Cheap and easy aeration gadget

[BrewBeemer]

My way of thinking is to get some clear vinyl tubing of the diameter to your liking or needs, a hardware store item. Heat it with a heat gun or over a gas stove or propane burner until it becomes soft in one narrow area. When soft pull on it to create a hour glass or venturi center section around 1 1/2" long and 1/2 to 2/3 the original diameter. Cool water under the sink while holding it straight until it is hard and stiff as the normal tubing is. Tale a small as you can get sewing needle and heat it to almost red hot and poke as many holes as you think you need thru this venturi area. Have these holes aimed downward at a 45 degree to prevent the wort from coming out of these hole plus it helps to pull in the air. Simple easy and cheap to make. You will be surprised how much you can pull heated tubing and the diameter reduction you can make. Go practice as many diferent venturi forms can be created due to how hot or how wide of a heated area, caution do not burn the tubing, no brown spots just hot and soft. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Beau815]

very nice brewbeemer. ill try that

 

[DeafSmith]

It would be interesting to see just how small you can make the hole(s) and still pull air into the line. It seems that at some point surface tension will overcome the venturi effect.

 

[BrewBeemer]

If you want to get fancy take that hour glass I posted above and cut off the tubing at the ends 2" to 3" beyond at the normal diameter area. Inside these tubing ends press in a 1" long piece of brass tubing that will have a press fit at both ends, (hardware or hobby section has thin wall model brass tubing). This to prevent the tubing from getting compressed to a smaller diameter at the next step. Add a tight fitting piece of tubing 1" long over the main hour glass piece at each end.
Over the full length of the whole hour glass part plus over the 1" pieces added to the ends of the hour glass add a piece of tubing that fits tightly around the 1" long end sleeves, later there will be clamps added but not yet. At the hour glass center section there should be a space between the reduced hour glass tubing and the outside tubing covering the whole hour glass over the full length. Take a thin head brass screw like a 10-32 thread (0.1960" OD) then solder on a small brass washer allowing for a larger head diameter, (this to prevent pulling the brass headed screw thru the vinyl tubing hole). This screw with a 3/8" long thread with the center drilled with a 0.030" hole thru the center. Cut or burn a small hole for this brass screw to pass from the inside of the outside tube with the thread sticking out. Off this outside thread add a brass fitting with a 10-32 thread at one end with a brass washer plus drilled thru the center with a 0.030" diameter hole. On the other end a nipple to the diameter to your liking then add the end clamps. Use a regulator with low pressure O2 off a bottle with the pressure set less than what you your pump pressure will be to prevent O2 from backing up stream against the pump. This way you will inject 100% O2 into the wort vs sucking 20.95% oxygen, 78.08% nitrogen, .038% carbon dioxide plus other rare earth gases and crap. Which gas would you like your little yeasties to feed off? Call me cheap or a DIY person. I'm off my podium now unless you can afford a sight glass with a O2 injection system for your wort or go back to basics with a stainless steel stone, tubing and O2 from a welding bottle.

 

[wedward]

When soft pull on it to create a hour glass or venturi center section around 1 1/2" long and 1/2 to 2/3 the original diameter. Cool water under the sink while holding it straight until it is hard and stiff as the normal tubing is. Tale a small as you can get sewing needle and heat it to almost red hot and poke as many holes as you think you need thru this venturi area.

great idea - any chance you can post a pic of that so I can visualize better?

I did a simple small diameter tube between larger sections and drilled holes with a small bit. worked well, but any improvement is welcome..

results:

Should I shoot for better than this? Or is that good?

 

[cowstick]

Ok so 1/16 inch was still too big. Next time gonna try smaller vinyl tube in a bigger vinyl tube. and make holes with push pin.

 

[Dextersmom]

I've run into this only slightly, but from the looks of the venturi tube i might have more of an issue here. Theres bound to be an overflow of foam. should i just let it overflow? is that what ya'll do?

 

[WortMonger]

Should I shoot for better than this? Or is that good?

Yeah, you got it down. That's some beautiful bubbles.

I've run into this only slightly, but from the looks of the venturi tube i might have more of an issue here. Theres bound to be an overflow of foam. should i just let it overflow? is that what ya'll do?

Don't fear the foam, lol. Well I'm not talking about Star-San here! The little bit of beer that comes with the bubbles at this point would be insignificant. Let it flow out and then cap off your fermenter afterwords.

 

[Dextersmom]

hah i still fear the star-san foam a little.

but ok thanks I was figuring it would be ok just to let the foam run out. Just gotta make sure I have some towels down.

 

[wedward]

Yeah, you got it down. That's some beautiful bubbles.

Thanks - that was with the aeration tube and a carb stone with a pump. My last brew was without the pump & stone and turned out just as nice. Great to see all you need is a little holy-hose!

 

[android]

i had a thought today (which is rare) and it was as follows:

couldn't we use flyguy's cheap T-siphon and just leave the top of the 'T' open to allow air to flow in as the wort passes through the straight portion of it? the 'T' reduces the flow diameter and there's an open hole already to allow the oxygen to be sucked in.

sorry if someone already mentioned this.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/flyguys-t-siphon-3-replacement-autosiphon-25774/

 

[ChshreCat]

I don't think you'll keep a siphon going if you have the T open. That, or your beer will come out the T.

 

[android]

couldn't you just plug it until the siphon gets going and then release your thumb to let the air flow in? maybe the hole is too big.

 

[ChshreCat]

A siphon works via suction. If you open up a hole, you no longer have suction. So, either your siphon would stop, or you would be siphoning out of both holes. At least, that's what I believe will happen. Give it a try and see, but I'd test it with water first before chancing wasting beer.

 

[hammacks]

i had a thought today (which is rare) and it was as follows:

couldn't we use flyguy's cheap T-siphon and just leave the top of the 'T' open to allow air to flow in as the wort passes through the straight portion of it? the 'T' reduces the flow diameter and there's an open hole already to allow the oxygen to be sucked in.

sorry if someone already mentioned this.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/flyguys-t-siphon-3-replacement-autosiphon-25774/

Yes this does work. See my post a few pages ago. Just be sure to cover the open T-leg when starting the siphon.

 

[android]

A simple plastic T in line makes a great venturi.

there you go. thanks for pointing this out, i will definitely try it out on my next brew.

 

[digdan]

Doing some research I've found that venturi provides between 5 and 7.5 ppm DO

which is still good enough for me. That just means a couple seconds of shaking to reach the 8ppm DO

Going to drill a small hole in my spare racking cane, how far back from the mouth should I drill it ?

 

[jds]

If you want to get fancy take that hour glass I posted above and cut off the tubing at the ends 2" to 3" beyond at the normal diameter area. Inside these tubing ends press in a 1" long piece of brass tubing that will have a press fit at both ends, (hardware or hobby section has thin wall model brass tubing). This to prevent the tubing from getting compressed to a smaller diameter at the next step. Add a tight fitting piece of tubing 1" long over the main hour glass piece at each end.
Over the full length of the whole hour glass part plus over the 1" pieces added to the ends of the hour glass add a piece of tubing that fits tightly around the 1" long end sleeves, later there will be clamps added but not yet. At the hour glass center section there should be a space between the reduced hour glass tubing and the outside tubing covering the whole hour glass over the full length. Take a thin head brass screw like a 10-32 thread (0.1960" OD) then solder on a small brass washer allowing for a larger head diameter, (this to prevent pulling the brass headed screw thru the vinyl tubing hole). This screw with a 3/8" long thread with the center drilled with a 0.030" hole thru the center. Cut or burn a small hole for this brass screw to pass from the inside of the outside tube with the thread sticking out. Off this outside thread add a brass fitting with a 10-32 thread at one end with a brass washer plus drilled thru the center with a 0.030" diameter hole. On the other end a nipple to the diameter to your liking then add the end clamps. Use a regulator with low pressure O2 off a bottle with the pressure set less than what you your pump pressure will be to prevent O2 from backing up stream against the pump. This way you will inject 100% O2 into the wort vs sucking 20.95% oxygen, 78.08% nitrogen, .038% carbon dioxide plus other rare earth gases and crap. Which gas would you like your little yeasties to feed off? Call me cheap or a DIY person. I'm off my podium now unless you can afford a sight glass with a O2 injection system for your wort or go back to basics with a stainless steel stone, tubing and O2 from a welding bottle.

This seems like it should work just fine, except that I tend to shoot for "Cheap and Easy" in my brewing process. A chunk of otherwise-trashed racking cane and a paperclip are cheap and easy. A pump and O2 system may be easy, but they ain't cheap.

 

[AiredAle]

I have taken a similar approach to oxygenating wort. Instead of drilling a hole in the siphon tube as folks in this thread are discussing, I use a hypodermic syringe needle, with a 1 micron sterile filter connected to the back end of the needle.

My counterflow chiller exit is 3/8” copper tubing. I connect it to a six inch piece of 3/8” OD straight copper tubing with a 1.5” section of 3/8" ID vinyl tubing. The second piece of copper tube drains into my fermenter. The needle gets inserted at an angle into the vinyl section between the two copper tubes. I have used an aquarium pump to push air through the needle, and also just let the flowing wort aspirate filtered air through the needle. Both seem to produce lots of bubbles.

The hypo needle is a medium diameter, I’m guessing 21 gauge since I don’t have it here. This produces a stream of very fine bubbles of air mixed well into the wort. When I fill a 6 gallon carboy, I get about 4.5 gallons of wort in before the foam starts to overflow, so I’m getting lots of air bubbles. I tape or wire the assembly to the chiller to keep my klutziness from knocking the needle out of the tubing during use. It is impossible to get the needle back exactly into the original hole (no comments please) if it does come out.

Advantages are sterile filtered air, fine bubbles for good mixing of O2 and wort, comnpact, and simple to add to an existing chiller set up. I use a new needle and new piece of vinyl connector tubing each time, so no fears of infection from the needle or tubing. I keep the sterile filter in a sanitized pill bottle between uses. I beg the syringe needles and filters from my lab buddies in exchange for the occasional beer.

 

[android]

thanks to hammacks for first suggesting the idea earlier in this thread, but i thought folks might be interested to see how the plastic 'T' works. i didn't need to plug the 'T' hole or anything, it worked like a charm, the siphon went right on through, reducing the diameter of flow and you could hear the air getting sucked in and the resulting bubbles let me know it was working properly. there is star san foam on the right side of the pic, further up the wall of the carboy, but the rest are all a result of the venturi. sorry for the fuzzy pic of the T.

 

[JustSchrager]

This looks awesome. Definitely going to give it a try.

Anyone use an electric beater put directly in the flow from the plastic tube or cane?

 

[14thstreet]

I've used this method with the nylon T and so far it's working great. However, the two beers I've done this on, I've had to pitch at a later time trying to get my temps down below 60F. How long do you think the oxygen/air stays in the wort? Would I be okay or would I need to reaerate?

 

[android]

how long are you having to wait? i'd definitely at least pour it back and forth between buckets or vigorously stir.

 

[Joe Camel]

Once it's aerated, it's aerated. You shouldn't have to redo anything.

Cheers

 

[rico567]

Since I've read so much discussion of æration, I'm surprised there aren't published figures on the effectiveness of particular methods of placing O2 into solution in wort. This is particularly interesting since (according to Palmer, I believe) the max dissolved oxygen using air in water is 8ppm (parts per million), and he indicates that several popular methods of æration will achieve this- but without detailing the actual methodology used to arrive at this conclusion. He does indicate that oxygen injection systems (used routinely by commercial brewers- understandably, because of the large volumes) can place up to 25ppm in solution, although experiments with this amount by homebrewers have indicated a negative effect on the finished beer.
There seems to be quite a variation in reported results on various forms of æration. Personally, I use the "pour back & forth" method. I pour the cooled wort into my fermentation bucket, pour it back into the brewpot, then back into the bucket. I've almost invariably got a good ferment going by the next morning, and I get good-tasting beer. Until I get better information on the benefits of a particular method of æration, I'm sticking to my method.

 

[ChshreCat]

Actually, leaving your wort longer would make it more aerated, I think. The whole reason to stir or bubble or shake is to increase surface area so more O2 is moving from the air to the liquid. If you have to leave your wort for a while, it's going to (slowly) continue to absorb O2 from the air.

Now, if you hit it with pure O2 and superoxygenate it to a higher level than the air around it, then it would lose O2.

 

[weirdboy]

I'm sorry if someone has already asked this and I just missed it, but why not just use an aerator like one finds on a kitchen or bathroom sink? I mean, just take one of those and stick it on the end of your hose?

 

[BeerCanuck]

I am still a fan of this technique but I have simplified it slightly.
I now use half inch auto siphon / hose and racking cane.
A small 1/16 hole drilled in the hose just before it attaches to the racking cane allows me to aerate or not (by sliding the hose over the hole) for stronger siphoning near end of a rack.

Cheers
BeerCanuck

 

[New-B-Brewer]

As you can tell, I'm very new to brewing as well as this forum so if I'm offering an old idea, sorry. I've read this whole thread and haven't seen it mentioned though so here goes.
In the aquarium hobby there is a type of pump called a Power Head that includes a venturi in the pump. It is designed to pull water through the gravel and a false bottom and up a tube, it then injects air through the venturi and pumps the aerated water out at the surface.
I'm thinking it would be very simple to modify one of these power heads to pull the wort out of the brew kettle and into the fermenter aerating the heck out of it along the way.
Any thoughts?

 

[bendavanza]

new b brewer
That sounds like a good idea but those power heads spray the water quite a bit, I don't know if it would be as effective if you attach a hose to it, or if the pump is sanitizable or food grade.