Oxygen injection into wort. Diffusion stone vs venturi effect?

Question for someone smarter than I am.

I've been looking around and adventures in homebrewing is having a sale on their diffusion stone's set up. Kind of a just add your own tank from your local hardware store and you're on your way.

That led me to think about several "how to's" I've seen on HBT. The one I like the best for using the venturi effect is to take two hose clamps, tighten them down with about 4 inches or so of tubing in between. Then drill a hole in the middle length of the tube, insert another tube and make sure the inserted tube is turned up while the wort is running through it. I'd like to use the venturi effect since hose clamps are pretty cheap and I can just lop off a section of hose from one end and stick that in the hole.

So my question...finally...I know! Using those two methods above does anyone know if spending the greater amount of money on the diffusion stone would inject "that much more" oxygen to offset the cost? I'm all about doing things economically and getting the same or just as good of result as someone who spends. So if I'm only gaining a small percentage I'll go the venturi effect, if not then I'll buck up for the diffusion stone.

Thanks for reading this novel! I look forward to the responses.

 

With mechanical aeration including your venturi you have a limit of about 7 ppm of oxygen and the normal amount is probably more like 3 to 4 ppm. With a diffusion stone and pure oxygen you probably can double that amount. In fact, you actually can dissolve so much oxygen that it is detrimental to the yeast.

 

I've been using the Venturi effect method exclusively and not had any problems yet. Even a double IPA and imperial porter fermented nicely. Give it a try and save your money until you find it doesn't work!

 

I've been using venturi for awhile now and have seen great results, I haven't noticed anything off in my beers. the lag time is usually pretty good, anywhere from a few hours and I can't remember a batch that didn't take off within at least 12-15 hours. I track my attenuation and it seems pretty solid:

Wyeast 1028 76.81 (73-77)
Safale-US04(1.5) 71.88
Wyeast #1217 78.13 (73-80)
Safale-US04(2) 74.19
Wyeast 1332 78.57 (67-71)
Nottingham - 73.13
Wyeast 1217- 76.67 (73-80)
Nottingham- 79.07

I put the suggested attenuation rates in paranthesis. I've been toying with upgrade to an oxygen kit too but I have getting good results with the $3.00 venturi so I am hard pressed to spend $ on aeration. I'm curious what others say or if anyone has tried both.

 

I do both. That way when I forget one, I have the other to rely upon.

I think that when I started with O2, I substantially increased my fermentation vigor and decreased my lag time over my venturi/air pump/sloshing technique. I don't oxygenate for very long (max 90 seconds) and have it turned down waaayyy low, so that bubbles barely reach the surface. My current Home Depot O2 tank has lasted about 10 batches.

Of course, the obvious question for me is "So what if fermentation is vigorous and quick - does the difference justify the additional expense?" To which I answer "I don't know, but it doesn't hurt..."