Oxygenation - Help me start

[Aleman]

I use a 0.5 micron stainless air stone connected to a Medical O2 cylinder via a HEPA filter and NRV . . . I dismantle every time I use it and don't trust dust and whatnot to collect in the tube.

My stone fits into a T, and it is in-line between the pump and the FV . . .When I am close to emptying the Copper, I switch the Cylinder on at 2L per minute for a couple of minutes . . . . Instant foam in the FV, which I fill from the bottom. . . . Reason for going in line rather than just dropping it to the bottom of the FV . . . . Smaller bubbles. . . . With the wort moving over the stone the bubbles are stripped off as quickly as they form, and the wort post aerator resembles pale milk. . . . I allow the foam to reach the top of the FV, and then switch off the aerator . . . I then have a reservoir of O2 in the head space of the FV as well

[mysterio]

I use a little welding tank of pure O2 and give it a 1 or 2 minute blast through an air stone. Gets the job done quick.

[raiderman]

as i understand it yeast only needs oxygen in its initial growth stage after which it becomes anaerobic, so the oxygen we are trying to put back in is enough to get the brew through its first couple of days, we don't need to over oxygenate. I find cooling, naturally, running the wort slowly through the tap a couple of times is fine. Why do more.
Only I'm starting to think this is a bit wimpish and I'm doubting if I'm a real man. Should I be using power tools, or liquid oxygen? As a decidedly low tech brewer with no desire to recreate Red Barrel at home, and no desire to build a brewing plant.

There is a serious point here, in that if I'm missing something, so that I could make better beers, whilst I won't go high tec, I might adapt what I'm doing. But I'm not sure thats the case

[Brotherton Lad]

I thought drilling a couple of holes in my big wooden spoon was cutting edge, so to speak.

[bosium]

I use a little welding tank of pure O2 and give it a 1 or 2 minute blast through an air stone. Gets the job done quick.

Mysterio - do you remove the regulator from the tank when not in use, or just turn the valve off and be done with it?
I had mine go flat on me when it wasn't being used, not sure where the leak was but it was pretty annoying..

[raiderman]

I thought drilling a couple of holes in my big wooden spoon was cutting edge, so to speak.

Do you find any noticeable difference stiring clockwise or anticlockwise?
I'm a lowtech fundamentalist but I don't want bother with the RSPCA saying I've made the yeast dizzy

[Brotherton Lad]

I'm right-handed, so generally clockwise, but it really depends on the phase of the moon and the ley lines (I'm brewing from a very old book by CJ Berry, though according to the engravings in it, he got his wife to do the stirring).

It's at times like this I wish I had a scanner!

[raiderman]

I remember C J Berry, he'd be amazed at how technical the craft has become. I've just bought a left handed oxygenating paddle, something he can only have dreamed about. I was about to invest in an ACME DIY Home Nuclear Power Plant, which I could set up in the back garden to supply power for my new oxygenating plant which i'm building out of an old Dyson, but if old CJ could get the wife to do his oxygenating I can get the wife and kids to do it in shifts instead!

[boingy]

I'm a bit worried now. I know I use right-handed yeast but I'm concerned that my stirring spoon may be left-handed. No wonder drinking the beer makes me confused.

[mysterio]

Bosium, that never even occurred to me. I have never had a leak and I've been using the same welding O2 for what seems like years now!

Also, I don't claim pure oxygen is a better way to go, nor do I think it's necessarily superior, but I use liquid yeast a lot (which I am convinced are more oxygen sensitive) and do my share of high gravity ales and lagers, so I think it's a decent way to go for relatively little expense. Honestly, I am so slapdash in the process before the yeast goes in the beer, with mash/sparge temperatures and so on, CJ would be proud.

By the by, I am not a fan of the aquarium air pump method, too much foaming and chance for infection. I think the next best would be a drill/paint stirrer combo, in fact it is probably better at getting oxygen into the wort than my O2 device.

[raiderman]

I use liquid yeast a lot (which I am convinced are more oxygen sensitive) and do my share of high gravity ales and lagers,.

At the risk of crossing threads here, which I remember from Ghostbusters is a bad thing to do, a question on yeast. As you'd expect I'm far too disorganised to use live yeast because of the need to make a starter in advance, its all I can do to get dried yeast alive and kicking before I'm ready to pitch, but yeast must account for flavour differences in what otherwise would be similar commercial ales, so do you find that yeast slides make a great difference over activated dried yeast?

[Brotherton Lad]

I'm a bit worried now. I know I use right-handed yeast but I'm concerned that my stirring spoon may be left-handed. No wonder drinking the beer makes me confused.

I wouldn't worry too much. It's all part of the brave new world of Jim's Beer Kit. The moment you think you understand it all, someone rips away a veil, revealing a whole new paradigm. Looking through a glass darkly or what?

Though, boingy, maybe you should worry a little more. I once read (in an old parchment) of a brewer with the same right-hand/left-hand dilemma as your good self. Turns out he set up a vortex in his wort, along the lines of a Moebius strip, which developed into a wormhole thingy like you get on Dr Who. He hasn't been seen since.

[mysterio]

so do you find that yeast slides make a great difference over activated dried yeast?

Yes, the flavour differences can be quite dramatic (or subtle) due to the yeast alone. It even affects things like hop aroma & flavour, impression of malt flavour, sweetness, body etc. So the first difference is just that: variety, as not all strains of yeast are 'robust' enough to stand up to the drying process. There is no doubt you can brew world class, award winning beers with dried yeast (many/most commercial breweries use dry strains like Nottingham & Windsor), but the liquid strains just give you a wider array of flavours to play with. Can you brew better beer with the liquid yeasts? That's up to you, they require a bit more attention (starters and so on), and also are not at peak health when you receive them (dried strains are), so they are not as forgiving. For English ales at least, I think the deeper, more complex flavour you get from some liquid strains more than justifies the extra expense and work.

[Horatio]

Crikey! I might upgrade to a bigger spoon.

[raiderman]

so do you find that yeast slides make a great difference over activated dried yeast?

Yes, the flavour differences can be quite dramatic (or subtle) due to the yeast alone.but the liquid strains just give you a wider array of flavours to play with.

mysterio you have hit the nail on the head, these things sound like fun, whilst some of us get their kicks from bubbling NO2 or what ever through their wort I get mine by playing around with ingredients. I have my new patent left handed oxygenating paddle with optional stablerisers for high gravity ales and now I'm going to have fun with yeast