Aerate before or after pitching yeast

[kimosabby]

Doing a full 23l boil and pitching reconsituted dried yeast. I have an air pump and steel air stone using for the first time.

Going to aerate for 10-15mins; Aerate before or after pitching yeast?

Seems to be alot of divided opinion out there? (as Tom Baker said in Balckadder 2 - "Opnion is divided on having a crew - everyone says you do; I say you dont..."

 

[thegrantickle]

I think it won't really matter too much. Only thing I'd think of is yeasts getting trapped in the air stone and it being a bit hard to clean, and yeast transferring to future batches. Don't see any other reason for or against either really.

 

[The Baron]

You should really aerate before pitching yeast.
I do not use a air pump and aeration stone as IMO I deem it is not essential as most yeast will work with the normal aeration method.
I know I keep saying this and I am not a Luddite but a lot of things we are told are not necessary but brought forward by the technoheads which is all well and good in some circumstances but it is not essential its the belt and braces brigade who make new brewers paranoid saying we are doing it wrong.
I and many others have been making beer many years without aeration pumps etc

 

[thegrantickle]

You should really aerate before pitching yeast.
I do not use a air pump and aeration stone as IMO I deem it is not essential as most yeast will work with the normal aeration method.
I know I keep saying this and I am not a Luddite but a lot of things we are told are not necessary but brought forward by the technoheads which is all well and good in some circumstances but it is not essential its the belt and braces brigade who make new brewers paranoid saying we are doing it wrong.
I and many others have been making beer many years without aeration pumps etc

Why though? Because that's the way we've always done it?

 

[kimosabby]

That was quick cheers gents especially handy as its on the boil as we speak...

In the past I have just stirred before pitching and never had an issue. Got the John Palmer book v4 and he convined me to get an airstone and pump. (maybe I just needed to buy something).!

I am inclined on aerating before pitching but think there is probably not much in it providing its done in close proxity

 

[Stevieboy]

I've never aerated any brew - kit or all grain, and all my beer ferments out fine...

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Aerate before pitching but after cooling, because solubility of oxygen in cold liquids is much higher than warm ones.
HOWEVER my experience is that oxygenating a batch using an air stone is really slow, inefficient and just creates an immense raft of really fine foam that's impossible to clear. I don't use mine any more: I just do a good splashy pour from one 25L bucket to another - that works extremely well.

 

[The Baron]

Why though? Because that's the way we've always done it?

I think you are reading into it wrongly as I said I am not a Luddite and do you use many modern methods and processes that have developed in the many years I have brewed But and this is the but they are not all really essential and in this case IMO it isn't, normal aeration is all that is needed if you want to use a pump and air stone do it but it is not necessary

 

[kimosabby]

Based on past experience probably not; is developing your homebrewing skills like anything else: its about marginal gains to make logn term improvements?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I add the yeast and then whip it all up with a paddle. Once whipped up there’s too much foam to pitch the (dried) yeast.

 

[starseeker]

I find that transferring the wort using the tap on my all in one ,into my fv produces plenty of aeration when the top of the fv is about a foot below the tap .

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Going to aerate for 10-15mins; Aerate before or after pitching yeast?

Neither - it's dried yeast, it doesn't generally need oxygen as it has all the sterols it needs for cell division. See eg Fermentis "We don’t recommend aerating the wort in normal conditions" and Lallemand "It is unnecessary to aerate wort upon first use" who also say "Do not stir right after sprinkling, as it may break the yeast cell membrane" - I'd extend that to a general avoidance of any kind of physical perturbation like aeration, once the yeast is in.

 

[GerritT]

Before. It floats on top, on the edge of wort and air, with access to both: why submerge it?
And if there's lots of foam, move the foam aside and pitch on the wort.

 

[thegrantickle]

Neither - it's dried yeast, it doesn't generally need oxygen as it has all the sterols it needs for cell division. See eg Fermentis "We don’t recommend aerating the wort in normal conditions" and Lallemand "It is unnecessary to aerate wort upon first use" who also say "Do not stir right after sprinkling, as it may break the yeast cell membrane" - I'd extend that to a general avoidance of any kind of physical perturbation like aeration, once the yeast is in.

Good answer, thanks!

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

Northernbrewer's right. But for what it's worth, aeration with an air stone is discussed in at least one episode of The Sunday Session on yhe Brewing Network (I can't tell you which one though). I can't remember much about the argument for aeration except that using pure oxygen was recommended. I don't think any scientific research was offered as evidence, but pretty sure Jamil Zainasheff was for it.

 

[Wynne]

Neither - it's dried yeast, it doesn't generally need oxygen as it has all the sterols it needs for cell division. See eg Fermentis "We don’t recommend aerating the wort in normal conditions" and Lallemand "It is unnecessary to aerate wort upon first use" who also say "Do not stir right after sprinkling, as it may break the yeast cell membrane" - I'd extend that to a general avoidance of any kind of physical perturbation like aeration, once the yeast is in.

That’s what I was taught taught when studying brewing science - aeration/oxygenation is only necessary when pitching a yeast starter or re-pitching harvested yeast.

 

[kimosabby]

Thanks a lot for all the info gents generated a lot of discussion. Used the stone in the end then reconstituted the yeast and poured in. Followed John palmers method in his book.

If you ask 2 homes brewers quite often there are 3 opinions

 

[nickjdavis]

If you ask 2 homes brewers quite often there are 3 opinions

ignoring the pun in that sentence , the reason why different homebrewers will have different opinions about how to do X,Y or Z is because individual brewers processes are often dictated to them by the brewing systems they are using.....they do something because their system naturally leads them down the particular process pathway...this then becomes their "habit" and as far as they are concerned, is the correct solution for anyone else who has a similar problem to overcome.

Its a huge area of confusion for new brewers to overcome and understanding WHY person X tells me to do this and person Z tells me to do something different is something that often takes time.

 

[johncrobinson]

The yeast manufacturers are constantly " tweaking." thier products in order to make them simpler to use.
Yeast are now being shipped that require no special rehydration proceedure.
Yes yeast do multiply better with oxygen,But pumping air in can also be a source of infection,So it is logical that the yeast should be supplied in a condition to multiply whith lower oxygen levels.

In short what we HAD to do yesteryear may no longer be needed today.

 

[kimosabby]

Used the aeration stone as I said above and got gravity down to 1008 so all was good. Just bottled yesterday and taste is hoppy and not over bittered so no sign of infection. The stone has a filter as part of the system so likely will use in the future.

yes yesterday’s processes and tech in some instances can he today’s folly