aeration ( olive oil and other techniques)

[Braufather]

afternoon all,

After a couple of brews, I am no turning my attention to aeration. So far I have just let the wort drop into the FV from a bit of a height. As far as I can see options are

1) Elbow grease – shake it all about for 10 mins or so
2) Mechanical- attach a paddle to a drill, paint stirrer or use a food blender
3) Invest in an aquarium pump and oxygen stone
4) Pump oxygen in from a canister
5) A pin prick of olive oil.

Option 5 looks a clear winner in terms of price and effort, but does it work?

Many people seem to swear by it, and many authorities recommend it but the guys in Belgium that pioneered it seemed to have given up on it. Most of the debate seems to have happened 4 or 5 years ago so it’s a bit unclear?

Anyone use olive oil?

If not which of the others are best? I know only direct oxygen can get levels above 8, but does that matter?

 

[peebee]

Are you taken in by the "get rich quick" schemes too?

Na. Shaking about has plenty of supporters (not me - have you tried picking up a stainless steel conical with 45-70L beer in it?). A good stir did me okay for a few years (oh alright, decades then) but is prone to giving up too soon after a long day brewing. 1/2 hour with a aquarium pump has its followers; me... can't be doing with an aquarium pump so use a 12V car tyre pump! But if using a pump its a good idea to have a bacterial filter inline (can be expensive unless you figure out a cheap supply of filters; and tyre pumps are quite capable of exploding them!).

Pure oxygen can be expensive, but it's tempting as it only needs about 30 second burst. And pure oxygen is sterile, so no need for filters. (Filters, especially exploding ones, are a PITA).

 

[Braufather]

agree, it does seem to good to be true but beersmith was quite upbeat about olive oil

http://beersmith.com/blog/2015/09/14/olive-oil-instead-of-aeration-for-beer-brewing/

 

[Simonh82]

They tested this out on the Experimental Brewing show (their website is down at time of posting). Their conclusion was that olive oil made no difference compared to unaerated wort.

For me this seems to fall into the category of, 'if it seems too good to be true, it probably is'.

I recently picked up an aquarium air pump for £13. I really like the ease of use and the fact I can just plonk it in and leave it for 15 minutes whilst I clear up.

I used to do a combination for dropping wort from a height, thrashing with a paddle and shaking the FV when it was 2/3 full (extra head space makes it easier to aerate), then again when it was full. Now I just sanitise the air stone and tubing and stick it in the FV.

 

[Braufather]

simon- have you noticed an improvement in aeration using the aquairiam pump- or is it just labour saving?

 

[JerryP]

They tested this out on the Experimental Brewing show (their website is down at time of posting). Their conclusion was that olive oil made no difference compared to unaerated wort.

I heard that show too. Does seem that Olive Oil does not do much...

I have a paint stirrer which I connect to my cordless drill. I sterilise the stirrer first, but then just run that for a few minutes.

This seems to work for me!

 

[dan125]

agree, it does seem to good to be true but beersmith was quite upbeat about olive oil

http://beersmith.com/blog/2015/09/14/olive-oil-instead-of-aeration-for-beer-brewing/

In the latest podcast he seems to now think that the olive oil thing was a non-starter.

http://beersmith.com/blog/2016/11/0...wing-with-drew-beechum-beersmith-podcast-136/

 

[Braufather]

cheers Dan, will listen to that later at home.

 

[Simonh82]

simon- have you noticed an improvement in aeration using the aquairiam pump- or is it just labour saving?

Can't really say. I've only brewed once with it and that was a new yeast/recipe so can't compare. Also, I think my previous technique did the job but it was quite involved and presented plenty of opportunities for wild yeast or bacteria to float in.

It's definitely a lot easier.

 

[BeardySi]

Ditto, I've never had issues caused by lack of aeration, but a pump and stone is a hell of a lot easier on the arms!

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

[TartanSpecial]

cheers Dan, will listen to that later at home.

he starts talking about olive oil at approx 34 minutes.

 

[Braufather]

So the paint stirrer comes ready to fit in a drill, and only costs a few quid. That's seems simpler than the pump system, any drawbacks here?


And at the other end this looks quite good, just need an oxygen can, correct?

https://www.brewuk.co.uk/blichmann-inline-oxi.html

 

[Fil]

adding a drop of olive oil will not aerate the beer, iirc what it can do if added to a starter is provide some of the necessary building blocks a growing population of yeast can utilise which they would otherwise have to construct themselves. No Im not a biologist or any sort of ist and am only paraphrasing what ive read on the subject So a drop of olive oil can aid yeast population growth. And No I have not tested or tried myself

Fwiw when Using an IC I would simply drain my kettle through a nylon sieve which doubles as a belt n braces hop seed/stalk filter and seperated and aided aeration of the dropping beer. Now i use a CFC, and still use the nylon sieve for 5gallon batches, larger batches i ferment in a Thermapot and 'fountain' the pumped wort for Maximum splash. which seems very effective covering the brew with a foam prior to pitching.

 

[DoctorMick]

I loved my pump and stone the one time I used it, it was so much easier and the fermentation seemed to kick off more vigourously. Unfortunately, I didn't let the air stone dry out properly and it went mouldy and seemingly nowhere stocks them anymore.

 

[TartanSpecial]

There was a lot of talk on homebrew forums when the olive oil work was published and the main issue with the experiment was there was no negative control....ie no aeration at all. The experiment that Drew mentioned in the podcast suggest that aeration may not be required..but unfortunately he only compared no aeration with no aeration plus olive oil...both fermented out the same producing similar beer...but it would have been nice if he'd done a third comparison where one portion of the wort was aerated.
This other guy has also done an experiment (albeit messing up the mash temp) which suggests aeration is not required (at least if you've use a decent yeast starter).
http://brulosophy.com/2015/05/25/wort-aeration-pt-1-shaken-vs-nothing-exbeeriment-results/
I've got my next brewday on Thursday...Cascade all grain pale ale using homegrown hops....I will be using a starter grown from harvested yeast from my last brew..I'm tempted to skip my vigourous 3*7-8ltr batch aeration I normally do just to see what happens. My brews (typically 1.055-1.060 OG) consistently ferment in my conical in 5-6 days. I know it won't be a scientific experiment since there is no aerated control but...if I can skip the aeration step and still get a decent fermentation in the same timeframe and similarly decent beer then that would be good since I normally have to use brewpak antifoam to kill the masses of foam I generate..

 

[sdt7618]

When brewing, I use kits, I have a shower head attachment that I connect to the tap via length of hose. whole lot gets dunked in star san then connected up, when the water is filled in to the FV there is one hell of a foam made with the spray inducing air/gas into the work. Simple, cost effective and haven't had any issues.

 

[Braufather]

They tested this out on the Experimental Brewing show (their website is down at time of posting). Their conclusion was that olive oil made no difference compared to unaerated wort.

For me this seems to fall into the category of, 'if it seems too good to be true, it probably is'.

I recently picked up an aquarium air pump for ��£13. I really like the ease of use and the fact I can just plonk it in and leave it for 15 minutes whilst I clear up.

I used to do a combination for dropping wort from a height, thrashing with a paddle and shaking the FV when it was 2/3 full (extra head space makes it easier to aerate), then again when it was full. Now I just sanitise the air stone and tubing and stick it in the FV.

do you also use a filter for the pump?

 

[Simonh82]

do you also use a filter for the pump?

I don't mainly because I've not been able to find one at anything like a sensible price in the UK. You can get a couple of them for £5 on ebay from the US but they charge £20 for postage. They just don't seem to be a thing that is available here to the consumer.

Also, I figure the airstone will act as a filter to a certain extent, it would certainly catch most dust particles.

 

[JerryP]

I don't mainly because I've not been able to find one at anything like a sensible price in the UK. You can get a couple of them for �£5 on ebay from the US but they charge �£20 for postage. They just don't seem to be a thing that is available here to the consumer.

Also, I figure the airstone will act as a filter to a certain extent, it would certainly catch most dust particles.

Dust particles are not the main issue - mostly need to worry about airborne bacteria and the like.

Spare inline air filters can be bought in the UK pretty cheap. I have seen on eBay when I was looking at options for this. Search for HEPA filters.

BrewUK have them too (other retailers are also available!): https://www.brewuk.co.uk/wort-aerator-filters.html I have not used the BrewUK one, but might be worth looking at...

 

[Braufather]

Would the pump and stone be more effective than the drill controlled paint stirrer? Or is opinion divided?