Brew now, pitch later, oxygenate when?

[whovous]

I am in mid-brew and it dawns on me that I cannot chill my wort low enough to pitch. My tap water is 69F and I want to pitch at 62F. My new summer plan was to chill to the mid-70s and then drop a second pump into a bucket of ice water to get me the rest of the way there.

Well, I can still drop the pump into the icewater, but it dawns on me I do not have the connectors to get the icewater from the pump to the plate chiller. My new summer plan was not very well thought out.

So, I want to chill to the mid-70s, as above, and then move the wort to my FC to chill it the rest of the way to 62F, and then pitch the yeast.

My question is this: Is it OK to oxygenate before I move the wort to the FC, or should I wait until the wort is at pitching temp before I wack it with the wand? It will be a lot more convenient to oxygenate first and pitch later. Does it matter when I use the wand?

 

[eadavis80]

Conventional wisdom tells me you'd want to add the O2 as close to when you add the yeast as possible, but I've never had a big delay between cooling my wort, adding O2 and yeast.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Plan B can be to chill to 70-ish, oxygenate, pitch, and put it in your FC and cool it down about 2F every 2-3 hours until you hit 62F. You will be dropping it slowly enough that it won't shock the yeast and you will be at ferm temp within 12 hours so fermentation won't be active before you reach ferm temp (i.e. no off flavors). A lot of folks start their lagers this way with no ill effects.

 

[whovous]

Interesting idea, but my controller only accepts dailye temp steps, so I'd have to stay up all night and change temps manually every three hours.

 

[chickypad]

I don't see the problem with oxygenating before putting it in the chamber as long as it's at least partially chilled (thinking to avoid hot side aeration if you believe in it). In practice I can tell you that I have oxygenated many times part way through chilling and have had no issues. Once it's chilled below 80 I get the O2 wand out and stir it up. Are you worried that the O2 is going to all come out of solution or something while getting down to temp? It should be the opposite as it chills.

 

[msayler]

Due to some time-bound logistics issues, I had to do this very thing on a batch that's in my FC right now. I chilled it down to about 70 with my coil, aerated it thoroughly (agitation in carboy), then dropped it in my FC, set to 64. Pitched Notty approximately 4 hours later, and it had a mighty kraeusen in a little less than 14 hours. I guess we'll see how it tastes, but all signs point to a good launch for the yeasties.

 

[whovous]

I wound up having to choose none of the above. We've been playing with the plumbing to the kitchen sinks and it seems I did something which meant my hose adapter stopped adapting, so to speak, and I couldn't get tap water to my plate chiller. I whirlpooled down to 140, transferred the wort to the FV and put the FV in the FC to chill overnight. All in all a pretty annoying brew session. I will oxygenate and pitch the yeast later this AM.

 

[Kaz]

The goal of oxygenation/aeration is to provide O2 for the yeast. I would chill to pitching temp no matter how long, then aerate and pitch. That way you'll optimal levels of O2 still in solution.

 

[whovous]

That is what I wound up doing.