Aerating, whaddya think? Yay or Nay?

[dirtfang]

I started aerating my wort after it had been cooled to about 78 degrees while still in my kettle. I aerated it with a new, clean, sanitized paint stirrer attached to my drill. I then transferred and strained the wort into a bucket into 4 gallons of water and added the yeast. My question is, when do you guys start to aerate and should I aerate while in the bucket instead of the kettle? Can I aerate it while already mixed with the water? Should I aerate in bucket then add the water and then the yeast? What do you think?1
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[NivekD]

I always aerate my final volume, then pitch.

 

[dirtfang]

I always aerate my final volume, then pitch.

Ok. So you aerate when the wort is already mixed with the water...

 

[mbobhat]

Any aeration is better than none, but you may want to transfer to the bucket first, just because it will cool a little more while you transfer it. A buddy pours his over a strainer with a large funnel and calls it good. Just make sure the wort is cool, around 70 or lower would be better because hot wort holds less O2 than cool wort. If you mix it with the paint stirrer while it's all together you can get more aeration. Also if you could chill your topping off water down that would be even better.

Aerate on!

BTW I use a carboy so I just shake the hell out of it with a stopper in it, then I remove the stopper, recap and do it a couple more times. I would imagine with a bucket people use your way just fine.

 

[NTXBrauer]

I aerate with a mix-stir only after I have racked into the carboy, then pitch the yeast starter afterwards. If no starter is used, I will hit the wort with the mix-stir after pitching also.

 

[jrgtr42]

I do it like Mbobhat's friend does - I pour the wort through a strainer and call it good.
#1 is that it gets all the hop residue and other trub out of the beer as it's going into fermenter, and it does splash things around well.
I haven't had an instance of anything off that I can point directly to being due to inadequate aeration. IF I was to brew something over SG 1.100 I might think about doing more, but that hasn't come up, and I don't forsee it in the near future.

 

[Cottonmouth]

Just be careful not to scratch the bucket and create places where bacteria can hide.

 

[stpug]

One nice factor about top-up water is that it is generally fairly aerated so it brings more oxygen to the wort. When I brewed partial boils I would frequently top-up about half with filtered cold tap water which added a fair amount of additional oxygen (and I wasn't even aware of this at the time ).

And, like mbobhat said, the cooler the wort - the more oxygen it will absorb.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I drop my wort into the fermenter through a stainless steel strainer. Then I pitch my yeast, cover the bucket, sit down in a chair with the fermenter on the floor between my knees, place my thumb over the airlock hole, and rock the bucket back and forth while I sing Dixie 3 times.

 

[dirtfang]

You aerate it after the yeast is pitched? I heard that's not too good

 

[peterj]

You aerate it after the yeast is pitched? I heard that's not too good

No it's fine. It doesn't really matter when you aerate just as long as you do it. I've actually heard it's good to add more oxygen about 18 hours after pitching if you're doing a high gravity beer.

 

[BigFloyd]

No it's fine. It doesn't really matter when you aerate just as long as you do it. I've actually heard it's good to add more oxygen about 18 hours after pitching if you're doing a high gravity beer.

Oh, it does matter when. If you're going to aerate/oxygenate after pitching, you'll want to do it while the cells are still utilizing O2 for reproduction (prior to the yeast going into full-blown anaerobic respiration). When that switch-over actually completes depends on factors like already dissolved O2, pitch rate, gravity, temperature.

 

[peterj]

Oh, it does matter when. If you're going to aerate/oxygenate after pitching, you'll want to do it while the cells are still utilizing O2 for reproduction (prior to the yeast going into full-blown anaerobic respiration). When that switch-over actually completes depends on factors like already dissolved O2, pitch rate, gravity, temperature.

Right, I guess I meant to say it doesn't matter if you aerate before you pitch or right after. Obviously you don't want to add oxygen after active fermentation has begun.

 

[dirtfang]

Ok. So I guess it doesn't matter that I aerated my wort prior to straining it into a bucket with water...

 

[peterj]

Ok. So I guess it doesn't matter that I aerated my wort prior to straining it into a bucket with water...

Did you boil the top up water first, or did it come from the tap? If you boiled and cooled it, you should aerate the full volume. Otherwise you would only be aerating half as much as you could be. If it came straight from the tap it was probably pretty well aerated already (like stpug said), but a little more couldn't hurt. You could aerate the water and concentrated wort seperately if you wanted.

 

[BigFloyd]

Did you boil the top up water first, or did it come from the tap? If you boiled and cooled it, you should aerate the full volume. Otherwise you would only be aerating half as much as you could be. If it came straight from the tap it was probably pretty well aerated already (like stpug said), but a little more couldn't hurt. You could aerate the water and concentrated wort seperately if you wanted.

+1. The thing that would give me pause about whipping it around in the brew kettle is that it would blend all the kettle trub into the wort really well. I'd want to give it a 15-20 minute rest (with the kettle covered) to let all of that settle before transferring. I'm one that likes to put clean, clear wort into the fermenter. Other folks don't worry about it and just dump everything in the bucket/carboy.

 

[dirtfang]

Nice. I hear ya. I am using tap water. So I guess next batch I'll pour the chilled wort into my water and then aerate. Thanks

 

[BigFloyd]

Nice. I hear ya. I am using tap water. So I guess next batch I'll pour the chilled wort into my water and then aerate. Thanks

One nice thing you can do when using top-off water like that is to put it in some jugs a few hours before brewing and chill it as low as you can without freezing.

If you chill 2.5-3.0 gallons of wort in an ice bath down to about 85-90*F and combine it with the really cold top-off water, it will give you a final wort temp of around 60-62*F. That's perfecto for pitching most ale yeasts.

 

[dirtfang]

One nice thing you can do when using top-off water like that is to put it in some jugs a few hours before brewing and chill it as low as you can without freezing.

If you chill 2.5-3.0 gallons of wort in an ice bath down to about 85-90*F and combine it with the really cold top-off water, it will give you a final wort temp of around 60-62*F. That's perfecto for pitching most ale yeasts.

Nice to know. I'll try it. Thx bigfloyd