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Aeration Equipment Question

philm63

Grandmaster Brewer
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Jul 6, 2012
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I'm looking to improve on my fermentation methods and I'm looking at O2 systems. I normally just shake the carboy and I get OK results, but I think my brews would improve if I got a better handle on this one aspect of fermentation.

Pricing a 20 CF welding-grade O2 tank, and medical-grade O2 regulators and flow meters, the whole set-up comes in at around $250-300. The money part is not that much of an issue, but the "not knowing if I'm getting the right stuff" thing is a bit of an issue for me.

I want to get good equipment for this and I don't mind spending the money, I just want the right stuff the first time. For those of you using pure O2 to aerate your wort; do you use good regulators and flow meters and if so, which ones do you use? Industrial-grade? Medical-grade? What has been your experience with this equipment?
 
The regulator is probably the most important part. being able to dial in a low pressure setting. I think I use 180 psi on a 0.2 micron steel stone.
 
I won the standard regulator at a competition in 2008, and I think I am still on the first can of red O2 from Home Depot.  At most, the second tank. 

So, I do not personally think the size of the tank matters one bit because we use so little in a regular batch. 

You must use the 0.5 micron stone; the 2.0 micron size is for regular air pumps and will let too much O2 fly through.  (A friend did that and ate thru tanks very fast.)

I get frustrated trying to move the stone around the carboy, and if I were buying new equipment, I'd look at the s/s tubing from Williams Brewing.  I'd put dollars on that and the regulator and not the uber-sized tank. 
 
Yeah, I've had the 0.5 micron wand from Williams for a couple of months now as I had read a few horror stories on not being able to keep the stone on the bottom - hose kept curling up and such. Never got around to completing the set-up, though.

I got a pretty good deal on the tank already, and a flow-control regulator is on the way (thanks for the link, KernelCrush).
 
According to Wyeast Lab website optimal wort aeration can be obtained at 12-15ppm. If using an O2 regulator measuring in lpm up to 15 lpm what would be best when using a 0.5 micron filter? Any help please would be great.
 
There's no gauge on mine, so I just visually set the flow as slow as possible so bubbles are not racing to the top.  I figure the more contact time with wort the better, usually for around 30 seconds for typical ales.  Longer for situations where I need more yeast cell count (simply based on the assumption that yeast consume all oxygen first and duplicate thru budding before turning to the anaerobic pathway and eating sugars, creating CO2/alcohol). 

Oxygen saturation is another one of those things that home brewers cannot easily measure (like IBUs) so we just have to find what works and gives us the repeatable end results we're wanting.
 
It makes sense to inject O2 at a low rate so that it's all absorbed. t's easier to just open the valve and watch to be sure you're getting bubbles. When I tried limiting the flow I wasn't sure I was getting any O2 into the wort. I now just open the valve until I see bubbles and let it run for about a minute.

My inexpensive regulator uses the red disposable hardware store tanks. They're pretty inexpensive and last for many batches using my Look-for-the-bubbles system. I've seen much better attenuation - sometimes too much attenuation - since I started injecting O2.
 
I just use my regular welding bottles and standard regulator along with a stainless micropore stone.  Not sure of the pour size but I bought it from a homebrew supplier.

I just open the regulator until the needle is barely off the pin - seem to get enough O2 that way,  I aerate in the 6.5 gal carboys that I use as primaries for maybe 1- 1/2 minutes, moving teh stone around the bottom of the carboy all the while.

I boil the stone before the aeration to sanitize, and also boil it agin after use before storing it.

The reason I boil it again after is that teh one time I did not,  the pores got plugged - presumably with the sugar in the wort.

The next time I went  to use it - eben though I boiled it at that time - no gas flow.  I finally got it opened up by re-boiling in for about a half hour!

As long as I give it a quid boil after use I have not had this problem again.

Brian



 
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