When pitching yeast in carboy...

[Darklordenron]

Do you add right before racking to primary or while already in primary? If the latter, how do you aerate the wort while in the primary? I'm not sure exactly what the best, least messy way to do this would be.

 

[Hammy71]

I use Star-San so I don't want to pour the yeast in before I rack. I drain my kettle into the carboy, aerate, add the yeast, and then aerate again. To aerate many just shake or use an oxygen infusion system. I use one of these with nary a problem. It's a wine degasser you should be able to find at any home brew store. 5 minutes or so and your good to go.

 

[Darklordenron]

I only have a carboy with an airlock so I'm not certain how to aerate while the yeast is in the carboy. Do I have to purchase more crap again? Haha..

 

[itsme6582]

I only have a carboy with an airlock so I'm not certain how to aerate while the yeast is in the carboy. Do I have to purchase more crap again? Haha..

No. You can shake the carboy, splash the draining wort into the carboy, or run the draining wort through a strainer. These will be effective at aerating your wort. Of course there are more complicated and more expensive methods but this will be more than adequate for you first batch. Make sure you sanitize and don't worry too much.

 

[lincoln]

what i do is cork it with a stopper and sit in a chair with the carboy across my lap and shake the sh** out of it for about 5 min. I usually do this after pitching.

link

 

[erikpete18]

I generally just put the carboy on the carpet and slightly tilt it to one side. If you start slow and build up speed the wort inside will really get to whipping around. I don't think it really matters whether or not you do it before or after pitching, so long as you do it right away.

I also try to splash as much as possible when I'm pouring it into the fermenter. If I'm siphoning out of the boil kettle, I'll leave the end of the tube at the top of the carboy so it splashes on the way down.

 

[Hammy71]

You can aerate by putting in a non-drilled stopper and shake. The degasser that I posted above has a stopper that fits a carboy perfectly. The wand passes through it.

 

[Northcalais40]

I bought a $1 doodad at the homebrew store that goes on the end of the tube into the carboy. It is a plastic cone that creates a spray with the wort. You can stop the flow when the carboy is half full, put on the air lock, and shake the crap out of it. I have never had a problem with poor aeration, and I take a pretty low/no tech approach. If the wort is foamy when its in the carboy, its aerated enough for me. I can't imagine buying an oxygen tank, the Earth is giving it away for free.

 

[Darklordenron]

Splashed the wort while pouring onto the yeast, waited ten minutes while it cooled more and then capped and shook it. I think I'll be ok. Thanks!