I completely underestimated role of oxygen

[Golddiggie]

I turn off the regulator, as well as the valve on the O2 cylinder (a 20 cubic foot) before removing the wand from the tubing. I keep my original wand in the platic bag it came in. The newer wand (just got the wand this time) gets stored with the stone wrapped in aluminum foil. Both get a dunk in StarSan, with O2 pushed through them, before being stored.

 

[emjay]

I leave it attached to the tubing, but other than that I'm the same as GoldDiggie (with the plastic, not the foil).

 

[Jukas]

If you wanted to try oxygenation on the cheap, I wonder could you used a sanitized airstone & tubing that you typically find in aquarium use with a small pump (granted it would have to be run a lot longer than using pure O2)?

If so I think you could do a test for under $12, I'm just not sure an aquarium airstone would be safe to use.

 

[coypoo]

If you wanted to try oxygenation on the cheap, I wonder could you used a sanitized airstone & tubing that you typically find in aquarium use with a small pump (granted it would have to be run a lot longer than using pure O2)?

If so I think you could do a test for under $12, I'm just not sure an aquarium airstone would be safe to use.

That would be aerating not oxygenating bc you're using room air

 

[BryanJ]

If you wanted to try oxygenation on the cheap, I wonder could you used a sanitized airstone & tubing that you typically find in aquarium use with a small pump (granted it would have to be run a lot longer than using pure O2)?

If so I think you could do a test for under $12, I'm just not sure an aquarium airstone would be safe to use.

That would work, using air you can get a max of 8ppm of o2 into wort. You would need a inline filter to make sure your not injecting anything into your wort.

 

[emjay]

If you wanted to try oxygenation on the cheap, I wonder could you used a sanitized airstone & tubing that you typically find in aquarium use with a small pump (granted it would have to be run a lot longer than using pure O2)?

If so I think you could do a test for under $12, I'm just not sure an aquarium airstone would be safe to use.

Most decent homebrew shops sell an aeration setup with aquarium pump, airstone, tubing, and filter.

I bought one a while back, but I don't really recommend it, since for just marginally more money ($15-20), you can get a much better *oxygenation* setup that uses the disposable welding tanks.

 

[Bones1948]

Room air being 21% O2, an aquarium pump would do well. Certainly much more efficient than shaking and sloshing for 10 minutes. Run some sanitizer (booze, StarSan) thru tubing and soak the aquarium stone in same. Filter the air with a wet (sanitizer) cotton ball at the pump inlet or stuff a small amount of wet cotton into the tubing just in front of the stone using a match stick or similar. Fix the tubing/stone to some wire (length of coat hanger) with some tiny boat ties (cable ties) then sanitize the apparatus with sanitizer squirted by mist bottle ($.99 at Walley-World). The wire/Tubing apparatus enables getting the stone to bottom of wort (otherwise the stone just floats on top of wort). I'd bubble the wort for 3-4 minutes. You will probably then have bubbling in the air lock in <8 hours, probably 6, I'd bet on 4 depending on the temperature of the wort.

Please report back to us with success, failure, pitfalls or other pearls of wisdom.

Bones

 

[BrewKnurd]

Room air being 21% O2, an aquarium pump would do well. Certainly much more efficient than shaking and sloshing for 10 minutes.

It all depends on how you define efficient. As far as physical effort, yes. As far as time it takes to properly aerate, there's evidence that shaking is your best bet for quick aeration if you're just using air.

http://www.brewangels.com/Beerformation/AerationMethods.pdf

 

[msa8967]

So far in the last week I have done five (2.5 gallon) brew in the bag brews. I am using buckets instead of carboys. I let the O2 have strong bubbles and added O2 for 12-15 seconds per batch. For all 5 brews I made yeast starters and there is no activity in any of the airlocks so I am wondering if I did something wrong with the aeration. (I know that no airlock activity is not an indication of lack of fermentation). I plan to check on the first brews SG later today.

Any idea if I did something wrong? Should I have stirred the wort after adding the O2? Should I have let the O2 run longer because of using buckets instead of carboys?

 

[meadowstream]

Yeast will not go anaerobic and produce CO2 and ethanol when there is oxygen available. Maybe they are just consuming the O2 you saturated the fermenters withuntil they run out? Are the seals on the buckets working? I think that if there is fermentation going on then the airlock should be active (assuming the airlock is the easiest way out.)

 

[msa8967]

All of the seals on the lids are tight. I am just thinking that I didn't get enough O2 in there.

 

[meadowstream]

From what you posted originally, I think you had plenty of O2 to start with.

 

[msa8967]

Just checked the gravity, it was 1.056 to start and is 1.030 7 days later. I usually don't check the gravity after one week so I am not sure if this is normal or slower than normal progress.

 

[Crito]

I started with the nutrients and O2 wand at the same time. OMG the results are awesome.

I just have to say that.

 

[coypoo]

I've noticed since adding o2 that the lag time is a bit longer than I was used too. Nothing to worry about

 

[Griff777]

I have been using the long agitator attachment that you put in your drill. It creates a giant vortex in the fermenter before adding the yeast starter and my beers have been bubbling the airlock in less than three hours. I usually hit it with this agitator rod 20 to30 seconds. I have used it carboys, but now prefer to use the pails for my primary and the carboys for the secondary. The pails are easier to clean and leave a few inches for krausen and foam, so no losses like when i was using the blowoff system in a carboy.

 

[Kaewan]

I've noticed since adding o2 that the lag time is a bit longer than I was used too. Nothing to worry about

I believe that is normal. The yeast will use oxygen to build their cell walls and replicate while the oxygen lasts. Once the oxygen is scarce, they will start fermentation. Even with the added lag time, fermentation should generally be quicker with the O2 as there should be more healthy yeast to do the job.

 

[msa8967]

Yesterday I had a small leak in the connection of the wand and the O2 bottle so I did not have much in the tank toadd to the boilled wort. So I aerated this by using a drill and a dedicated paint mixer. Now i have a fresh bottle of O2 and want to know if 24 hours later is too late to bother adding O2 at this point?

 

[BrewKnurd]

Yesterday I had a small leak in the connection of the wand and the O2 bottle so I did not have much in the tank toadd to the boilled wort. So I aerated this by using a drill and a dedicated paint mixer. Now i have a fresh bottle of O2 and want to know if 24 hours later is too late to bother adding O2 at this point?

If the yeast have already started active fermentation, don't add more O2.

 

[msa8967]

If the yeast have already started active fermentation, don't add more O2.

The airlocks are bubbling so I will not be adding any O2 at this point. Thanks for letting me know.

 

[TriangleIL]

Looks good to me... I would just check to make sure it has a threaded fitting for the O2 out. With the picture as it is, you cannot tell what the fitting is for the O2 out part. Even though a barb fitting on the regulator would work too, I like using threaded fittings for my lines/tubing whenever possible.

Still, it's hard to go wrong at that price. Just wish it was available with Amazon Prime.

I am very confused by this thread. Everyone seems to be looking at medical regulators for their oxygen tanks. Do these regulators only work with the green medical oxygen tanks? Can those tanks be filled without prescription? If not, what are people doing about the tanks running out of gas? I have an opportunity to pick up a large oxygen tank with regulator and 25% full, for extremely cheap. However, it is a medical tank, and I don't want to throw money away if I can't ever fill it again. Thoughts?

 

[Golddiggie]

The tank I have is for welding O2 not a medical tank. You can get the medical flow regulators with the regular tank connection. That wah you can swap/fill them where welding gases are sold.

 

[MrTheKing]

I'm using the Williams Brewing kit with just a regular o2 tank from a hardware store.

 

[kpr121]

I am very confused by this thread. Everyone seems to be looking at medical regulators for their oxygen tanks. Do these regulators only work with the green medical oxygen tanks? Can those tanks be filled without prescription? If not, what are people doing about the tanks running out of gas? I have an opportunity to pick up a large oxygen tank with regulator and 25% full, for extremely cheap. However, it is a medical tank, and I don't want to throw money away if I can't ever fill it again. Thoughts?

How cheap is 'extremely cheap'? I buy the disposable tanks at the Lowes for like 9 bucks and they only hold a couple oz of O2. I’ve used it on about 70 gallons of beer/wine/mead/cider so far and haven’t run out yet (some people claim they can get 30 batches out of them).

Depending on how big that tank is, you may not need to replace it for a very very long time. Think of it as a disposable tank. Unless (god forbid) you or a family member develop a condition which requires oxygen, then you may have an excuse to get it filled.

Basically, if you have the room to keep it and its really cheap, than go for it and don’t worry about your oxygen needs for multiple years.

 

[TriangleIL]

I think I get it now, so I want the CGA540 outlet, not the 870?

 

[Golddiggie]

I think I get it now, so I want the CGA540 outlet, not the 870?

Sounds right. Its the tank connection welding regulators use (for oxygen).

Also, a 20 cubic foot O2 tank is about the same size as a 5# CO2 tank, so easy to store. You can get the regulator for under $30 from ebay or amazon. Since yoh swap/refill the O2 tank its cheap for the volume. Plus you save by just buying the wand and stone (or just a stone) not the full kit. With an actual meter o. The regulator you KNOW how mych O2 you're infusing. With the disposable regulator you're just guessing.

 

[jholen]

I'll take some photos of my rig. Basically, if you plan to use a regular welding oxygen tank acquired from a local welding shop (what I did) you need to look for a medical regulator that has a bolt attachment on it. See my pictures below of my current setup.

Here is the specific regulator I purchased: http://www.ebay.com/itm/H-M-Medical...ltDomain_0&hash=item255739e28d#ht_1274wt_1163

And coupled with the beverage tubing from MoreBeer + their oxygen stone, everything hooks up perfectly to the barb outlet on the regulator.

One of my best purchases ever. Got everything for around $120 - and it took all the worry or guessing out of oxygenating my wort.

 

[TriangleIL]

Awesome, thanks a ton for the pictures, that makes a lot of sense now. The specific oxygen setup I am looking at is an "E" tank, with regulator and half full. The price is $55.

Craigslist Ad for tanks

Would this make sense, or should I just stick with a welding tank + ebay regulator?

Sorry for the noob questions, just don't want to make a bad purchase and screw myself.

 

[jholen]

Well, those appear (from my limited knowledge) to be medical tanks, and I'm not sure how the regulators work as I can't see them blown up, but would imagine that they'd have LPM settings for you to adjust similar to my regulator shown above.

Those should work, if you can attach some hose to your stone, but again you might have problems getting them filled up without having a perscription. I decided against getting a medical tank, and just taking the investment to get the tank from a welding supply shop directly.

An exchange is about $14.50 for a full tank, so basically my oxygen needs are completely solved for the remainder of my time brewing. It was a $120 investment up front, but worth it in my opinion. Beats spending $10 or whatever for those little tanks and not knowing exactly how much oxygen you are putting in, not to mention that most websites want atleast $50-60 for the kit with stone and plastic reg.

Basically, to get back to your question - do you want a short term solution that may work (but that you probably can't get refilled) or a long term solution that is proven to work?

p.s. Another option is to ask your dentist to see if he can prescribe you oxygen. If he can, then you just solved getting those medical tanks refilled. Then medical tanks might make a lot more sense.

 

[foltster]

How many of you are still using your O2 setups regularly?