Aeration Stones Still Popular?

[IslandLizard]

my wort is hot when it goes into the fermenter, [...] Next time I'll use an All-Rounder, and the wort will have to be colder.

Most definitely, or the heat will shrink your All-Rounder in no time. Plastics and heat...

So, are you getting a wort chiller and pumping/recirculating (cool) pool water through it? That would be almost perfect, unlimited cold pool water. Just don't let any of it leak into your wort, chlorine...

Or still going to use a bucket floating in the pool before transferring to the All-Rounder? Are you putting a swimmy tube around the bucket, to keep it upright? How about using 2 buckets, half full, giving you twice the cooling surface and another bucket to clean/sanitize.

 

[RyPA]

I ferment and serve from the same keg.

When transferring to the kettle I let the beer make a splash to produce air bubbles.

I only use a aeration stone for carbonation.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I have a chiller I made years ago. It's just a copper tube with hose fittings on the ends. It's for a huge kettle, and I haven't dug it out to see if it will fit the Braumeister. May have to bend it again.

I will either use this chiller or get something new, and I will bring the temperature down to where I can use the All-Rounder. Getting the beer to 80 may be a different story. It may take half a day with my water in the warm months, so I don't know if my chiller will be sufficient long-term. My pool's temperature was 65 a few days back, and in the summer, I'm sure it approaches 80.

Maybe the All-Rounder was a mistake. Buckets work fine. I just wanted to get something that would do all the trendy stuff.

 

[Broken Crow]

I have a chiller I made years ago. It's just a copper tube with hose fittings on the ends. It's for a huge kettle, and I haven't dug it out to see if it will fit the Braumeister. May have to bend it again.

I will either use this chiller or get something new, and I will bring the temperature down to where I can use the All-Rounder. Getting the beer to 80 may be a different story. It may take half a day with my water in the warm months, so I don't know if my chiller will be sufficient long-term. My pool's temperature was 65 a few days back, and in the summer, I'm sure it approaches 80.

Maybe the All-Rounder was a mistake. Buckets work fine. I just wanted to get something that would do all the trendy stuff.

If you have to recoil your IC, you may wish to consider uncoiling it all the way and shoving it into a garden hose to make a counter flow chiller... it's really not that hard to do. With mine at about 33' long and my groundwater temp of 58°, I get pitching temp in one pass with the water supply valve only about a 1/3 open.
As to getting the hops out, I have one of these inline on the way to the fermentor:
https://www.brewershardware.com/Wor...e-Strainer-with-4-OD-Body-TC15STRAINER20.html..and as per your other thread, you can also through in a tee with oxygenation stone on the way and afet the filter. (If money is no issue you can use the Blicmann one:
https://www.blichmannengineering.com/home-brewing/oxy.html

 

[IslandLizard]

Maybe the All-Rounder was a mistake. Buckets work fine. I just wanted to get something that would do all the trendy stuff.

They're very good fermenters from what I gathered plus you can pressure ferment too, using a spunding valve. And purge kegs with fermentation gas.
If you have the floating dip tube assembly, it makes transfers to kegs easy and oxygen free.
If not, get the FLOTit 2.0:
https://www.homebrewfinds.com/2022/...ating-dip-tube-w-dfi-double-filter-inlet.html
I so wish the All-Rounder had an oxygen-free dry hop port...

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Maybe I should get a smaller bucket to reduce oxygen exposure, move the wort to the bucket, cool it in the pool, and move it to the All-Rounder. I can find a way to push the wort from the bucket to the All-Rounder with gas.

Right now I have a 6.7-gallon bucket, so a lot of air goes in along with the wort.

I have been looking at the work people without swimming pools do to get wort cool, and it looks like a nightmare to me. All that cleaning, and then you have to lug it around and store it. The pool is a godsend.

 

[RyPA]

Can't you just pour from the bucket to All Rounder, using a funnel if needed? O2 isn't a concern pre-fermentation. Or did I miss something above?

 

[IslandLizard]

Right now I have a 6.7-gallon bucket, so a lot of air goes in along with the wort.

You need some headspace to keep the bucket above water in your pool. Just prevent splashing hot wort, you don't want wort aeration at that point.
For a 5 gallon batch are you aiming for 5.5 gallons of wort?

I can find a way to push the wort from the bucket to the All-Rounder with gas.

No need to, save your gas. You actually want to aerate the chilled wort before (or right after) pitching yeast, splashing is good!

 

[DuncB]

Where did you get your O2 generator? Does it have enough pressure to push through an oxygen stone?

I bought it at an auction.
Yes works fine through 0.5 micron stone.
Got the idea from a portly gentleman you tube video.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Thanks for reminding me I need oxygen. I missed the obvious.

The bucket won't take off or sink in the pool because I put it on a step with weights on the lid. It's pretty neat.

I think I'll keep using the bucket until I have a real reason to use the All-Rounder.

Can't you just pour from the bucket to All Rounder, using a funnel if needed? O2 isn't a concern pre-fermentation. Or did I miss something above?

I missed something, not you.

 

[DuncB]

I stopped using O2 because of the infection risk posed by all the little crooks and crannies in the "stone" and switched to using a single drop of olive oil. Nobody ever noticed.

https://brulosophy.com/2020/01/27/i...rnative-to-wort-aeration-exbeeriment-results/

Boil your stone in caustic if you are concerned about improper clean and sterilise. Or autoclave/ pressure cooker.

 

[RyPA]

If you have a keg, you can really simplify things by fermenting in that.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Maybe I should. Everything is new now. Dogs and cats living together. People fermenting in kegs.

I assume there must be floating dip tube out there that keeps the keg from pumping trub off the bottom.

 

[RyPA]

Exactly! I've been doing my NEIPAs this way for the past year and haven't looked back. You could drop the keg, once sealed with CO2, into your pool for cooling. Id just avoid letting the top go underwater to be safe.

You only need a keg and floating dip tube, I use the Torpedo brand floating dip tubes from morebeer.com

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

That really sounds good. And a keg will ferment under pressure.

Is there a brand of dip tube that works better than others?

 

[RyPA]

That really sounds good. And a keg will ferment under pressure.

Is there a brand of dip tube that works better than others?

Yup, perfect under pressure, and it's easy to eliminate O2 after dry hopping by connecting CO2 to your dip tube and do 10 or so purges

 

[IslandLizard]

Is there a brand of dip tube that works better than others?

FLOTit 2.0:
https://www.homebrewfinds.com/2022/...ating-dip-tube-w-dfi-double-filter-inlet.html
When used in a larger (10 gallon) keg or larger sized fermenter, ask for a longer piece of silicone tubing to cover the distance.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

This doesn't sound bad. I see people online complaining that a Corny doesn't have enough head space, but it's not like I really have to have 5 gallons every time.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I really like this idea. A Corny will cool faster in the pool, and the web says I can still get 4.5 gallons in one. I wonder if that's true of wheat beers.

 

[RyPA]

I use my 6gal Torpedo when I can but have used a corny plenty of times, most recently for an Irish stout. You're fine filling it up leaving a few inches of head space, and use beer line connected to a CO2 fitting for your blow off tube..switch to spunding if you want when things settle down

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I used to run a tube into a jar of water. The theory was that if anything foamy went into the water, the bubbles would pop so I wouldn't get foam everywhere. I guess that would work with a Corny keg.

Right now, I'm trying to find out how long a flexible tube has to be to work with a Corny and a floating doodad.

 

[RyPA]

I used to run a tube into a jar of water. The theory was that if anything foamy went into the water, the bubbles would pop so I wouldn't get foam everywhere. I guess that would work with a Corny keg.

Right now, I'm trying to find out how long a flexible tube has to be to work with a Corny and a floating doodad.

Same idea, except I'd add a little starsan to the water, in the worst case scenario anything goes in the opposite direction - it's cheap insurance.

The kits usually come with everything you need, including the tube. Check out the Torpedo branded one on morebeer

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Thanks. I actually have a Torpedo dip tube sitting here. I bought the shorter keg. I thought the tube would be sized for it.

Let's see. The included tube is 23.5" long. Guess I have enough slack.

Wish I hadn't thrown out my liquid disconnects. I could be drinking beer right now.

 

[RyPA]

That sounds like the same length as mine and I use it on a 6gallon slightly taller than a corny. Does the kit come with a screened filter for the end of the dip tube? If not you can buy a 5 pack or so on Amazon for cheap. I always put one on, not sure if it's doing anything. I also drink primary NEIPA's and stouts lately, no clear beer.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I'm all over it!

 

[RyPA]

These are the ones I use

5pcs Homebrew Beer Floating Dip Tube Filter 50 Mesh 304 Stainless For FermZilla or Kegmenter Amazon.com: 5pcs Homebrew Beer Floating Dip Tube Filter 50 Mesh 304 Stainless For FermZilla or Kegmenter: Home & Kitchen

 

[Neldog0]

I ferment and serve from the same keg.

When transferring to the kettle I let the beer make a splash to produce air bubbles.

I only use a aeration stone for carbonation.

I tried Aeration stones for a while and had alot of problems with infection. I agree with you. I have found that when I transfer finished beer into my fermenter I allow the beer to splash. this works great and it is very simple. I use the stones for carbonation and always boil them before using them in the next keg.

 

[RyPA]

I tried Aeration stones for a while and had alot of problems with infection. I agree with you. I have found that when I transfer finished beer into my fermenter I allow the beer to splash. this works great and it is very simple. I use the stones for carbonation and always boil them before using them in the next keg.

Roger, yeah too risky to use them in cooled wort IMO, splashing should give enough O2.

I've never boiled, I soak mine in rubbing alcohol overnight and shake it/dump it a few times in the process. The alcohol turns a faint yellow so it's cleaning crap out of the stone.

 

[DavidWood2115]

I've never boiled

Heat sanitation is the way to go for aeration stones. It is the only way to sanitize something you can’t clean completely. You just need to get it above pasteurization temperature for the appropriate time. If you are using a wand, just stick it in the kettle for the last five minutes of the boil. I use Spike’s TC version and just simmer it in hot water for 10 minutes (which is overkill, I know) on the stove then let it cool on a clean paper towel. Never had an infection.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

After opening the valve and oxygenating the wort in the fermenter, I leave the valve open and let the o2 bubble up through a StarSan solution for several seconds. This works well to clear the pores in the aeration stone of wort and prepares it for the next time it's needed.