In-line Ox stone - in the boil kettle?

[SankePankey]

Hey folks-

I am having (via Brewershardware) an in-line oxygenation device custom welded. Basically, it's a Tri-clamp instrument Tee from St. Pats and then the other part is a tri-clamp cap welded to a 1 inch morebeer diffusion stone (barb) on the inside and a female pipe coupler on the outside to thread corny post adapter and a post onto for the line from the tank. Sort of a distilled version (..cheaper) of what Morebeer sells for their Pro Ox-Assembly.

My question is this:

Is there any reason (hop oils clogging the pores, etc.) that I would not want to put this in the chain before my boil kettle out valve?

I will have ample particle filtering prior to that and also a whirlpool, so it wont be sitting in hop sludge, but I'm thinking that this way would be great for sanitizing the stone since it'll be in boiling wort for 90 min. Would defeat the purpose if it gets clogged.

Any thoughts? Anyone try leaving the stone in the boil?

EDIT: I boil my stone in my starter wort- before chilling and Ox'ing- and haven't had a problem, but no hops there, or anything else gluey.

(And, since the barb will be welded to the cap, no particles will get into the inside of the stone, so a little different than just throwing a stone into a kettle w/ pellet hops.)

 

[ScubaSteve]

I think it's a great idea if you're using an IC. If you're using an external chiller, it defeats the purpose as the hot wort is much less likely to absorb gas....in which case you'd need to put the stone on the output of the chiller.

 

[SankePankey]

Yes. I have a Jamil-o-chill IC whirlpool.

 

[Sawdustguy]

Hey folks-

I am having (via Brewershardware) an in-line oxygenation device custom welded. Basically, it's a Tri-clamp instrument Tee from St. Pats and then the other part is a tri-clamp cap welded to a 1 inch morebeer diffusion stone (barb) on the inside and a female pipe coupler on the outside to thread corny post adapter and a post onto for the line from the tank. Sort of a distilled version (..cheaper) of what Morebeer sells for their Pro Ox-Assembly.

I agree with Steve that the hot wort would not absorb much oxygen. I have often thought of building one of these myself. I must admit I don't know much about them. Correct me if I am wrong but wouldn't you use a lot of Oxygen using this device? I would think you would have to be supplying oxygen continuously while pumping the wort into the fermenter. Wouldn't you use less oxygen if you just oxygenated everything in the fermenter? Again, I don't know much about these devices. Maybe I should ask this in the form of a question.

 

[lamarguy]

Is there any reason (hop oils clogging the pores, etc.) that I would not want to put this in the chain before my boil kettle out valve?

I will have ample particle filtering prior to that and also a whirlpool, so it wont be sitting in hop sludge...

You'll be fine so long as you take basic pre-filtering precautions. I use an inline oxygen stone setup and have yet to experience clogging, even with large hop load.

My sanitation approach is:

kettle -> plate chiller -> inline oxygen stone -> kettle​

after whirlpooling for 5 minutes and resting for 10 minutes.

For beers <= 1.070, I pump sterile, compressed air (oil-less pump) through the inline stone at ~5 psi while chilling. My chill rate is ~1 gal/min, so 10 minutes for 10 gallons of wort.

For beers > 1.070, I pump compressed air until the last gallon. I temporarily stop the transfer, switch to an oxygen tank, and resume chilling. Pure oxygen is necessary for higher gravity wort.

I also pressure ferment, so I seal off the fermenter after transferring the wort and leave it at ~5 psi of top pressure until I pitch the yeast. I've measured a wort sample with a borrowed oxygen meter in the past and it read ~10 ppm, which is sufficient for healthy yeast.

 

[SankePankey]

I agree with Steve that the hot wort would not absorb much oxygen. I have often thought of building one of these myself. I must admit I don't know much about them. Correct me if I am wrong but wouldn't you use a lot of Oxygen using this device? I would think you would have to be supplying oxygen continuously while pumping the wort into the fermenter. Wouldn't you use less oxygen if you just oxygenated everything in the fermenter? Again, I don't know much about these devices. Maybe I should ask this in the form of a question.

Would be doing post immersion chill, pre fermenter fill.

It takes only a little while to gravity fill the fermenter (5 min?, didn't time it). I am, after all, doing a pumped whirlpool out the BK out valve before the final gravity drain.
So, I'm thinking to let the fermenter fill about 1/3 the way, then start sending in Ox. The downward flow will take the bubbles into the wort in the fermenter which is capped at that point-- and release inside the fermenter, effectively purging the headspace w/ more concentrated oxygen. (At least that's what's going on in my Willy Wonka brain). So Ox on for like 2 min?
Same-sies.

You'll be fine so long as you take basic pre-filtering precautions. I use an inline oxygen stone setup and have yet to experience clogging, even with large hop load.

My sanitation approach is:

kettle -> plate chiller -> inline oxygen stone -> kettle​

after whirlpooling for 5 minutes and resting for 10 minutes.

For beers <= 1.070, I pump sterile, compressed air (oil-less pump) through the inline stone at ~5 psi while chilling. My chill rate is ~1 gal/min, so 10 minutes for 10 gallons of wort.

For beers > 1.070, I pump compressed air until the last gallon. I temporarily stop the transfer, switch to an oxygen tank, and resume chilling. Pure oxygen is necessary for higher gravity wort.

I also pressure ferment, so I seal off the fermenter after transferring the wort and leave it at ~5 psi of top pressure until I pitch the yeast. I've measured a wort sample with a borrowed oxygen meter in the past and it read ~10 ppm, which is sufficient for healthy yeast.

I was considering filtered compressed air but could find no one that said pressure was OK with the little plastic air filters. Also, I figured I'd need better than that for HG beers. Interesting you actually do both.

My setup is bazooka screen in the kettle - in line ox - bk out - whirlpool pump - loc-line back into kettle. I detatch after bk valve to gravity into the fermenter. I am using the mash recirc pump (bilge style) as the whirlpool pump and its Max temp is 160, so after the boil I just hand stir the IC for 5 min til then. That means I have to run the mash pump thru StarSan before the whirl. But it works like a charm so far. Could upgrade to a higher temp pump eventually if i wanted to.


I am doing my first pressure ferment right now. Fun stuff, no doubt. Worked flawlessly. Thanks for your contribution to that thread.

 

[ScubaSteve]

The thing about the oxygen stone with pure oxygen is that it dissolves a LOT of oxygen quickly. I usually do it for <1 min and when the entire volume of wort is in the fermenter and that is plenty. When you read into the respiration/metabolic cycles of yeast, they will only use the oxygen in certain amounts and at certain phases of growth. If you're doing a starter, it's most important to oxygenate then, because that is where the yeast are preparing for the job ahead. Dry yeast already come packaged with what they need to do a long ferment.