Inline wort aeration build

[bbognerks]

thats nices, why 2 outlets?

It's in and out, not 2 outlets. The hose shown is attached to the air stone.

 

[jramirez126]

Wayne at BargainFittings.com made one for me.

Drop him a line. He is very easy to work with.

New Toys

Hey Wayne, where did you get your oxygen tank and regulator?

 

[Wayne1]

The O2 tanks are disposable. The last two I picked up at my local ACE hardware. My local Lowes and Home Depot used to sell them, but no longer. Some of the store still do.

The regulator was purchased many years ago from my LHBS. I believe Williams Brewing Supply and Austin Homebrew sell them.

 

[milldoggy]

My homedepot, the tanks actually got 33% bigger. Same price I think.

 

[emjay]

My homedepot, the tanks actually got 33% bigger. Same price I think.

My bernzomatic oxygen tank from Home Depot has 50% more oxygen now... 2.1oz

 

[Maltose]

Anyone know what kind of LPM a wide open Oxynator (simple turn nob on a disposable O2 tank) runs at?

 

[pola0502ds]

I know a little talk about cleaning the stone has been done in this thread. i did my first batch this past weekend and i built the same aeration stone assembly as Wayne. I used it and it worked perfect but now that i actually used it I have a few questions. Since this fixture comes right after the wort chiller and because I was cleaning and sanitizing the chiller, i noticed that some water and sanitizer had actually made it into the stone (which is good) but past the stone and into the tubing that the O2 flows through. Has anyone else had this issue and is it really a problem?

Next question, how often should I actually remove the stone and really clean it very well? After each brew or after 3-5 brews? If you really clean it every 3-5, what is the best way to clean it after the brew you just aerated and what's the best way to sanitize it before you aerate?

What I did on my first brew day way, I generate steam in a 15 gallon sanke that doesn't have it's top cut off. Attach a tri-clamp to the opening of the keg, run a hose from the triclamp to the opening of my therminator. I let steam pass through the terminator and into the aeration stone fixture. I do this for about 20 minutes. I got this idea from a friend who brews a lot and it works like a champ every time. Does a very good job of sanitizing everything that the wort touches. The only thing my buddy didn't have was this aeration stone fixture. I just wonder if the steam will do a good job of cleaning and sanitizing it.

 

[Wayne1]

In my system, I recirculate PBW through all the hoses, pump, CFC and aeration fitting after each use. I remove the hose from the regulator to allow the liquid to flow into the stone.

I then rinse the system, thoroughly. Before each use, I rinse again and run Sani-Clean through the system, without the aeration fitting in place. I usually end up soaking the entire fitting in Sani-Clean. This does allow the sanitizer to soak into the stone.

Sani-Clean is also an acid sanitizer similar to StarSan but without all the foam. this does work a bit better for recirculation sanitizing. Beer stone (Calcium Oxalate), which is inorganic, is what tends to clog the pores in a stone. An acid is needed to dissolve beer stone.

I would not suggest using steam in a home brewing system. The high temperatures just might melt certain plastics. If you built the aeration fitting using the same parts as I did, the sight glass is not rated for temps above 140F.

There are also certain bacteria that can survive high temps. There are not any I am aware of that can survive an Acid Anionic sanitizer.

As far as not allowing any of the sanitizer into the fermenter, I usually allow the beer to push through any sanitizer before I connect the hose to my fermenter. I also turn on the O2 before wort starts to flow. This will blow out any liquid that may be in the O2 line.

 

[pola0502ds]

Your right about the clear plastic tubing. Prior to brew day i actually just ran water through it and turned the O2 on to make sure bubbles were coming through the sight glass and they did. On brew day, and when i had steam passing through the sight glass, I was actually watching the sight glass as it literally just fell out as if it had no threads. It was so weird, i picked up the plastic sight glass and none of the threads were damaged. But it warmed up so much that it just fell off. I really thought the plastic was rated higher. So being that I knew the fixture worked properly, I just added a stainless nipple to where the sight glass was.

Using steam under pressure is what I am doing. I have a valve after my chiller that i close and open to create pressure. I also have temp gauges that I read while doing this. When i close the valve i can see the temp go way beyond 212 and once i get to a certain point i open the valve back up. There is some risk in this but you just have to know what your doing. I have seen brewers do this for years without having any problems. However, I do like the way you do things. I need to make my fixture removable so i can do what you do.


Thanks for the response.

 

[drmark50]

Anyone recently build this from parts at bargainfittings? Have the prices changed dramatically?

 

[pola0502ds]

I built it recently but I can't remember if the prices changed. You don't have to buy those parts from him. I found each part for this fixture online for different stores. However, i didn't want to pay shipping for 2-3 different companies so I bought it all from him.

 

[jamest22]

Question for you guys who are using inline aeration fittings. How long are you running the oxygen for? For those using sanitary air and not pure O2, does the inline stone provide sufficient aeration for even high gravity beers? A 5 gal batch can be run off through a plate chiller in about five to ten minutes. Common wisdom for sanitary air aeration with a stone is 20 to 30 minutes in the fermenter. Does the inline stone cause more air to be dissovled in the wort in a given amount of time compared to aerating the whole five gallons in the fermenter (due to surface area exposure)?

 

[milldoggy]

I stopped using mine. I did not the gunk that would build up, not worth it. When I did use it I would run it the whole time at a trickle.

 

[dmfa200]

Here's what I did. Maybe you can get some more ideas on how you want to build yours.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-version-chill-wizard-inline-aeration-300016/

If you need a stone welded to a fitting let me know. I will do it for free.

 

[jamest22]

I was considering using one of these NPT to Digital Probe compression fittings to insert my Williams Brewing aeration wand/stone into a tee at the output of my therminator. Seems like it would be cheap and easy:
http://www.brewhardware.com/fittings/125-probecompression

But I have started to favor using an aquarium pump and stone for aeration and I was wondering if inline sanitary air could achieve proper wort aeration levels.

 

[sils13]

Question more so for when using the inline stone has anyone had issues with fluid going back through the stone and into the actual air line Sunday was my first weekend on my new brew setup and I have a couple of bugs to work out this happens to be one of them hopefully I can figure something out by Friday when I brew again ill try and post a picture of my setup tomorrow

 

[stevehaun]

I have the O2 line clamped until I turn the O2 on. I pump boiling wort thru my chiller, tubing and oxygenator for 5 min to sterilize. Then, I turn on the counterflow water and wait until I get the wort under 70F and then I turn on on the O2 and open the clamp.

 

[ClaudiusB]

has anyone had issues with fluid going back through the stone and into the actual air line

Can happen without a check valve.
I set my O2 tank pressure above my pump pressure (15 psi) to prevent any feed back.

 

[sils13]

Awesome thanx for the suggestions ill give them a shot this Friday see how things go

 

[Monster Mash]

I built one a while ago. Stopped using it because it was much easier to use a wand to get repeatable results.

I built one also and quit using it. You have to tear it down and clean it often or it gets nasty inside. Also if it starts foaming too much you can't get all of your wort in the fermenter until the foam settles.

It was more of a pain then it was worth so I went back to dropping the stone in the fermenter after it's filled. Much easier to control.

 

[aclockworkblue]

Question...
When aerating wort inline how long do you aerate for? I know in vessels like carboys or kegs (depending pump vs canister as well as other factors) I've seen anywhere from 1 min with canister to an hour with the pump. This is in a vessel, but inline the wort just passes over the stone for a sec while traveling. So what to do? How long then? Could you go trough a whole canister that way for a 10gal batch? I don't aerate yet but curious about starting.

Thanks!

 

[KGB09]

Here is my inline aerator/thermometer/sight glass. Took the idea from more beer.

 

[limulus]

Now that is pretty! I have been using a large paint stirrer and a drill for several years to aerate. That has been very effective but makes a LOT of foam. I bought an O2 system from Adventures in Homebrewing a couple of weeks ago and I'll use it for the first time on my next batch which was supposed to be today. I guess my next project is an in-line system coming out of the plate chiller.

 

[WhiskeySix]

I have a 1/2" NPT stone threaded into the right side of the tee. When I open the regulator the sight glass fills with bubbles.