observations on aeration?

Brad's most recent email states "For many years, I used the splashing/agitation system, but for less than $25 you can move up to an aquarium pump, filter and carbonation stone and significantly improve the fermentation of your beer.  "

I'm curious if those of you using carbonation stones have actually experienced a significant improvement, and if so, how you'd describe it?  I'm kind of in the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" school of thought, especially when spending money, and my recent batches have been exceeding my expectations due to improved fermentation temp control so I'm happy... but never complacent.

I'm all for aeration.  Lag times before the start of fermentation has gone down and my fermentations haven't stalled out nearly as often.  Before, I'd have instances where if I was shooting for 1.012 it would stall out at 1.016-1.020.  That's only happened once since I started using an O2 tank, etc about a year ago.  My $.02.

Mark

That's exactly what I was looking for, merfizle, thank you.  I share your experience in missing FGs on occasion.  Keep 'em coming, y'all!

When using the splash method, I always had trouble getting my saisons to dry out enough.  Once I started using an aquarium pump with the filter and carbonation stone, my lag times on all brews have been less and I get better attenuation.  My saisons now finish down where they're supposed to and my saisons are much crisper and less sweet.  I attribute this to the better aeration of my wort, as it is creating better conditions for the yeast to build up their cell walls and numbers, thus creating healthier yeast that are better prepared for the job ahead of them.

me I go with a quick shot of pure O2.

I stopped aerating for 2 years just to see what would happen. If possible, I think the beers had more flavor without 02. To be honest I don't measure F.G though, and probably couldn't tell the difference of a couple gravity points in homebrew. There is also a big difference between not aerating an old dried yeast packet and not aerating a healthy amino acid fed starter at pitch time even with just common strains.