Thoughts on drill mounted aerator...

[Schnitzengiggle]

I am looking into purchasing a drill mounted aerator, has anyone had any good results with one of these?

 

[Hammy71]

I use one and I'm quite happy with it. Mine is the one piece "whip". My understanding is the long ones with the folding arms on the bottom break rather easy. Alot of people are going to tell you that oxygen is the way to go..(and probably is...) but for now I'm perfectly happy with my results. I had a couple 'stuck' fermentations when I just shook the carboy....since I now use the whip for a good 5 min....Everything is working out great......

 

[BlackDogBrewing]

I use one of the long ones with the folding flaps at the bottom, I think they're often referred to as wine degassers. I bought mine from Northern Brewer and it's worked great for me. I run it for about a minute straight, then do a bunch of pulses, then for about another 2 minutes. It's worked well for me.

 

[Grinder12000]

Same as Blackdog - love it - I run it fora minute then change directions. Wort ends up looking like a frothy mug of root beer

 

[size]

sorry to noob up this thread, but what exactly is that good for? just stirring the wort right after you pitch the yeast?

 

[eelpout]

sorry to noob up this thread, but what exactly is that good for? just stirring the wort right after you pitch the yeast?

for getting oxygen in, so your yeast can tear the joint up.

 

[Minky]

FWIW,
I used straight oxygen for quite awhile. Then one brew I discovered I was all out of oxygen and had to resort to the old aquarium pump. That batch took off like a rocket and was the best fermentation I had ever experienced. I haven't bothered with oxygen since.

I think that the pure oxygen can be overdone and actually can harm the yeast. This is especially true when doing starters. I thought about experimenting by doing the pure oxygen aeration before adding the yeast, but I have been quite satisfied with 4 or 5 minutes of air. Of course I run through a filter and stone.

 

[Grinder12000]

sorry to noob up this thread, but what exactly is that good for? just stirring the wort right after you pitch the yeast?

The first thing yeast do is to eat all the O2 in the wort. By doing this they then multiply. Once the O2 is all used up THEN they pick one of the 5 sugars to start chewing on and that is when fermemtation actually starts.

They go down the line from one sugar to the next farting and pooping until they have satisified themselves.

Once finished they then start to eat their poop and clean up their waste which is why you really should not bottle for a few weeks after fermentation is finished.

By adding O2 you basically increase how many yeast you have before they start their work.

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Thanks all, I just had to restart a stuck fermentation and I have a feeling aeration/oxygenation is the main culprit. It was an OG1.078 first higher gravity for me, I made a slightly larger yeast starter for it than normal, and stirred/shook yhe primary and it still stalled.

I will give one a try. The guy at my LHBS says he uses one and has great results with it.

 

[Donner]

There are simpler means out there, including shaking the thing.

I have no experience with using a drill, but the cheap and easy aeration gadget thread has a great method that i use. My stout took off in less than four hours (with a starter) the other night.

Basically, it's a hole in a section of tubing that sucks air into the line and mixes with the wort. Cheap, low energy and works great.

 

[beerthirty]

FWIW,
I used straight oxygen for quite awhile. Then one brew I discovered I was all out of oxygen and had to resort to the old aquarium pump. That batch took off like a rocket and was the best fermentation I had ever experienced. I haven't bothered with oxygen since.

I think that the pure oxygen can be overdone and actually can harm the yeast. This is especially true when doing starters. I thought about experimenting by doing the pure oxygen aeration before adding the yeast, but I have been quite satisfied with 4 or 5 minutes of air. Of course I run through a filter and stone.

The way I understand the little buggers are that they will not begin fermenting until they have multiplied to the point of O2 depletion. Therefor a high O2 wort will be slightly slower to start fermentation but will start with a much higher cell count than a low O2 wort. Due to the higher cell count it will finish faster than the low O2 wort and should finish with higher attenuation due to the higher cell count.

Oops, ya what grinder said.

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

There are simpler means out there, including shaking the thing. I have no experience with using a drill, but the cheap and easy aeration gadget thread has a great method that i use. My stout took off in less than four hours (with a starter) the other night. Basically, it's a hole in a section of tubing that sucks air into the line and mixes with the wort. Cheap, low energy and works great.

Yeah that thread was pretty interesting, but I don't syphon my wort, or have a spigot on my BK. My only concern is with higher gravity brews. Up to 1.060 I have had no problem with shaking and stirring. My dubbel OG 1.078 stalled and I had to add some yeast energizer and stir the yeast back into suspension to kickstart it. I think that lack of oxygenation was to blame, I had a decent sarter and aerated my best still pooped out though.