Wort Aeration - Aquarium Pump 120 L/H

[Jose_Garasto]

Has anyone used the Trixie 86300 AP 120 Aquarium Air Pump 2.5 W - 120 L/H?

I will use it for maximum 50 liters of wort. Will this be enough or should I continue agitating the fermenter after pitching with same results?

Thanks a lot!
Jose.

[vacant]

What type of yeast do you use? Dried yeast such as Nottingham doesn't need aerating (pdf).

[Jose_Garasto]

I use both dried and liquid, at the moment I have a few dried like saf us-05, belle saison, bry, 97, Munich among others so I won't use liquid yeast in the near future.

Thanks for the pdf!

[EckersKlein]

I use a little 75L/hr aquarium pump to aerate, and it seems to do the trick very well. You won't want too high a flow rate, otherwise you'll generate lots of foam which tends to overflow your container.

If you were worried about not getting enough flow, you can always just run it for longer, there's no real harm (to a point). In fact, if you're looking at how yeast stir plates work, they effectively "continuously aerate" the starter, so I imagine it's just fine to run an airstone for hours if you ever felt the need.

[steve crawshaw]

In fact, if you're looking at how yeast stir plates work, they effectively "continuously aerate" the starter, so I imagine it's just fine to run an airstone for hours if you ever felt the need.

I think this is a bit of a misconception about stir plates. Neva parker from white labs has stated that the primary benefit from stir plates is not from continuous aeration, but from purging CO2. As a starter continuously gives off CO2 it is likely that the headspace of a starter that is fermenting contains mainly CO2, not air - though there will be some there.

Hi Neva.

What do you think about the following setup for doing starters: A stir plate with an Erlenmeyer capped by a rubber stopper, the stopper has two holes, one for an airlock and another for a sanitized vinyl tube leading from the head space (above the liquid level) to a sterile air filter connected to a aquarium air pump.
The idea being to force fresh air into the head space and CO2 out via the airlock.
Do you think this will make a significant difference in cell count over just a stir plate with foil? Any guess at a ballpark figure for the difference, 10%, 5%?


[–]NevaParkerHead of Laboratory Operations (White Labs) 3 points 11 days ago

It won't be that beneficial if the air is only going into the headspace. Where you will find more benefit is if you get the air dissolved into the medium itself. That's going to dramatically improve your cell production.

[–]commentor2 3 points 11 days ago

I seem to recall reading somewhere that much of the benefit of stirred starters is from dissipating CO2 rather than introducing oxygen. What do you think?

[–]NevaParkerHead of Laboratory Operations (White Labs) 5 points 10 days ago

Yes, I believe that to be true

The poster S. Cerevesiae on the AHA makes a very compelling argument against stir plates for making starters in favour of a shaken starter. It's an approach I now use and have had good results with it. Some very educational posts below.

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/ ... ic=23610.0
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/ ... ic=22055.0

[Jose_Garasto]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your comments.

I've tested the pump with a Stainless Steel air stone and the "bubble flow" was very little. I guess I will need a bigger pump.

Cheers!
Jose.

[steve crawshaw]

The ss airstone will present a very high resistance to quite a low pressure from these small pumps. The airstones work well with an oxygen cylinder, which can produce a higher pressure.

For low gravity worts, shaking the FV should result in adequate oxygenation, especially if dried yeast is used, which essentially contains an oxygen "charge".

For a high gravity wort, with wet yeast I use an O2 cylinder and oxygenate for 1 min with a stainless wand and stone.

cheers
steve

[Jose_Garasto]

Thanks for the advise Steve!

As you I brew low gravity beers now I will keep shaking the FV. When I improve my brewing skills I will try high gravity and in that case I will go for the O2 cylinder. Where can I get it from, do you know?

Cheers!
Jose.

[I_used_to_brew]

Thanks for the advise Steve!

As you I brew low gravity beers now I will keep shaking the FV. When I improve my brewing skills I will try high gravity and in that case I will go for the O2 cylinder. Where can I get it from, do you know?

Cheers!
Jose.

Are you experienced or trained in using gas cylinders? O2 cylinders contain 4x the pressure of a CO2 cylinder and are potentially dangerous, a cylinder and regulator are fairly expensive.

Why not get a suitable piston airpump like http://www.allpondsolutions.co.uk/aquar ... AqQN8P8HAQ which would be up to the job rather than the diaphragm pump you now have.

[Jose_Garasto]

Hi Roger,

Happy New Year!

Thanks for the link, I will keep it in mind.

I'm not experienced in using O2, I know it can be dangerous.

Cheers,
Jose.