Inline wort aeration build

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pola0502ds

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I did some searching and i cannot find the thread I am looking for. I am looking for a build where i can add O2 to the wort after it comes out of the chiller. Similar to the Chill-Wizard from Sabco. (http://www.brew-magic.com/chillwiz2.html)

I would like to hard plumb it in, some how add a diffusion stone, let the wort pass through it and them I'm done. Does anyone know if there is a thread out there that I cannot find? I'm sure someone has already done this.
 
Wayne at BargainFittings.com made one for me.

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

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New Toys
 
$829 for a chilling / aeration device. Are they crazy?

That's alot of money for something that I'm not convinced is all that important frankly.

Assuming a healthy yeast pitch and you are making "normal" beers (less than 1.080 OG), I've gotten away without any aeration whatsover and produced clean and properly attenuated beers.

Seems like a better way is to buy the standard $40-60 oxygen kit from your homebrew shop of choice and drag it out for that occasional big beer.

My 0.02.
 
Get in touch with him to find out what will work with your system.

I believe the parts cost was around $35.00 without the cam-locks. That may have changed. I supplied the airstone, QDs, and Teflon tape.
 
Wayne at BargainFittings.com made one for me.

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

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New Toys

Very nice, thank you sir.

From the looks of yours, i have everything i need except for the stone. I have left over nipples and tees so i could do this. Question, how is the stone mounted? That is the part I don't get.
 
That's alot of money for something that I'm not convinced is all that important frankly.

Assuming a healthy yeast pitch and you are making "normal" beers (less than 1.080 OG), I've gotten away without any aeration whatsover and produced clean and properly attenuated beers.

Seems like a better way is to buy the standard $40-60 oxygen kit from your homebrew shop of choice and drag it out for that occasional big beer.

My 0.02.

Yeah, I won't be ordering one of those. I have extra parts left over and I just want to build the assembly that holds the stone. Thats all i'm after.
 
Get in touch with him to find out what will work with your system.

I believe the parts cost was around $35.00 without the cam-locks. That may have changed. I supplied the airstone, QDs, and Teflon tape.

A couple questions on yours, what did you use for the sight glass and where did you get it?

The bottom picture you posted, the left hand "t" what is sticking out of it? Right hand "t", I'm assuming thats your diffusion stone?
 
All the parts were sourced from Wayne at BargainFittings.com.

The clear polycarbonate sightglass came from him. I use it to determine the amount of O2 that is being injected into the wort as it flows through.

The sintered stainless stone is located in the "T" section on the right.

There is a reducer and then a compression fitting that clamps onto a small piece of tubing. The 1/4" tubing to the airstone is threaded through this. The compression fitting is tightened around the tubing to hold it in place.

O2_fitting.JPG


The left hand "T" has a thermowell installed. When cooling, I insert a probe connected to my digital thermometer into the thermowell to monitor the temperature of the wort. By adjusting the amount of flow of the water going through the CFC, I can adjust the temperature of the wort going into the fermenter.

O2_fitting2.JPG


O2fitting3.JPG
 
Thanks wayne, The very last picture, what am I seeing? Or is that just the wall thickness of the clear tubing that makes it look like something is going through it.


I will be copying your inline method, if you don't mind =)

Is this method effective? any down sides?
 
Can I ask for a link to the stone you used in your setup? I didn't see any stones on bargain fittings website.

Also, what does sintered stone mean?
 
From the picture the wort flows into the tee, through the polycarbonate tube then out through the 2nd tee. Is there a check valve any where in the sysyem? What stops the wort from being pushed into the sintered stone and O2 tubing?
 
0102051.jpg


This is the stone that is in my build. I obtained it from www.brewmasterswarehouse.com

Sintering is a method of building up materials from powder. This method is used to achieve very consistent porosity. In the case of this stone, it will only allow the O2 stream out through the very fine "holes", each no larger than 0.5 microns.

The 1/4" hose is connected to the regulator on the O2 tank. With the regulator connected there is no place to wort to flow.

01075-Oxygen-Regulator-th.jpg


The last picture shows the thermowell inside the fitting. I place the sensor from my digital thermometer inside the thermowell to protect it from getting wet. The sensor will be reading the heat of the thermowell which is immersed in the wort.

I find no downsides to this method of oxygenation. Using a smaller amount of O2 over the entire time of transfer ensures that all the wort is suffused with O2. DO NOT turn the regulator all the way up. Just adjust it until you can see a small amount of bubbles streaming along with the wort. Active krausen can be noticed in less than 12 hours, on a consistent basis. You will also achieve a lower, more consistent FG with the yeast having plenty of O2.

While many others are happy with different methods of aeration, I did try to base my brewing system on the techniques I used as a successful pub brewer. Inline oxygenation is one of those techniques.
 
Can you tell me where I can find the product to do this sintering?

Will I be able to preform this sintering process using normal household tools and devices? I looked up what sintering is and it says it needs heated to high temperatures.

I thought people were buying threaded stones.. So basically, the stone is sintered into a bushing and the bushing is threaded into the tee. You can remove the stone as needed to sanitize?
 
Buy the stone I linked to in the last post and connect the barb to a length of 1/4" tubing. Run the tubing through the compression fitting. There is no need to remove the stone from the fitting, although you can. Just immerse the entire assembly in Star-san or Sani-clean. The stone is porous. The sanitizer will flow through it when the regulator is not connected to the flex tubing. When you are ready to use it. Connect the tubing to the regulator and run some O2 through it. That will blow out all the sanitizer.
 
Okay, I guess I really got confused. I thought when you said sintering you mean that's basically how you connected the stone to the tee.

So I guess I don't understand how the stone is placed and held within the tee? Does it just float or lay in there and the compression fitting around the tubing holds it in place. This is what I really need cleared up.

Sorry about this man, I know it can be frustrating trying to get your point across. Maybe you did and I don't understand it.
 
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Here are three pictures I have just taken of the interior of the fitting with the airstone.

The barbed end has 1/4" OD tubing connected to it. A small length of 1/4" ID tubing is placed over the smaller tubing to hold it in place in the compression fitting. The smaller tubing is run out of the fitting and gets connected to the regulator.

Buy the stone from Brewmasters Warehouse. Buy the rest of the fittings from Bargainfittings.com. Get in contact with Wayne there. He will put everything together for you.
 
Thanks Wayne, that really helped a lot. I have already been in touch with wayne over the phone. I sent a e-mail him last week and he actually called me on the phone this morning to talk about the components I need. He will be sending me an e-mail shortly with links to everything on his website I need to purchase.
 
...snip....
The 1/4" hose is connected to the regulator on the O2 tank. With the regulator connected there is no place to wort to flow.
....snip

This looks like what I have been thinking about. But based on the picture you posted the 1/4" tubing looks like something backed up into it. Do you know what that is?

O2_fitting1.JPG
 
Morebeer has to have the threaded stone that you are looking for. They assemble these that have it:

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



 
Morebeer has to have the threaded stone that you are looking for. They assemble these that have it:

2571.jpg

They do sell one, I just found out. It's in their catalog but not on their website. I just got the catalog and found it the other day. Figures, after I just purchased everything.
 
So wayne, the point of the 1/4" ID is to create a lalrger tube for the compression fitting to be able to tighten down on? For my sight guage i use the same compression fitting but an elbow and to secure the slight glass I use 2 silicone orings. I think it's the same concept?
 
Morebeer sells diffusion stones with flare fittings. I have one coming on the way right now, though it's just for an aquarium pump, but the idea is to make it easily removable from the pump line so that I can boil it.

But still, even for your purposes, I imagine it'd be superior to, as well as cheaper than, hacking it together with a compression fitting and some tubing...
 
Here is what I put together. It's after the kettle out valve, not after the plate, so if you're doing a gravity feed chill to the fermenter and not a recirc like I do, it doesn't apply as much, I guess.

First is a tri-clamp instrument tee, so squat on the side facing down. Then (thanks to brewershardware) a stone extension to cap weld that's right after the kettle output and right before my wort pump and chiller. The cap weld has got a corny bulkhead welded on the other end for a post to screw on. That way, I don't have to have a hose permanently attached and can switch from O2 to filter air if I want to try that. It's also like a smaller 'wand' to stir with for when I oxygenate my starters.

I do it this way is cause I wanted the whole line heat sanitized by boiling wort, including the stone, in conjunction with my recirculating plate chill. Although with O2 I just inject on it's way to the fermenter, with air, I bet I'd crank it on while it's finishing it's recirc. Also, in that it's tri-clamp, I use screen gaskets as part of my filtering pre-plate. I could even go w/ a small sock gasket if I wanted. That's to me a major advantage vs the pipe thread ones like at morebeer.

Anyhoo, hope this helps anyone!:mug:

IMG_0955.jpg
 
Here's what I came up with on mine. I purchased the Williams Oxygenation kit that included the SS wand attached to a diffusion stone. I cut the wand, drilled a hole in a SS plug and then silver soldered it in.

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More beer does sell one like it on their website, you just have to have the link. I spent about $30 to build one and they sell them for $50.

MoreBeer.com MPT Oxygen Stone
 
Bog,

Thats a good idea.

Sanke,

Like you i use a combination of threaded fittings and tri-clamps. Can you go into more detail about how the stone is fixed to the tri-clamp and may post some more pictures.
I guess i'm confused on how the O2 connects to the stone.

Did you get the whole stone welded to the triclamp from brewers hardware?

Also, at the top of your picture, what the heck is that item that has those large threads on it?
 
The fitting is a tri-clamp cap. On the inside, there is an extension (like 3") welded to a morebeer barb stone- so as to make the stone as close to the valve as possible (and 'in the way' of the wort). On the outside, there is a morebeer corny bulkhead welded. I then can screw on a corny post. I put a ball lock on the Ox tank. It's a brewershardware job.

I am fairly OCD about making whatever it is that I use 'dual purpose' or multi-use. My fermenters are tri-clamp. Thanks to the ball lock input, I can use the assembly as an in-line carbonation device as well. Haven't done that yet.

That item is the boil kettle output. I have a brewmation electric rig (they're 17.5 gal sinks).

IMG_0969.jpg
 
Here's what I came up with on mine. I purchased the Williams Oxygenation kit that included the SS wand attached to a diffusion stone. I cut the wand, drilled a hole in a SS plug and then silver soldered it in.

img_0391.jpg


More beer does sell one like it on their website, you just have to have the link. I spent about $30 to build one and they sell them for $50.

MoreBeer.com MPT Oxygen Stone

I don't know to much about soldering, what is silver solder?
 
Sanke,

When you say it's a brewers hardware job, do you mean Derrin got all the parts for you and welded everything?

Do you already have pics of your fermenters posted on another thread? I like to see them with triclamps.

Like i said all the connections on my system are Tri-clamp but i do have a lot of threaded fittings, I just really like the TC method. So many people put it down and say it's over kill. I'd be interested to see what you are using for fermenters and how you applied TC's. I may be interested in doing the same thing.
 
No, I mailed him the parts (except the cap).

He's really coming up with some cool stuff for his store now, which explains why he has 'put a halt' on custom work several times since I've been using him.

I recently used a different dude for a custom part - the fella (Aaron) who made my sanke fermenter. Synergymetalworking.com. Same thing though, mailed him parts from McMaster.

If I became a pro brewer, I'd take TIG welding classes first for sure.
 
No, I mailed him the parts (except the cap).

He's really coming up with some cool stuff for his store now, which explains why he has 'put a halt' on custom work several times since I've been using him.

I recently used a different dude for a custom part - the fella (Aaron) who made my sanke fermenter. Synergymetalworking.com. Same thing though, mailed him parts from McMaster.

If I became a pro brewer, I'd take TIG welding classes first for sure.


I have been working with Derrin on a bunch of things for the past couple months.. He is such a great guy. He's never made anything custome for me but he's given me lots of advice and we have been talking back and fourth about new products. I bought my RIMS tube, a bunch of fittings, stir plate, and his new trub filter.

He has a bunch of new stuff coming out and if he keeps on putting out top notch stuff his company is going to blow up.
 
airstone3.JPG


That is the 1/4" ID tubing over the 1/4" OD tubing as shown in this picture.

Is that a 1/4" compression fitting? I just got my npt/compression fitting from morebeer to make this fixture and I ordered it to be both 1/2" fittings. I wonder if i can still use it but buy tubing to get me up to that thickness? Anyone this I can do this and not have problems?
 
I made one from spare parts that seems to work pretty good. I can't remember where I got the threaded stone from though. I think maybe morebeer.com but it seems their site is down right now.

 
Think I used a half inch compression, I added some silcon orings, seals up nicely. I was from wayne at bargin, but I got it off the classifieds here on hbt
 
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