Aerating Wort via Fly Sparge?

[dawsh2]

How effective would aerating wort through a fly sparge arm be? Has anyone done any testing on this to see how effective it is?

I edited this post, originally had a bad idea about trying to aerate via pressurizing the fermenting vessel with O2. So please ignore the following:
I’m mulling over how my aeration system will look and was wondering if instead of using an aeration stone or similar after pitching yeast, could I pitch then pressurize my fermentation vessel (keg) with oxygen? The pressure should force oxygen to dissolve into the yeast. This would mean one less thing to clean as well.

Also, any guides available for temps required when fermenting under pressure?

 

[DonT]

I think oxygen uptake in room temp wort would be rather slow, and may cause oxidation.
I would stick with aerating the liquid and not the empty space.

 

[dawsh2]

I think oxygen uptake in room temp wort would be rather slow, and may cause oxidation.
I would stick with aerating the liquid and not the empty space.

Ok, what about aerating via a fly sparge arm? This is even more inline with my goals since I wouldn’t need to possess or clean any additional equipment.

Yeah but you only need 8ppm for oxygen, and I’ve read it absorbs quickly. If I ran it through the dip tube maybe it’d work? I have a sparge arm for my kettle as well, so maybe a run through that while cooling then pressurizing with O2 could do the trick.

Just trying to avoid additional steps and equipment (and cleaning said equipment). If dissolved oxygen meters are cheap I’d be happy to test this method out and get some numbers.

Reading more, there’s some good points about the CO2 produced during fermentation basically immediately pushing out the headspace O2 through the spund, so yeah maybe it’s not a good idea.. I’d like to avoid buying and cleaning extra equipment if necessary, but maybe I’ll pick up a diffuser. Ideally it’d run inline after the wort passes through the chiller on its way to the keg. Would aerating through the fly sparge arm potentially work?

 

[day_trippr]

Ironically I suspect many folks here have abandoned "air-dropping the wort" through a raised sparge arm to avoid aerating the wort as HSA avoidance and instead are using more respectful methods of return - like an open run of tubing simply floating in the meniscus. I suppose if you had a sprinkler head and a decent drop you might get some O2 pickup but unless you're going to pitch immediately it's likely going to do more character damage than anything beneficial...

Cheers!

 

[dawsh2]

Ironically I suspect many folks here have abandoned "air-dropping the wort" through a raised sparge arm to avoid aerating the wort as HSA avoidance and instead are using more respectful methods of return - like an open run of tubing simply floating in the meniscus. I suppose if you had a sprinkler head and a decent drop you might get some O2 pickup but unless you're going to pitch immediately it's likely going to do more character damage than anything beneficial...

Cheers!

I would be doing this after the wort has chilled though. And yeah I’d be pitching right after. Am I misunderstanding something?

 

[day_trippr]

Nope, if you pitch immediately then it's all good

 

[DonT]

Here ya go...
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