Wort Airation

[downhill_biker]

After seeing the thread about using a fantail airator I decided to do a little more research and found this video:



He states in the video that the ideal amount of oxygen is 12-15ppm, but that is not attainable without pure oxygen. The limit of atmosphere being 8ppm.

I made this video showing how I use my wine airator, which appears to work well, but is still limited by the oxygen in the air, at 8ppm.



My question is, what function does oxygen have? Does it help start the yeast? Help sustain the yeast? Does it speed up firmintation or allow more firmintation to happen? And is 8ppm good enough to do what is needed or should 12-15ppm be our goal?

 

[tunoffun]

With beer being one of the oldest beverages known to man, I'm pretty sure you can 'make-do' without compressed oxygen

For standard-gravity brews, a fantail aerator (which is a great idea, BTW) will do just fine. For higher gravity beers (imperials, barleywines, etc) you can achieve the same effect of using pure oxygen by aerating the wort continuously, or at least periodically, during the growth phase, before active fermentation commences.

Oxygen isn't necessary for yeast reproduction and metabolism. But it is supposed to make for a larger, healthier yeast population which can better tolerate the stresses inherent in brewing... pariculary high-gravity fermentations. I also believe the byproducts of growth & fermentation will differ, which could result in different flavor profiles.

BTW - I'm willing to bet the fantail design does a much better job at aerating than shaking a carboy or using an aquarium pump in the same period of time. It's all about surface area. A fantail exposes almost the entire volume coming out of the spigot directly to the atmosphere.

 

[downhill_biker]

Thanks for the response and perspective. So I'm guessing that my wine airator would work just as good as the fantail...right?

 

[tunoffun]

I think it would work great. Same concept... you're creating very thin streams of fluid where the majority of the liquid comes into direct contact w/ the air.

 

[downhill_biker]

I went ahead and used the wine venturi aerator on my last two batches of wort on Sunday, and it worked amazing. There was so much head on that wort that it barely fit in my 6.5 gallon bucket...lol. Here's a short video to demonstrate, sorry it is sideways, I keep forgetting that neither my phone nor youtube can rotate it.