sterile aeration of starter

[BOBTHEukBREWER]

In theory if you bubble air through chemipro or starsan, and then bubble that air into starter, it will be sterile. Has anybody tried this, should be easy with 2 or 3 bubble jars in series.

 

[Golddiggie]

Why not just use a stir plate?

 

[Revvy]

Why not just use a stir plate?

+1

Or you can shake the hell out of the starter, like we all did before we got stirplates.

I have an aeration setup with a stone, and an oxygen bottle and wand, and I just sanitize my stone/wand like I would for aerating my wort, and give it a blast of pure o2.

I just use my spray bottle of starsan to sanitize the wand.

 

[BOBTHEukBREWER]

Oxygen fine. But air contains bacteria. Shaking or using stir plate potentially introduces bacteria to the starter.

 

[Revvy]

Oxygen fine. But air contains bacteria. Shaking or using stir plate potentially introduces bacteria to the starter.

People have been shaking their starters since time began, long before we started using other means. And even Jamil and John Palmer talk about using stirplates with nary a mention of needing to "sterilize" the air.

I think that's a little over paranoid, if you ask most of us.

Your vessel is sanitized, and if your bung is sanitized (or tinfoil) you'll be fine.

I've been brewing a hellova long time, and have made dozens if not hundreds of starters, and I've NEVER had an infected one.

 

[rycov]

it might matter if you did everything in a closed system. this seems like putting stitches on a boo boo. why not just use a bandaid?

 

[rycov]

i get the idea, but also i'm not sure it would even work. what about the air in the bubbles that doesn't touch the water? all the air in the middle of the bubble doesn't really touch the water.

 

[bull8042]

Oxygen fine. But air contains bacteria. Shaking or using stir plate potentially introduces bacteria to the starter.

I used a setup similar to what you describe, SS airstone, aquarium pump, sealed flask containing sanitizer......once! What a pain in the arse.
I have done countless starters using only a stirplate and tinfoil since without a single infection.

Get yourself a stirplate and some tinfoil, or mini airlock and call it good.

 

[IrregularPulse]

plus starsan takes 30 seconds to sanitize. And even then, it's not sterile, it's sanitized. This is just paranoid overkill.

 

[BigJim_inFLA]

Air in the bubble is not sanitized. If bacteria are in the bubble, and do not come in contact with the liquid, they will still be viable when the air gets to your wort. If you want to do this I would suggest a 0.22 micron filter inline and forget bubbling the air through liquid. A filter is cheap, check ebay or lab supply companies online. They are small and set up with a slip or luer lock to affix to a syringe. Used to sterilize medications that cannot tolerate heat. Something like this.

 

[TheMan]

There is really no need for any of that. If you are really concerned with being sterile then you should be drinking this guys kool aid...