aerating a 2.5 gallon boil

[DarrellD]

Made ..errr Crafted my first 5 gallon batch on friday, a BB Cream Ale.
After boiling and chilling I siphoned in to my bucket and added 3 gallons of serile cold water to get to the 5. The Og was 1.045 temp was 78 and I pitched the rehydrated yeast. Now I read about aeration, should I have areated the wort or will the 3 gallons have enough oxygen to make the yeast work? I did stir the cold water in. Sorry about the John Steinbeck novel but after 36 hours still no air lock activity.

 

[thood6]

Made ..errr Crafted my first 5 gallon batch on friday, a BB Cream Ale.
After boiling and chilling I siphoned in to my bucket and added 3 gallons of serile cold water to get to the 5. The Og was 1.045 temp was 78 and I pitched the rehydrated yeast. Now I read about aeration, should I have areated the wort or will the 3 gallons have enough oxygen to make the yeast work? I did stir the cold water in. Sorry about the John Steinbeck novel but after 36 hours still no air lock activity.

It is always better to aerate the wort well when pitching. However with an OG of 1.045, if you pitched a proper amount of yeast, it should do ok. Make sure you watch your fermentation temperature though because 78 is a bit high. Try to keep it below 70.