sanitary oxygen

[Owly055]

I'm working on a "gin beer", which will have very little malt, and use Mosaic hops juniper, orange peel, lemon peel, star anise & cinnamon, and a few other botanicals, depending on what I can locate easily. It will be fermented out, hopefully to 18% or so using a champagne yeast, lots of oxygen, yeast nutrient, and periodic invert sugar additions, keeping the gravity low, and progressively lower as I approach final gravity.
The problem I'm looking at is oxygenation using an air stone, and a welding bottle. There is no way to make oxygen equipment sterile. I can't heat my regulator or treat it with starsan.

My idea is a bubbler, consisting of a flask about 3/4 full of starsan, with a two hole stopper and long tube from the regulator to the bottom, and a short exit only tube that doesn't project down into the flask. Ideally, I'd have an air stone in the starsan also. The other alternative is a filter fin enough to hold back microbes, such as an RO filter. What procedure is typical?

H.W.

 

[IslandLizard]

What makes you think there are bacteria inside the tank and regulator?

I oxygenate from a welding tank, never had any problem. I keep the stainless 0.5 micron "air stone" under Starsan all the time.

 

[Owly055]

What makes you think there are bacteria inside the tank and regulator?

I oxygenate from a welding tank, never had any problem. I keep the stainless 0.5 micron "air stone" under Starsan all the time.

What would make you think that there is NOT bacteria within a regulator? The tank itself is under huge pressure, but a regulator is exposed to the atmosphere on the low pressure side until it is connected..... The world we live in is loaded with microbes. They are everywhere.

H.W.

 

[kh54s10]

Why not just start the oxygen flow for a couple of seconds then put it in the wort. That should push any bacteria out of the regulator and lines.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I'm no microbiologist, but Oxygen is the original oxidizer and I would think that it would kill the heck out of anything in its path until it becomes dissolved in the wort where it isn't pure oxigen anymore.

 

[Roland_deschain]

I think you are over thinking it. Oxygenate as usual and I think you'll be fine.

 

[kmllr315]

If you're really concerned, use one of these

https://www.morebeer.com/products/s...GFW7yqfs84rzHFOv8gX3SmMb9wXxWz7YaAvJzEALw_wcB

 

[LarMoeCur]

Nothing in brewing is technically sterile unless you own an autoclave. So, dipping your tube and stones in sanitizer will work just fine. That's what ^he^ said!