DIY Aquarium Pump + Stone Oxygenation System

[bondra76]

In the May/June issue of Zymurgy, an interesting comparison was ran of oxygenation systems for wort and I was wondering if anyone's made one yet? I am planning a build in the next week or so.

The final results of the tests ran in Zymurgy concluded that using a regular aquarium air pump or an oxygen pump were perhaps the best practices in aerating your wort. Shaking worked well too, but to achieve 8 ppm of oxygen you had to shake the wort for something like 60 seconds.

Has anyone put one of these together? The spec for the air pump in the tests was a 2 liter/minute aquarium pump with a .2 micron air filter (I'm assuming an in-line filter) and a stone?

Morebeer has some commercial products available but I've heard they just come in these parts/pieces and the stone is not weighted down and floats. This definitely sounds like a DIY project that would be better quality than what's out there on the market.

 

[Transamguy77]

I bought an air pump, line and stones at walmart for like $20 (could have been less, it was a few years ago) and an inline filter from Austin Homebrew. I put the stones in while I'm cleaning up (takes about a half hour or so) and there is plenty of foam when I'm ready to pitch. I have definitely noticed a difference in how fast fermentation starts when I use it especially if I use a starter.

 

[bondra76]

Williams Brewing has a $39 package that does not include the pump but does include a stainless wand to weight down the stone. Going that route. It's lazy, and I lose about $20 in the deal, but I feel like the stainless steel wand is worth the trouble.

I caved