Aeration Stone

[Tonypr24]

Anybody here ever used one of these? I'm thinking about buying one but i want to make sure they really work. According to my LHBS it can carbonate 5gl of beer in 15min..

 

[Revvy]

Are you using it with an aquarium pump, or a red oxygen bottle and regulator?

I use mine hooked up to a standard hardware store o2 bottle, and for that you only use about a 2 minute blast of oxygen.... 15 minutes would drain the bottle.

 

[Revvy]

This is the system from williams brewing.

Mine from the lhbs didn't have the wand, so I just bought a racking cane, cute the bend off, cut a 1" piece of hose to use as a bridge connector to attach the stone to the cane, and it works great.

 

[Tonypr24]

I thought this was to carbonate the beer in the keg

Product Description
Carbonates 5 gal keg in 15 minutes. Carbonating Stone with 1/4" barb: Carbonate your beer just like the pros. Simply attach one end a couple of feet of 1/4 inch tubing to the end of the dip tube inside of the keg, and the other end to the Stone. Make sure you attach hose clamps to both connections. Then set your regulator to about 2 psi, and the gas will be forced through the millions of tiny pores in the stone, which dissolves the gas into the liquid.

 

[Revvy]

I thought this was to carbonate the beer in the keg

Product Description
Carbonates 5 gal keg in 15 minutes. Carbonating Stone with 1/4" barb: Carbonate your beer just like the pros. Simply attach one end a couple of feet of 1/4 inch tubing to the end of the dip tube inside of the keg, and the other end to the Stone. Make sure you attach hose clamps to both connections. Then set your regulator to about 2 psi, and the gas will be forced through the millions of tiny pores in the stone, which dissolves the gas into the liquid.

I don't think that is the same stone...or it may be, but just sold for a different use.

 

[PT Ray]

They're one in t he same. Never used mine for carbing so can't help you there.

 

[Revvy]

Here's a link to them online...

http://www.perfectbrewingsupply.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=44_103

 

[bendavanza]

I did not get the results they claim with mine. Probably better used for oxygenating wort.
Is that a misprint? 2psi won't carb beer. Did they mean 12?

 

[Tonypr24]

Unless is a misprint on their website maybe, I just copy and paste from their site.

 

[shortyjacobs]

This would probably work better....and the idea is you slowly raise CO2 pressure, so that you don't blast the stone off the bottom of the hose...2 psi PER HOUR.

http://morebeer.com/view_product/18212

EDIT: Cheaper and better: http://www.chicompany.net/carbonating-keg-lid-934.html

Also, it's called a CARBONATION stone.....aeration is done to wort, carbonation is done to beer....that's why you have some confused posts here...

Double edit: Search "Carbonation Stone" here...you'll get lots of opinions...generally, some say it works, most say "why you so lazy???"....so it probably works.

 

[scone]

There are other alternatives to the oxygen stone. You can simply pump some O2 into the headspace of a fermenter and use a paint stirrer+drill to stir the wort and dissolve the oxygen into the beer. This is discussed on Mike Flaminio's blog, and it is a more efficient use of oxygen, so it saves you money. 1-2 seconds of 5psi O2, and stirring for 30 seconds = 8-12 ppm dissolved O2, which is exactly what you are looking for. Here's a link to his experiments:

http://blog.flaminio.net/blogs/index.php/beer/oxygen/081408-wort-aeration

Mike has done a number of experiments on wort oxygenation with a dissolved O2 meter, and has come to the conclusion that the best way to achieve consistent oxygenation of 12 ppm is to give the fermenter's headspace a 1-2 second shot of 5 PSI oxygen, and stir for 30 seconds using a paint stirrer.

This not only looks to be a super efficient usage of oxygen, but also very fast. He also claims that using an oxygen stone yields very inconsistent results for the amount of dissolved oxygen. All in all a very interesting read.

 

[boogyman]

i bought one for carbonating my beer.. it didn't work as expected for me. i ended up just taking it off.