Oxygen for oxygenating wort

[T Murph]

How do you oxygenate your wort? I'm interested in finding a better way to oxygenate my wort than using industrial oxygen for welding. There has to be a more sanitary way. Are there filters available that I don't know about? Looking for suggestions.

 

[Brew_Dude41]

I have a medical O2 tanks in a garage sale years ago.
Personally I don't see the concerns about using the welding O2, but maybe you can use this: In-Line Sanitary Filter for Aeration Systems

 

[JAReeves]

I have an aquarium pump with a filter but I have not yet used it. I used O2 on the last big beer I made (10%), filtered also. For normal brews, as my wort comes out of the plate chiller, I let it splash like heck into the fermenter. That's good enough for a ripping fermentation with a starter.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Get a O2 tank (from same place as C02), regulator and wand. Good to go.

 

[Bilsch]

Welding, medical and aviators breathing oxygen all come from the same tank. The only difference is that for human use the cylinders have to be inverted for filling. That is the only difference since there is only one process, distillation of air, for creating the oxygen it all comes out very high purity.

Use the welding cylinder and do not worry.

 

[Golddiggie]

I'm using O2 from a welding tank and the SS Brew Tech Inline Oxygenation Kit item on the wort out port of my plate chiller. Works pissah since it infuses the wort as it leaves the plate chiller and flows into my conical fermenter.

Be aware, using pumps or the 'shake' method only gives you a maximum of 8ppm of O2 infused into your wort. It's a limitation of using atmospheric oxygen. Using pure O2 means you can get significantly more oxygen into the wort.

I have a flow regulator (Lpm) on the O2 tank that allows me to set it in .5 Lpm increments. I usually use the 1-2 Lpm values. The upper range for bigger beers. Has done well for me to date.

 

[MaxStout]

Pure O2 will kill a lot of microbes. The process of making it is fractional distillation of liquid air, so there will be no moisture to carry germs anyway. IMO, the biggest infection vector in the aeration/oxygenation system is the aeration stone. Those micron sized holes can trap a lot of stuff. I boil mine after each use, then store in a jar of Starsan until next use.

You can buy a little inline filter from the brew store for $5 if you want to be extra cautious, but it isn't really needed.

 

[Golddiggie]

I push O2 through the stone post use, and cleaning and then it will soak in Starsan for at least 30 minutes on brew day before getting used.

 

[Bilsch]

I push O2 through the stone post use, and cleaning and then it will soak in Starsan for at least 30 minutes on brew day before getting used.

Remember though those small pores wick the wort deep into the passageways. I have found the only way to remove that gunk is to store the stone in 3% NaOh solution between brew days. The first time you do that and see the brown crud that comes out is pretty shocking to say the least.

Edit: If you do this use a plastic bottle and not glass.

 

[Golddiggie]

I might soak the stone I have in warm/hot PBW before the coming brew day. Then push gas through it as well to drive out anything in there. For that, I'd use CO2 instead of O2 since I can crank up the PSI easily there.

 

[IslandLizard]

Remember though those small pores wick the wort deep into the passageways. I have found the only way to remove that gunk is to store the stone in 3% NaOh solution between brew days. The first time you do that and see the brown crud that comes out is pretty shocking to say the least.

Thank you, that's a new method to me, and worth doing.

I've been keeping mine dry between brew sessions. Then submerge in my Starsan bucket during brewday, then at the end, blow out the soaked-up Starsan with O2 before sticking it in the wort. That seems to work fine.

One day I forgot to pull the wand out of the bucket after use. The next day the Starsan had crawled a few feet up the tubing... O2 dissolves in water/Starsan solution!

 

[IslandLizard]

Remember though those small pores wick the wort deep into the passageways.

It won't wick wort if you only stick it into the wort while the O2 is running (foamy stone, bubbles).

 

[day_trippr]

...and remove it and rinse it off while there's still some remaining gas flowing.

fwiw, last year I noticed my 8 yo Williams wand's .5u stone wasn't bubbling anywhere near as uniformly as prior. To clean it I hung it stone-side-down over a plastic tub on my shop bench and slowly pushed hot PBW through it using ~20 psi from my air compressor. I cobbled a quick connect to the wand so I could pour a hundred mls? maybe much less, I dunno - of hot solution in then attach the coupler and push it out, remove the coupler, add more solution, etc. Took about 20 minutes of actual washing/rinsing after around 40 minutes of setup to get it as good as new.

After that I was more conscious of rinsing while the bubbles were still flowing.

I was going to come up with a higher capacity in-line "thing" to fill one time, attach to the wand, and push. Forgot all about it

Cheers!

 

[Bilsch]

It won't wick wort if you only stick it into the wort while the O2 is running (foamy stone, bubbles).

Yes I did all that as well.
Just saying.. try the hydroxide soak (KOH or NaOH) for a couple days and then tell me if your stone was clean.

For the PBW guys.. soaking in any other cleaner just wont do in this case.

 

[DarrellQ]

How do you oxygenate your wort? I'm interested in finding a better way to oxygenate my wort than using industrial oxygen for welding. There has to be a more sanitary way. Are there filters available that I don't know about? Looking for suggestions.

If you are talking about the red "welding" cylinders, the only issue is that they are expensive to use! I bought a new 20lb tank at a local gas supply store completely filled for $120. The guy said the oxygen comes out of the same tank as the medical oxygen and that the only difference is the tank isn't "medical grade." 20 lbs will last me years.

 

[Beermeister32]

I boil mine after each use, then store in a jar of Starsan until next use.

I also used to boil then set in a small jar of Star San. My “stone” is stainless, but the base shaft is not - I noticed that the Star San was corroding and pitting the shaft. Nowadays, I boil it and dry it out. I keep it in a sandwich baggie dry until use. I spray some Star San solution into the baggie to saturate and sanitize the stone prior to use.

 

[MaxStout]

Yes I did all that as well.
Just saying.. try the hydroxide soak (KOH or NaOH) for a couple days and then tell me if your stone was clean.

For the PBW guys.. soaking in any other cleaner just wont do in this case.

I might have to try that. I have a small jar of food-grade NaOH left over from a time I made pretzels.

 

[Golddiggie]

I might have to try that. I have a small jar of food-grade NaOH left over from a time I made pretzels.

"Food grade" as in what's different from pure (or 99% pure) NaOH? I have some of the 99% pure Red Devil NaOH on hand still from when I was anodizing at home. I'll need to check the stone I use and make sure using NaOH won't create more issues than it potentially solves. I've had excellent results from using PBW since I make sure to flush the stone with gas while it's still "wet". I always get clean foam out of it when I do this.

 

[belgabrewing]

Thank you, that's a new method to me, and worth doing.

I've been keeping mine dry between brew sessions. Then submerge in my Starsan bucket during brewday, then at the end, blow out the soaked-up Starsan with O2 before sticking it in the wort. That seems to work fine.

One day I forgot to pull the wand out of the bucket after use. The next day the Starsan had crawled a few feet up the tubing... O2 dissolves in water/Starsan solution!

I quit using any form of oxygenation and went to adding a single drop of extra virgin olive oil to the cooled wort. You dip a sanitized tooth pick into the olive oil and let the drop fall into the wort. That single drop gives the yeast the nutrient they need to grow that they would have had to produce from the oxygen you would have added. Sounds far fetched but works with virtually no chance of infecting the beer.

Here is the link:
https://winning-homebrew.com/olive-oil-in-beer.html

 

[VikeMan]

I quit using any form of oxygenation and went to adding a single drop of extra virgin olive oil to the cooled wort. You dip a sanitized tooth pick into the olive oil and let the drop fall into the wort. That single drop gives the yeast the nutrient they need to grow that they would have had to produce from the oxygen you would have added. Sounds far fetched but works with virtually no chance of infecting the beer.

Here is the link:
https://winning-homebrew.com/olive-oil-in-beer.html

It should be noted that New Belgium, the brewery that did the experiment, ultimately did not switch from O2 to olive oil in production. Maybe because olive oil increased esters. Maybe because fermentations were slower. I dunno, because they never said.

 

[Beermeister32]

Does the olive oil eliminate beer head or reduce head retention? Sounds like a good side-by-side experiment!

 

[MaxStout]

From the "Olive Oil" article:

For this reason, oxygen is always added to a wort prior to pitching yeast as it has always been considered to be essential to yeast growth.

Then it says:

So what if we could do away with the headache of deciding how much oxygen to add, when to add it, and what is the best way to add it. Wouldn’t that simplify our lives as homebrewers? Not to mention the added benefit of improved aging and flavor stability.

So, the article first states the necessity of giving yeast O2 for growth, then goes on to say something like "it's just too complicated, let's just not do the O2 thing altogether and use olive oil instead!"

How does olive oil supply the needed O2 for cell growth? (Rhetorical question. We all know the answer.)

Also worth noting is the "scientific" paper cited in the article was a piece submitted to a couple professors (no idea what their qualifications are, aside from apparently teaching brewing classes at some trade school), but no followup information as to the results of any scientific review. Any grad student can submit a thesis paper; most grad programs require one. Doesn't make every submission valid science.

Sounds like the makings of yet another brewing urban legend. We have too many of those already.

 

[Golddiggie]

From the "Olive Oil" article:

For this reason, oxygen is always added to a wort prior to pitching yeast as it has always been considered to be essential to yeast growth.

Then it says:

So what if we could do away with the headache of deciding how much oxygen to add, when to add it, and what is the best way to add it. Wouldn’t that simplify our lives as homebrewers? Not to mention the added benefit of improved aging and flavor stability.

So, the article first states the necessity of giving yeast O2 for growth, then goes on to say something like "it's just too complicated, let's just not do the O2 thing altogether and use olive oil instead!"

How does olive oil supply the needed O2 for cell growth? (Rhetorical question. We all know the answer.)

Also worth noting is the "scientific" paper cited in the article was a piece submitted to a couple professors (no idea what their qualifications are, aside from apparently teaching brewing classes at some trade school), but no followup information as to the results of any scientific review. Any grad student can submit a thesis paper; most grad programs require one. Doesn't make every submission valid science.

Sounds like the makings of yet another brewing urban legend. We have too many of those already.

My first thought was that this was a brewing (home or pro) version of The Onion...

For me, how, when and how much O2 to add has never been 'a headache'. Even when I was using the stone on wand it wasn't a headache. The regulator I have on the O2 bottle made it easy. I'm sure if you're using the welding style tanks it's more of an issue since those have no way to judge the flow rate coming either from the O2 bottle, or out the stone. I've had the regulator I'm using for over a decade.

With my current setup, it's even easier. Since I no longer need to sanitize the wand and such before using it.

My 'rule of thumb' is if I'm making a system change (either minor or major) it needs to either make the process easier, give me better beer, or do both. Otherwise it's really not worth making a change. All the changes I've done this year meet those parameters (or exceed them).

 

[MaxStout]

Its more the timing of the oxygenation, rather than the amount (few of us have O2 meters). With homebrew level equipment it's damn near impossible to over-oxygenate, unless you are forcing it in for several minutes. And with air, 8ppm is about the limit. Oxygenate right at the pitch and things will be fine.

 

[belgabrewing]

It should be noted that New Belgium, the brewery that did the experiment, ultimately did not switch from O2 to olive oil in production. Maybe because olive oil increased esters. Maybe because fermentations were slower. I dunno, because they never said.

I think the use of olive oil instead of oxygenation is a fantastic alternative. It is virtually fool proof versus the chance of contaminating the wort with the gas contraption. The chance of inoculating your wort with a "bad bug" using a sanitized toothpick to place a drop of EVOO into the wort is really as close to zero as possible. As far as altering the flavor profile with esters etc, Brulosophy published the link below.

https://brulosophy.com/2020/01/27/i...rnative-to-wort-aeration-exbeeriment-results/

 

[MaxStout]

Does the olive oil eliminate beer head or reduce head retention? Sounds like a good side-by-side experiment!

Yeah, that would be my concern with adding some kind of oil. Perhaps the yeast break it down.

 

[belgabrewing]

Yeah, that would be my concern with adding some kind of oil. Perhaps the yeast break it down.

No effect on the head. The oil is metabolized by the yeast.

 

[VikeMan]

How does olive oil supply the needed O2 for cell growth? (Rhetorical question. We all know the answer.)

Yeast don't need oxygen (per se) for growth. They need sterols, to build cell wall materials in preparation for budding. Oxygen is needed in order for the yeast to build sterols. But olive oil provides the sterols directly.

 

[Golddiggie]

I think the use of olive oil instead of oxygenation is a fantastic alternative. It is virtually fool proof versus the chance of contaminating the wort with the gas contraption. The chance of inoculating your wort with a "bad bug" using a sanitized toothpick to place a drop of EVOO into the wort is really as close to zero as possible. As far as altering the flavor profile with esters etc, Brulosophy published the link below.

https://brulosophy.com/2020/01/27/i...rnative-to-wort-aeration-exbeeriment-results/

My risk is even lower than your fabled toothpick of EVOO method. Since everything from the plate chiller to fermenter is fully sanitized before a drop of wort flows into it. I'm using a closed transfer setup, so that reduces the risk even more. The only time there's a risk, post chill/oxygenation, is when I pitch the yeast into the fermenter. That is, until I setup with a yeast brink. I follow 'best practices' when adding my yeast slurry into the fermenter. Have had zero infections/contaminations over the several batches into conical to date.

I have zero desire to add a fat into my batch of beer. Especially, as MaxStout pointed out, the dubious validity of the 'article' mentioned. I'll stick with my tried and true methods. Since I get great beer every batch.

 

[belgabrewing]

Yeast don't need oxygen (per se) for growth. They need sterols, to build cell wall materials in preparation for budding. Oxygen is needed in order for the yeast to build sterols. But olive oil provides the sterols directly.

It also means less "stress" on the yeast and that actually lowers the chance of off flavors being produced by stressed yeast. Also can mean shorter fermentation times because the yeast are "stronger".