Aeration Stone

Given the choice, would you aerate with an aquarium pump hooked up by tri clamps through the dump valve or the racking arm on a conical? I was concerned that trub might start to settle in the dump valve  quite quickly.

Dogsboll Ox said:

Given the choice, would you aerate with an aquarium pump hooked up by tri clamps through the dump valve or the racking arm on a conical? I was concerned that trub might start to settle in the dump valve  quite quickly.

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My first thought is, "how would you get the stone out without losing all your wort?"

My answer is neither. I'd aerate either by placing the stone in through the airlock opening, or inline as wort flows to the fermenter. The latter is best done with a pump.

The aeration stone is clamped after the ball valve.......but I'll probably take your advice. Although do you think there is enough time for the inline method to work for a 5 gal batch?

Plenty of time! You need a little under 300 ml of O2 dissolved in 19 liters (about 5 gallons).

If you're using one of the small O2 cylinders found at hardware stores, I found that 20 to 30 seconds of exposure was plenty. So, just apply that to the last couple of gallons in transfer and you should be good.