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Aerating

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WildPhil

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 1, 2016
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NOLA
I've been doing a bit of research into aerating and was wondering what some of you do here. From what I can gather is, there are two schools of thought-
1) Place lid on and aerate with wine whip daily for the first part of fermentation, or
2) cover fermenter with muslin/cloth and let 'breathe.'
I on the other hand, cover with hessian but still aerate with an immersion whisk.
My question is, what have you found best? Is there a right or wrong way? Or does it not matter as long as the yeasts get their paws on some oxygen in the initial fermenting period?
Really interested in hearing your feedback.
 
So you can do ok if all you do is shake/stir your must real hard for a while prior to pitching your yeast. You can do even better if you buy a lees stirer and use a drill to mix O2 into your must. The very best is to purchase a stone and aerate with pure O2. You can't get enough oxygen to completely satisfy the yeast without using a stone. Basically your trying to hit a magic number of parts per million (PPM.) 12-15 ppm is the magic number. You want that prior to pitch and at the 24 hr point as well. You can't get that many ppm without the stone/bottled O2. The lees stirrer get you closer than shaking.

You may not notice a taste difference if things go well. Sometimes things won't go quite as well as you hope. Some meads are more difficult on the yeast than others. With good saturation your lag is shorter, your fermwent is quicker and the yeast finish stronger. I used a stirrer for quite a while but I now use a stone and am very pleased that I spent the money to go that route.
 
got any recommendations on brand and equipment for O2?
New to this myself and would like to start using O2 but dont know where to start.
 
So from everything I've read, you'll need a .5 micron stone to aerate with pure O2. 2 micron is too big i guess.

There are some brew stores (WilliamsBrewing, Adventures in Homebrewing) that when you buy an O2 tank and flow rate regulator, they give a 2 micron stone. Not sure why
 
I have been using a stone and O2. Got the O2 and regulator from my regular welding supply.

I keep the stone and tube well sanitized with Star-san.

Before pitch, I put the tube and stone down to the bottom of the fermenter, turn on the O2 and adjust the regulator to get the equivalent of what looks like a good rolling boil.

I leave the O2 on for 2 minutes.

Squatchy - Is this long enough ?

Thanks,
Jim.
 
You can turn it down some actually. You have a lot getting to the top and floating away. I do similar but I spin the must just a bit first so the O2 is traveling through the column longer before it gets to the top of the must. I turn it so it just barely boils and then spin the must. 2 mins is good. Do it just prior and at the 24 hour marks as well. Then just regular lees stirrer action from then on. :)
 
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