Aerating?

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andysmok

Aerating?

Post by andysmok » Mon Mar 02, 2009 12:42 pm

Hi all, I have just compleated my 2nd AG which was Parva's recipe for Summer Lightinig yesterday, and to my horror when i climbed into bed last night i remembered that i had not aerated the wort. Will fermentation still work? or should i do it now?

stevezx7r

Re: Aerating?

Post by stevezx7r » Mon Mar 02, 2009 1:12 pm

I would probably leave it. I think the whole "whisking 'till your arm falls off" is a bit overkill anyway. As long as you've introduced some air into it you should be fine.

booldawg

Re: Aerating?

Post by booldawg » Mon Mar 02, 2009 1:34 pm

It also depends on how much of a drop its had from the boiler to FV. I've not manually aerated any wort since going AG as the 3 ft drop from boiler to FV aerates it sufficiently.

BarryNL

Re: Aerating?

Post by BarryNL » Mon Mar 02, 2009 3:56 pm

andysmok wrote:Hi all, I have just compleated my 2nd AG which was Parva's recipe for Summer Lightinig yesterday, and to my horror when i climbed into bed last night i remembered that i had not aerated the wort. Will fermentation still work? or should i do it now?
I think aeration is one of those things people spend way too much time worrying about. I regularly do brews at 1.080+ and never bother to aerate beyond letting the wort fall from the boiler on the kitchen counter into the fermenter placed on the floor. Pitching lots of healthy yeast is far more important than aerating. Extra aeration might help you get away with underpitching, but that's about it in my view.

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Dennis King
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Re: Aerating?

Post by Dennis King » Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:02 pm

I`m also a let it drop man.

steve_flack

Re: Aerating?

Post by steve_flack » Tue Mar 03, 2009 10:05 am

At the risk of committing homebrew heresy, aeration isn't strictly necessary if you pitch enough, healthy dried yeast (it says so on the Danstar website
http://www.danstaryeast.com/faq.html wrote: I always aerate my wort when using liquid yeast. Do I need to aerate the wort before pitching dry yeast?

No, there is no need to aerate the wort but it does not harm the yeast either. During its aerobic production, dry yeast accumulates sufficient amounts of unsaturated fatty acids and sterols to produce enough biomass in the first stage of fermentation. The only reason to aerate the wort when using wet yeast is to provide the yeast with oxygen so that it can produce sterols and unsaturated fatty acids which are important parts of the cell membrane and therefore essential for biomass production.
Having said that, I always aerate - just in case. It is very important for liquid yeasts or repitched dried yeast though.

SiHoltye

Re: Aerating?

Post by SiHoltye » Tue Mar 03, 2009 11:01 am

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=21166&p=239357#p239357

Hop Back introduce sterile air. It seems brewery yeasts get roused/aerated early in the ferment, the only brewery i contacted that uses dried yeasts pitches and leaves alone. I've been bothering breweries in the thread above.

andysmok

Re: Aerating?

Post by andysmok » Sun Mar 08, 2009 12:33 pm

Well it has been a week and my little experiment has made me learn that aerating will give you a better fermentation. The brew after 1 week has came down to 1014 which is close to my estermated FG but is has been a lot arseing around shaking the fermenter almost every day to unsettle the yeast bed and get it working. I can only guess that it keeps sticking because of the lack of O2 in the wort.

Next time i must remember to GIVE IT A SPLASH! :idea:

andysmok

Re: Aerating?

Post by andysmok » Fri Mar 13, 2009 3:42 pm

Day 13, I have just racked into a cornie and i must say it smells and tastes delicous. I got the gravity down to 1013 which i think is a little high but i'm going to put it down to fogetting to aerate my wort. Nether the less i have proved that while it is probable important to aerate before pitching it is not nessessary and should still produce a tastie brew :=P

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