Small tank of oxygen for aeration?

[Monkhouse]

Hi what do you guys use to aerate the wort prior to pitching the yeast? Do you just make sure to splash the wort around allot or do you use pure oxygen from a tank and a diffusion type stone? If the latter then does anyone know where to get a supply of cheap(ish) oxygen in a tank form?

[Jocky]

I use oxygen mostly. Here’s all the details of my setup: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=76794&p=799968

[Monkhouse]

Ok I’m never gonna afford all that lol! Ummm anyone here NOT using pure oxygen who still get good results??

[Normski]

Ok I’m never gonna afford all that lol! Ummm anyone here NOT using pure oxygen who still get good results??

Yeah Me.

[IPA]

Ok I’m never gonna afford all that lol! Ummm anyone here NOT using pure oxygen who still get good results??

Yeah Me.

Or me. I just pump the wort in at the top of the FV. That creates loads of foam.

[Cobnut]

I attach a plastic mash paddle to my cordless drill and whizz the wort until I've got about as much foam as I can create without the FV overflowing.

I've considered using pure O2, but not seen anything yet to convince me that it is going to make that much difference to my beers...

[Jocky]

Before I used oxygen I got good results - like Cobnut I attached a mash paddle to my drill and splashed like crazy.

Another option is aerating inline with a Venturi tube (look up Venturi on here and you’ll find plenty of examples), or a splash plate.

[MashBag]

Ok I’m never gonna afford all that lol! Ummm anyone here NOT using pure oxygen who still get good results??

Yup me. Whisking seems to be fine.

[Cobnut]

Before I used oxygen I got good results

Can you say that you have noticed a difference since starting to use pure O2?

[Northern Brewer]

Hi what do you guys use to aerate the wort prior to pitching the yeast? Do you just make sure to splash the wort around allot or do you use pure oxygen from a tank and a diffusion type stone? If the latter then does anyone know where to get a supply of cheap(ish) oxygen in a tank form?

It depends what yeast you're using. Yeast don't need oxygen to carry out fermentation, but they do need oxygen to make the unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) and sterols they require to build cell membranes during cell multiplication. Dry yeast are grown in a way that they are stuffed full of sterols, almost enough to do all the 3-4 divisions they undergo in a typical brew. So to a first approximation, dry yeast don't need any special aeration.

It's different with "fresh" or liquid yeast. The amount of oxygen they need depends on how much yeast you're pitching (and hence on gravity) but also on the strain. The typical homebrew yeast will be happy enough with the 8ppm or so oxygen that you can get from saturating with air pumped through a stone, and will tolerate as a bare minimum, the 4-5ppm that you get from shaking. But some strains, typically Beer2 types like saisons and "Yorkshire" types, demand a lot more oxygen, either through pumped oxygen or the fishtails you see on Yorkshire squares. Although Norwegian beers are traditionally just shaken, they are fermented open so the yeast can pick up oxygen during fermentation, I'd imagine in closed fermentations the rapid fermentation of kveik would also need generous amounts of oxygen.

So unless you're using those kinds of yeasts, you should be fine with diffusing air into your wort and can get away with just shaking (although no ideal), and with dry yeast you don't need to worry about it.

You can reduce the amount of oxygen needed, particularly for big beers, by giving the yeast ready-made UFAs in the form of tiny amounts of olive oil - just a drop, or the tip of a cocktail stick dipped in oil, in the starter. This master's thesis in conjunction with New Belgium found that it slowed fermentation a little, gave a bit more esters and fewer fusels, and reduced oxidation of the beer :

https://web.archive.org/web/20131112074 ... df#page=26

[Jocky]

Before I used oxygen I got good results

Can you say that you have noticed a difference since starting to use pure O2?

I’ve not tested it side by side if I’m honest, but my brewing has markedly improved in general.

[Cobnut]

I don't doubt that Jocky. No doubt there have been a number of other changes too.

I am not doubting that oxygen has benefits for yeast growth, but I'm trying to determine whether the use of pure oxygen to oxygenate wort has a definite and noticeable (measurable, even!) impact on beer quality.

A quick search on the topic reveals the usual collection of Brulosophy "reports" which - as seems to be a common factor in these - draw no clear conclusions!

Maybe the hive mind that is JBK can help answer this?

[Jocky]

I mainly still use it because I have it, and it’s easy and not at all messy for me to use.

There’s many other things I’d look at first in trying to improve your beer before going to a pure oxygen setup.

[Cobnut]

Amen to that!

Doesn't answer the question as to whether it really makes a difference though

I strongly suspect that there are many ways to skin the proverbial cat! And it depends on the breed of cat you wish to skin (euphemism for beer variety being brewed).

Those Brulosophy "studies" always use some seemingly randomly chosen beer.

What is needed is a proper academic study of the issue.

Someone must know of one...

[Monkhouse]

So I’ve got a brand new drill I can dedicate purely to brewing however I cannot find a stainless steel paint mixer paddle that will fit in the narrow 75mm top of my plastic fermentasaurus fermenter.
I’ve seen galvanised ones that are the right size but I’ve heard that galvanised steel isn’t food safe and there’s a couple of threads that I’ve read with peaopke stating they would never use galvanised steel in any part of their brewery that makes contact with the wort.
Can anyone clear this up?