How do you aerate?

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MrBJones

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What do you to aerate your wort prior to pitching? Use oxygen? Shake the fermenter? Stir it fast/hard for a while? Something else?
 
I use an aerator that looks a lot like a small fish tank aerator. It has a filter on the air intake side and an aeration stone at the output.

I think it cost $50-$60, but I prefer it to trying to lift glass carboys with 3 gallons of wort in them.
 
Bottled oxygen and a diffusion stone. I would reccomend a diffusion wand to make it easier to get to the bottom of your fermenter.
 
I also use bottled oxygen ($8-10 per canister at the local hardware store), a small regulator and a diffusion stone for 30-60 seconds. I also though made a homemade whirlpool paddle like the one listed above that I spin with my portable drill. When I crank up the drill I get an amazing amount of bubbles (3-4" thick) in the wort. I would like to know my wort oxygen content with the paddle and then after the bottles oxygen. I suspect the bottled oxygen may even be overkill after I started using the paddle method.
 
I gave up on the aerators with aquarium pumps. Pumps kept failing on me. Switched over to an oxygen wand. 30 seconds and I’m good. Love it.
 
I use pure O2, through a 0.5 micron stainless sintered stone, at 1 liter per minute. Length of time depends on (generally) the gravity of the wort.
 
I go with simple (5 gal batches)... rapidly pour cooled wort from kettle to sanitized fermentation bucket, back and forth (3 or 5 times). Pitch yeast and done. You may need to manage the wort foam produced.
 
I make 1 gallon badges, so I pour vigorously from certain hight to the fermentor and the I stir like crazy for a while with a whisk to put more air in there
Edit: If I think I need really good aeration, I will place a mesh strainer in the bucket and pour it through it, from a certain hight and with more care as it can splash everywhere, and the whisk it again, obviously everything that touches the wort is sanitized previously
 
Just shake the hell out of the fermenter. I gave up on my oxygen wand as the oxygen tanks were always leaking and empty and it was just one more thing to clean. I see no difference between shaking and the pure O2 in fermentation.
 
4 minutes of O2 through a Williams Brewing .5u wand at .5 lpm per 5.5 gallons...

Cheers!

[edit] No filter used here, just straight O2 from tank through flow reg.
 
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If your lag time is measured in hours, not days, and your attenuation is at, or above, the published range for your yeast, you’re probably doing it right regardless of the chosen method.

FWIW, I use dry yeast with the “sprinkle and shake” method. I brewed a 1.060-something holiday ale yesterday and pitched a package of Nottingham about 4 PM. At 7 this morning I had a nice krausen and the Starsan in the blowoff container has a big head on it. If it works, it works.
 
Thanks all for the great replies! I too have been making five gallon batches in a carboy. Up to this point, I've put a sanitized piece of clear wrap over the mouth and held it in place, with the carboy sideways on my lap as I slosh it back and forth for a while. Seems to work OK. But I'm thinking about getting a BrewBucket, so that won't be possible. Now I have some other options.
Thans again
 
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As a cheapskate and a newb, I pour the 2.5 gals. of cooled wort through a funnel and sieve into the carboy, then add the top-up water in 1/2 gal. increments from a gallon jug, shaking the heck out of the jug for a minute before adding it to the carboy. The yeast seems to find the oxygen level to its liking so far. (I've made 14 batches, all extracts, most with partial grain additions.)
 
Do you need to put a hepa filter in-line when using a tank?
I don't use one. I'd be interested in the discussion for using but don't see a particular need for it. I'm currently using the red O2 bottle from the hardware store but will be switching to a ginormous medical grade tank that will likely last me all my brewing days.
 
I use O2 tank, wand, with a diffusion stone.

Another option I've seen a fellow homebrewer do is he heated up a needle and poked (burned) several small holes in the transfer hose coming off the kettle's spigot. Holds the hose above the fermenter while draining, and the combination of the splashing wort with the air mixing in through the holes provides ample O2 for fermentation. Total cost: pennies.
 
a) pour from the kettle to the fermenter through a sanitized sieve
b) hold back a gallon or so of purified water at room temp or colder to add to the fermenter just before pitching and OG check, with vigorous splashing on the way in and agitation to homogenize the wort before taking the OG sample...

That said, I have a bottle of O2 and a sintered stone, and will (one of these days) work up the courage to sanitize the stone and tubing and push some industrial-strength oxygen into a batch of high-gravity wort
 
For the last few years, after I moved from carboy to SS Brewbucket, I have been using a wire kitchen whisk attached to my power drill. It seems to work for me, however I have started researching an upgrade to an oxygenation set up.
 
I found an old medical nebulizer compressor at a garage sale for $2. Cleaned it up, adjusted the air flow to it's lowest setting and added a filter and stone. It almost pushes too much air as I have to watch for foam coming out of the carboy.
 
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