks of grain (if your using specialty grains with your extracts) and hops (esp if your using hop pellets) that won't harm your beer if its in the fermenter...but really its a good practice to have from the start as it will leave a cleaner yeast cake...which means harvesting yeast (which is well beyond your first batch)

 

I gotta agree with mbird. I have always just poured straight from the pot to the fermenter. that usually generates bubbles and enough oxygen. Also if you have cooled the wort down fast enough all those "impurities" will have collected at the bottom and if you pour carefuly you can stop before any of it makes it out of the pot. I probably end up leaving close to a half a gallon of trub in the brew kettle. Then of course more will settle out in the fermenter which is perfectly normal.

 

I pour through a stainless steel wire mesh colender that catches a handfull of grain and hops that were left behind.

The colender also appears to aid in airation, because it is being forced through the small holes on it's way in.

I then pour my top off water in from about 5 feet to add a little extra airation. Seems to be enough every time.

 

I use bottled water for my top up water. I pour half out of each jug then recap it and shake it like it owes me money. Do that with each jug and I get plenty of air into it. That, along with pouring through a strainer or splashing a lot when I siphon and I don't have any problems with long lag times due to lack of O2.

 

One important thing to note: If you're using a packet of dried yeast, which I often do, aeration is NOT necessary. You can rehydrate the yeast in a measuring cup of pre-boiled water or sprinkle it right in. IMHO re-hydrating makes for a very vigorous fermentation and better attenuation on bigger beers but is not necessary for a beer under 1.065 OG. Again, my opinion from experience.

If I'm using a liquid culture I (1) make a starter and (2) shake the living crap of of the primary for a minute or two after adding the yeast. I always put my strainer and chiller into the brew for the last ten minutes of the boil, but if you don't just make sure it gets a good bath in some star-san or similar sanitizer. After cooling I dump the contents of the brewpot through the strainer usually leaving the last little bit of gunk. Straining, IMO, is not at all necessary unless you have a ton of leaf hops in the boil. It does, however, make for a good bit of foam which I assume equates to oxygen in the wort.

Thankfully I learned early on that proper temperature control during fermentation is much more important than just about any other element of the brewing process. If you keep stuff clean and watch your temps. you'll make great beer(something you'd buy) regardless of the amount of aeration when making smaller beers. I've been delving into higher gravities lately and the importance of the little things becomes much clearer. But that's for a different thread.