Air Stone

[El Pistolero]

I find the stones break right off... the last one broke off before I even got a chance to use it. One of these times they're going to break off right in my beer.......

IMHO, you'll be much happier if you stop using those cheap aquarium stones, and spring for a SS one. You won't have to worry about it crumbling to dust, and it will yield MUCH better aeration.

 

[JRoche00]

A Basic Brewing Radio interview with one of the Wyeast guys said that they had done research that concluded the best way to aerate (short of a direct shot from a tank of O2... which as homebrewers we really don't have handy) is to get a good shake on your carboy for about 4 minutes. This helps the wort get better aeration and oxygen solubility than using an aquarium pump.

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

A Basic Brewing Radio interview with one of the Wyeast guys said that they had done research that concluded the best way to aerate (short of a direct shot from a tank of O2... which as homebrewers we really don't have handy) is to get a good shake on your carboy for about 4 minutes. This helps the wort get better aeration and oxygen solubility than using an aquarium pump.

this is from Wyeast's web page www.wyeastlab.com :

Dissolved oxygen ...

is required for the respiration of yeast at the onset of fermentation. One good method of providing dissolved oxygen for yeast is when preparing a starter solution, use a jar or flask with adequate headspace, then agitate the container frequently while brewing. By doing this, you will provide more dissolved oxygen to the yeast when it is most needed.

that's all i could find about aeration/oxygenation.....​

 

[El Pistolero]

(short of a direct shot from a tank of O2... which as homebrewers we really don't have handy)

I'm a homebrewer, and I have an O2 tank...I think there's about 1000 others here too that also have o2 tanks.

 

[Kaiser]

A Basic Brewing Radio interview with one of the Wyeast guys said that they had done research that concluded the best way to aerate (short of a direct shot from a tank of O2... which as homebrewers we really don't have handy) is to get a good shake on your carboy for about 4 minutes.

If there is 4l worth of air and 18l worth of wort in the Carboy you have 800ml O2. Using the spreadsheet that I mentioned earlier, you can achieve ~9 ppm if only 15% of the oxygen are absorbed into the wort. This is actually within the recomended oxygen concentration for an Ale. Getting just 15% of the O2 dissolved is doesn't seem unreasonable either.

Still love my O2 with airstone though. Don't really like the idea of shaking ~50lb worth of wort and Carboy

Kai

 

[JRoche00]

I agree about shaking that beast... I really haven't played around with aeration much. I was just repeating (not precisely, but more or less) what I had heard from the guy. Not knocking the use of stones or anything. Where can you get a O2 tank anyways? Are they expensive? Here is the link from the episode of Basic Brewing Radio I was talking about:

http://basicbrewing.com/radio/mp3/bbr11-03-05.mp3

He gets into the aeration talk at about the 15 minute mark.

Cheers!

Jeff

 

[El Pistolero]

Where can you get a O2 tank anyways? Are they expensive?

Lowe's or Home Depot or just about any hardware store...they're with the welding supplies...about $8.50 for a bottle that'll last 5-10 batches.