Oxygen and Diffusion stone trouble

[SloMocean]

I bought the Oxygen Aeration Kit from Williams Brewing to try to improve my fermentation. I bought one of the standard red oxygen cylinders from my local hardware store, hooked the regulator system up, opened the valve and nothing happened. No bubbles, no air, nothing.

I pulled the hose off the regulator the check the air flow and there was no air coming out at all. I thought maybe I got a bad bottle so I took it back and picked up a different brand cylinder from a different hardware store. Same results. I contacted Williams and they sent me a new regulator but I'm still having the same issues - no air flow. My assumption was that if I opened the valve all the way open there would be significant airflow since the tank is under pressure. Am I wrong about this?

As a last experiment I pulled the stone off and just put the hose in the water. When I did this I was able to get some bubbles out and they would start and stop as I opened the regulator but there wasn't anywhere close to enough pressure to push air through the stone.

Any ideas on what might be going wrong? Did I just get two bad bottles of oxygen? Any other ideas on how I can trouble shoot the problem?

 

[ajf]

I've bought an empty cylinder from Home Depot once. Can you weigh the tank?
My spare one (which I haven't opened yet) weighs 631 grams with the white plastic cap, and no regulator. Of course, it could be another empty one, but I don't think so. Each tank contains about 40 grams O2, so an empty one should weigh about 590 grams.

-a.

 

[McGarnigle]

Hmmm...I have the Williams kit, and with the stone attached, you can't help but notice it's working by looking at the wort. Are you fully attaching the stone to the tube (it's hard to imagine not; you just slip it on)? Is your stone broken? i wouldn't even know how.

The fact that you're getting bubbles without the stone would suggest that your tanks aren't empty.

 

[Bacchus]

I bought the Oxygen Aeration Kit from Williams Brewing to try to improve my fermentation. I bought one of the standard red oxygen cylinders from my local hardware store, hooked the regulator system up, opened the valve and nothing happened. No bubbles, no air, nothing.

I pulled the hose off the regulator the check the air flow and there was no air coming out at all. I thought maybe I got a bad bottle so I took it back and picked up a different brand cylinder from a different hardware store. Same results. I contacted Williams and they sent me a new regulator but I'm still having the same issues - no air flow. My assumption was that if I opened the valve all the way open there would be significant airflow since the tank is under pressure. Am I wrong about this?

As a last experiment I pulled the stone off and just put the hose in the water. When I did this I was able to get some bubbles out and they would start and stop as I opened the regulator but there wasn't anywhere close to enough pressure to push air through the stone.

Any ideas on what might be going wrong? Did I just get two bad bottles of oxygen? Any other ideas on how I can trouble shoot the problem?

Hmmm.....that is a mystery! I have the same setup from Williams Brewing and it works gangbusters. I'm not sure what would be causing your woes but I will tell you one little secret about that Williams wand and regulator.....

Before you attach your regulator to the bottle, put a few wraps of teflon tape around the threads of the bottle. If you don't you stand a good chance of losing your oxygen via slight leakage in between batches of beer. I learned this the hard way. LOL!!

 

[BigErn]

Just becuase you bought a bottle does not mean there is gas in it. Does your bottle or regulator setup have a pressure guage? If not unhook everything and open up the bottles main isolation valve. If nothing comes out you have either an empty bottle or a damaged Isolation valve.

If there is air in the bottle then that leaves out the Regulator. You would either have a blocked line or the pressure reducing valve is faulty.

Trouble shooting is about taking it one step at a time and eliminating options. If all other explinations have been defunked then the remaining option is most likely the right one.

 

[SloMocean]

I've bought an empty cylinder from Home Depot once. Can you weigh the tank?
My spare one (which I haven't opened yet) weighs 631 grams with the white plastic cap, and no regulator. Of course, it could be another empty one, but I don't think so. Each tank contains about 40 grams O2, so an empty one should weigh about 590 grams.

-a.

One of my bottles w/o the white cap weighs 596, the other 599. Looks like I really might have gotten two empty bottles.

 

[SloMocean]

Hmmm...I have the Williams kit, and with the stone attached, you can't help but notice it's working by looking at the wort. Are you fully attaching the stone to the tube (it's hard to imagine not; you just slip it on)? Is your stone broken? i wouldn't even know how.

The fact that you're getting bubbles without the stone would suggest that your tanks aren't empty.

This whole kit is super easy. I wouldn't have any idea how I could be doing anything wrong.

The bubbles I was getting through the hose didn't last very long. It was about one large bubble every second and only last for about 15 seconds before they stopped. Again - looks like it's pointing to empty bottles.

 

[SloMocean]

I'm in the process of moving so haven't been able to get back to this project for awhile. I took my scale with me to the hardware store and weighed all the bottles. A full tanks were coming in between 635-650 grams. Bought the heaviest bottle, brought it home, tried the teflon tape trick and everything worked perfect!

Thanks again for all your advice. Looking forward to using this next weekend for my first AG batch

 

[Revvy]

Are you opening the regulator all the way? What I have found with most folks who have them, including myself, is that on those cheap regulators, there is really no gradual opening of the bottle, in order to get the o2 to flow, you have to crank it open all the way. Anything less and you get NO airflow.

The second thing is have you boiled you airstone yet? The get clogged with oils from our hands, and the wort itself. And since the pores are so tiny it really doesn't take much to plug them. I have found that if I don't boil mine every few batches it mimics the empty bottle syndrome, even though I have the valve open all the way there is still no airflow.

 

[BigErn]

Always start with the Regulator closed though... Never Open the bottle isolation with the regulator all the way open. Ive seen too many Reducing valve damage from people leaving the regulator open.

 

[SloMocean]

The second thing is have you boiled you airstone yet? The get clogged with oils from our hands, and the wort itself. And since the pores are so tiny it really doesn't take much to plug them. I have found that if I don't boil mine every few batches it mimics the empty bottle syndrome, even though I have the valve open all the way there is still no airflow.

The stone was brand new so I didn't see the need in boiling it the first time I tried using it. Just to be safe I boiled it before I did my last test that worked. I'm still 99% sure my problem was due to empty bottles and not the stone - either way it's working now!