Fermentation and O2

[HoppyHoppyJoyJoy]

Hi All,

I'm on my 4th batch, and so far all has been going ok, but my fermentation seems a bit lackluster. It works, but I'm wondering if it could work even better.

Everything I've read, stresses the importance of aeration when adding the yeast.
A couple of people have reccomended shaking up my brew, prior to adding the yeast, but the thought of trying to shake a five gallon carboy of beer, makes my back hurt just thinking about it.

So here's my idea: Pump some oxygen from a medical O2 tank, directly into the brew before I add the yeast.

Any thoughts?

Hoppy

 

[Bobby_M]

Are you doing full boils are partial boils? If you boil the whole wort, you drive off all the O2 so yes, adding some back in is really benefitial when pitching a low cell count yeast.

If you're doing partial boils and topping up with plain old tap water, you're putting O2 in that way already.

If you have access to a medical O2 tank (like I do), there's no reason not to go ahead and add some pure O2 through a diffusion stone for about 2 minutes before pitching.

Watch my videos in the link below.

 

[arturo7]

The O2 tank might be a good idea. What I did to aerate was place the bucket on the edge of my kitchen counter and rock it back and forth vigorously. This is not nearly as tiring as holding the bucket and shaking it.

 

[Yooper]

Before I bought an aeration kit, I just poured through a strainer so it splashed alot, and stirred, stirred, stirred. There was usually tons of foam and then I'd pitch the yeast. Now I have the aeration kit, but I still pour through a strainer. This not only strains out the "gunk" but aerates, too. If I had access to an O2 set up, I'd definitely use it! You'd need some tubing and a diffusion stone to really get all the benefits, I think.

 

[BierMuncher]

The O2 is a great method.

You'll need a diffuser of some sort. People use those stones for aquariums I think.

I don't have an O2 setup..I just use two fermenter buckets and pour the wort back and forth about 5-6 times until it gets good and sudsy.

 

[HoppyHoppyJoyJoy]

Are you doing full boils are partial boils? If you boil the whole wort, you drive off all the O2 so yes, adding some back in is really benefitial when pitching a low cell count yeast.

If you're doing partial boils and topping up with plain old tap water, you're putting O2 in that way already.

If you have access to a medical O2 tank (like I do), there's no reason not to go ahead and add some pure O2 through a diffusion stone for about 2 minutes before pitching.

Watch my videos in the link below.

Dang! And here I was thinking I was the first person to come up with this idea.

I'm doing partial boils now (ME Kolsch recipe), but I'm moving up to full grains this weekend. Knowing me, the entire house will be a brewery by the end of July.

Thanks for the tips, I hadn't considered a diffusion stone. The O2 setup I already have, from my SCUBA instructor days. It also works well for hangovers, (not that I've ever had one of course...)

Hoppy

 

[david_42]

There are also inline O2 infusers for the hardcore. You put them downstream of your counter-flow chiller and upstream of the hop-back.

 

[ChrisS]

Sounds like a good idea if you have the room and access to it. Me I don't have either so I pour through a strainer and then whip up a good head of foam using a wisk for a few minutes. It works really well imho.

 

[david_the_greek]

Well lets say you had not aerated your wort enough. Everything is pitched and your fermentation goes out abtit early. any remedies?

 

[Bobby_M]

I think the only remedy would be to make a starter (well aerated this time) with the same yeast. There's no way to get the spent yeast healthy again in the wort without harmful oxidizing. You could try using an autosiphon to harvest some of the floculated yeast to pitch into the starter where you can put them back into reproductive cycle. After two days, repitch back into the stuck beer. Just some ideas.

 

[malkore]

one tip: buy the aquarium stones a handful at a time for like 50 cents each, and just use them once. sanitize first in a no-rinse cleaner, aerate, then toss it.

those sintered glass stones are so porous...it'd be hard to get the wort fully outta it, ot prevent nasties from growing between uses.

that or they make brass diffusers that you could easily clean...but cost a bit more.