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Aeration Methods?
I was thinking about adding an aeration system to my setup (request to Santa) but I just saw this article from Brew Monkey.
http://www.brew-monkey.com/brewschool/oxygenation.php
This states that using an aquarium pump is ineffective. Even less so than shaking the bucket. My question is : is there anyone here who would differ? Do you use an aquarium pump style setup and still get positive results? Not sure oxygen is the way to go for me for a few reasons. Cost and space. Pros and cons anyone?
I use a stone and one of the little disposable O2 bottles you can get at Lowes or Home Depot in the plumbing section. I bought my set up at Hoptech:
http://www.hoptech.com/cart/cart.php?ta … ory_id=272
The set up it includs the stone, tubing, and a regulator for the O2 tanks. I love it. I would say that this has made the single biggest improvement to my beers. You can buy similar set ups at many homebrew shops.
i have the same deal as norcalnewb does and love it cost as much as pump setup but you do need to buy oxydgen so often $8 at lowes
I use the stone and disposable bottle setup too. I don't think its that expensive, just a one minute blast of O2 and I am good to go.
I was lucky enough to get an oxygen aerator for use with disposable O2 tanks for Christmas this year (from Hoptech). When I went to their website to read about it I noticed that there was another version that came with an inline air filter. Is this inline filter necessary?
I've read about the Bernzomatic disposable O2 tanks being safe to use with beer making but haven't read anything about the necessity of the air filter.
A good and cheap way to aerate is to get a wine degassing tool. It's basically two folding arms on a really long drill bit. Just put the bit into a drill and let her go. It stirs and whips the oxygen into the wort. I haven't had any issues with it, it's super easy, and there is no bottles of O2 to buy. Looks like this:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/pics/fullsize/mixstir.jpg
As a bonus, if you ever brew up some wine, you'll have a good way to get rid of any excess CO2 left in the wine.
DT
I'd like to revive this post as I am in the market for adding an aeration system myself. I like the idea of the O2 system, seems easy and relatively inexpensive. I did not see a response to the question on filtering the O2, or not. Also, are there any O2 canisters that should be avoided? Any "cleaner" than others?
Thanks
Not sure if there are any cleaner or dirtier canisters out there of O2.
I use the standard red canisters (from benzomatic I think?) and I have had no issues with sanitation.
I purchased this setup and I am very happy with it.
http://www.brew-dudes.com/wort-oxygentation-parts/30
Before that I just used to shake my buckets for a good 5 minutes and seemed just fine.
Thanks. That is probably exactly what I will end up getting. This sounds pretty straight forward. Drop in the sanitized wand with stone and turn on O2 for one minute. Am I missing anyting? Any tricks? How high do you turn on the O2, all the way? Do you move the wand around to evenly disperse the oxygen or just let it rip.
After all the effort I've been putting into shaking, one minute just watching doesn't seem like enough!
edgerelease wrote:
Am I missing anyting? Any tricks? How high do you turn on the O2, all the way? Do you move the wand around to evenly disperse the oxygen or just let it rip.
I've only used my o2 for a couple batches. I crank it up all the way and give it a good aeration for a minute. I recently read that some people use multiple shorter, intermittent blasts for better results. I'll have to remember to try that next time and see if there's any difference. I don't really pay attention to where the stone is; as long as I see bubbles coming up to the top.