Drill probe aeration

[95747brewer]

Up until my last batch I have been shaking the carboy for aeration and have always had a gut feeling that I'm just not getting the job done. Some of my beers have not reached the FG I was going for and even though they tasted fine I really want to make sure I get full fermentation. My last batch I looked over at some scrap polycarbonate tubing I used for a sight guage and got an idea. I heated the end of it up and formed an ugly paddle with a curve at the end and put it in my dewalt. After racking to my carboy I ran two batteries dead spinning this thing in my wort (soaked in star san first). I ended up with the entire 6.5g carboy full of white foam. I'm sure others have tried similar methods so I was wondering if this was anywhere close to as beneficial as one of those aquarium pumps with a diffusion stone or not. Any input would be appreciated.

 

[jppostKW]

you might have gone a bit over board killing two batteries with it. I use jds aeration gadget and use mr maltys pitching calculator and have never had a beer miss the fg.
linkies
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/cheap-easy-aeration-gadget-68218/
http://www.mrmalty.com/pitching.php#A

 

[95747brewer]

Thanks for the reply, I have seen those links but I have also read responses to that type of aerator that made me less comfortable with trusting it to fully aerate my wort. The drill just seemed like it would work better and charging batteries is cheap. Is there any disadvantage to over doing the drilling? BTW, this was done before pitching the yeast.

 

[david_42]

The drill trick works fine. Some people use a paint-mixing paddle, but those don't fit into carboys most of the time. So, your idea is a good one.

 

[wyzazz]

I use the "Cheap & Easy Areation Gadget"!

You said probe...

 

[Ridemywideglide]

I use the "Cheap & Easy Areation Gadget"!

You said probe...

You called it a gadget.. heheh heheh..

 

[springer]

I don't even bother anymore .... Pitch the correct amount of yeast whether dry or a starter and I get the same FG as when I did aerate .If you don't need the yeast to propagate then there is no need for O2 in the wort

 

[khiddy]

I use a cheap paint-stirrer (this model) attached to a drill when I'm fermenting in a bucket or in my conical; as others have mentioned, it won't fit into a carboy. Do this before you pitch the yeast, elsewise you may damage the cell walls.

One warning: if you're using dry yeast, you need to let the foam dissipate if you just sprinkle the yeast on the top, because the yeast will have a tough time getting to the surface of the wort before they rehydrate and die... at least, that's what I think happened on my last batch of beer done this way. I pitched a second packet 24 hours later, after the foam had died down, and the new yeast took off immediately, so YMMV.

I've looked at getting a wine de-gasser with movable paddles (like the Mix-Stir), but I can't justify spending another $15 when I rarely do a primary ferment in a carboy/better bottle, anyway. I usually only use carboys for apfelwein or the occasional secondary, neither of which requires aeration.

EDIT: Now I see products like this one, which would easily fit into a carboy, and even with exorbitant shipping, still be $7 cheaper than the Mix-Stir. Huh. You live and learn...

 

[IrregularPulse]

I use a paint stirrer on my drill for my mash and never even thought of using it for aeration!!! Awesome. And what is this "Cheap & Easy Areation Gadget"?

 

[Hammy71]

I use one of these. It's a wine de-gasser. Works great and whips up the wort very well. Less than ten bucks from the LHBS. I usually do it for about 5 minutes.

 

[95747brewer]

That wine degasser looks nice, I just had the light bulb go off over my head when i looked over and saw the tubing I used. For less than a dollar I think it worked out well for me. As I said in the original post, I just heated the end and squished it together like a paddle, then offset it with a curve.

 

[RichBenn]

I use one of these. It's a wine de-gasser. Works great and whips up the wort very well. Less than ten bucks from the LHBS. I usually do it for about 5 minutes.

Those wine degassers are not supposed to let O2 in, but let CO2 out. O2 is bad for wine at the point at which they are used, so they don't do all that great of a job for mixing oxygen in.

Frankly, I don't understand why there is so many methods to oxygenate the beer when starting fermentation. Maybe it's just our need to have new tools.

I just let the beer splash into the carboy while racking and use the proper pitch rate. Plenty of O2. There is always an active fermentation within 8 hours and they always finish dry.

Rich

 

[Hammy71]

It lets CO2 out by agitating the wine. By using it on the carboy (with the stopper pulled out half if not all the time), it's doing the same as shaking the carboy...just more efficiently. I've found since I've started aerating my wort past just shaking and making sure I have an accurate thermometer (I do all grain)...my fermentations have completed 100% of the time and within a few points of FG. Maybe neither of those are the reason for this, but if it ain't broke.......

 

[RichBenn]

It lets CO2 out by agitating the wine. By using it on the carboy (with the stopper pulled out half if not all the time), it's doing the same as shaking the carboy...just more efficiently. I've found since I've started aerating my wort past just shaking and making sure I have an accurate thermometer (I do all grain)...my fermentations have completed 100% of the time and within a few points of FG. Maybe neither of those are the reason for this, but if it ain't broke.......

I think my main point is you get alot more O2 into the beer by just letting the wort drop from the top of the carboy to the bottom, as a great deal of wort surface area is exposed to a great deal of air. Plus the splashing helps entrench O2. (Not what one wants to do while racking to secondary or bottling bucket, for sure. That's when you don't want oxygen.)

I saw some study done where several different methods were compared (shaking, stone air diffuser & others) and there wasn't alot of difference. I suspect that's because if the yeast are healthy and happy enought with the environment, it doesn't matter which technique was used....

Rich

 

[95747brewer]

I think I saw the same video by Bobby M. I do let my wort splash from above, and use that cone type attacment from morebeer, but I guess when I saw 120 FG's I really wanted to go for more aeration. As an update I brewed Jamils chocolate hazelnut porter AG which I was later told had a really high FG anyway. My last recipe that I got from here (Bavarian Wheat) started at 160 and ended at 112. It was my first drill, I'll say it again, "Probe" aeration and just because it ended well and is easy I think I will go ahead and continue.