Harbor Freight for aerator

[cbrink]

Does anyone have any thoughts about this aerator from Harbor Freight? It seems like I would at least want to replace the sponge with something else for sanitation reasons.

http://www.harborfreight.com/two-speed-live-bait-aerator-97210.html

 

[Sawdustguy]

I think it would work great except I would replace the stone with a 0.5 micron sintered stainless diffusion stone.

Northern Brewer 0.5 micron sintered stainless diffusion stone

 

[wyzazz]

Looks like it would work fine, I'd put a sterile air filter inline and use a SS aeration stone just as with any aquarium pump. The only real disadvantage is the "D" batteries.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

Just my opinion but I don't see the point of pumping atmospheric air. To pump straight oxygen is much faster and only costs me about 50cents/batch. The only difference would be that you don't need a filter or that pump but you would need a regulator from a homebrew shop. Just my opinion though.

 

[Sawdustguy]

Just my opinion but I don't see the point of pumping atmospheric air. To pump straight oxygen is much faster and only costs me about 50cents/batch. The only difference would be that you don't need a filter or that pump but you would need a regulator from a homebrew shop. Just my opinion though.

The point is that straight oxygen is not needed. If one over does it with oxygen you can damage your beer.

Too much oxygen causes:

- Rapid fermentations, resulting in excessive yeast growth and beer losses
- High ester production, resulting in a fruity-tasting beer

Using filtered air is a good solution to prevent over oxygenation and gives the yeast plenty of oxygen to grow with.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

The point is that straight oxygen is not needed. If one over does it with oxygen you can damage your beer.

Too much oxygen causes:

- Rapid fermentations, resulting in excessive yeast growth and beer losses
- High ester production, resulting in a fruity-tasting beer

Using filtered air is a good solution to prevent over oxygenation and gives the yeast plenty of oxygen to grow with.

Good points. It's just at the end of a long brew day I want to add the oxygen and call it a day. To wait the time required when using atmospheric air isn't appealing to me. Again, just my opinion.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

I just found this video while watching brewing related clips on youtube. The info he has is interesting. I had never thought of purging the headspace with oxygen and then shaking but interesting. I can keep that in mind if my diffusion stone starts clogging up often.