Aerating your wort

[dbkdev]

Moved from Extract to BIAB and tried to upgrade most factors in the process. Yeast starter/stir plate, Ferm chamber, Aeration system etc. Finished brewing/Chilling my 6 gallon batch, dumped into fermenter, went to Aerate. Aerator I built didn't work, FML. Also managed to spill a good portion of my starter, dont' ask.

So after panicking for a second, I grabbed another Ferm bucket. Held my wort about 4-5 feet up in the air, and let it pour rapidly into the other bucket, bubbling all over the place. Did this back and fourth probably 6 times. Put it in the ferm chamber, pitched the yeast, 13 hours later no krausen or bubbling activity. Pitched another whole vial of yeast just to be careful. It's been fermenting now for about 16 hours but airlock hasn't been too fast, every 5 seconds. was a 1.072 beer.

Soooo. I know airlocks are a bad way to observe fermentation, but with the yeast i tossed in, and gravity of beer, and perfect ferm temp of 67, I expected more. Do you think my last ditch effort of aeration is enough? If wort sits for 15 hours without active fermentation, does this oxygen i tried to add escape? Had bad off flavors in last 2 brews and REAALLY trying to avoid them here. Should i lay off the coffee and RDWHAHB ?

 

[Rockn_M]

How much yeast do you think you pitched?

There are a lot of people that aerate the same exact way. Based on what your saying nothing is out of the ordinary.

What type of off flavors have you had in the previous 2 years?

 

[dobe12]

RDWHAHB.

13hrs is nothing. Sure pitching the proper amount of active yeast will usually result in fermentation starting in under 13hrs, but it can take up to 72hrs for active fermentation to start.

You panicked way too early for no reason. Either way, you're beer is now fermenting. In a few weeks, you'll be happily drinking it.

 

[m1k3]

I think many people have over emphasized aerating your wort. The last beer I brewed started at 1.063 and finished at 1.003 in 7 days with no aeration of any kind.

I am NOT saying oxygenation or aeration has no value. Many people I trust swear that it improves fermentation. I am just saying that your specific issue with lag time cannot solely be attributed to lack of enough aeration. (pitching rate and ferm temp will have a much greater effect).

 

[dobe12]

I think many people have over emphasized aerating your wort. The last beer I brewed started at 1.063 and finished at 1.003 in 7 days with no aeration of any kind.

I am NOT saying oxygenation or aeration has no value. Many people I trust swear that it improves fermentation. I am just saying that your specific issue with lag time cannot solely be attributed to lack of enough aeration. (pitching rate and ferm temp will have a much greater effect).

Although I agree with you... to a point... oxygenation does have direct correlation to lag time. But yes, pitching rate is also a factor, as is wort density, batch size, etc.

So we have a moderately high starting gravity, possibly not enough yeast (OP says he spilled some), and probably sub-par aeration. I would expect a longer lag time. And again, 13hrs isn't that bad. If he said 48-72hrs I'd be a little more concerned.

 

[rico567]

For my first four years, I ærated by pouring the wort into the fermenter, back to the boil pot, and into the fermenter again. Mostly, the fermentations went fine. But the lag time previously mentioned was occasionally problematic.
Two years ago, I got the oxygenation system from William's Brewing, and never looked back. I've always got good airlock action in less than 24 hours, and the system itself is simple and easy to use. No sanitation, it just has a stainless steel stone on the end of a long SS wand, which goes in the boil along with the chiller. I highly recommend it. Just don't let yourself run out of O2.....

 

[stpug]

I've produced some wonderful beers that had lag times of 36+ hours, and some "okay" beers produced with lag times of <4 hours; besides, 13 hours is actually a lag time to strive for, not bat your eyes at. Obviously, lag time isn't the "be all, end all" in brewing.

Aeration is important in making consistently good beer which is why it is emphasized to a great extent. It IS important, but it's also not the "be all, end all" in brewing. As far as your "splash rack/pour" aeration method is concerned, I think you could have only done it twice and it would have been sufficient, but six times just gave you a bunch of insurance IMO.

Airlock bubbling is a poor method of gauging fermentation activity. Visual churning activity and krausen formation are better ways. But the only accurate method is gravity checking. I suspect you would have been fine prior to pitching another vial of yeast, but, again, you bought yourself some insurance with the additional vial. BTW, I haven't seen my airlocks bubble in over a year, but the beer doesn't know it -shhhh-

 

[dbkdev]

WOW this forum is great. Thanks for all the replies. As far as how much yeast sploodge i pitched, I did a two liter starter, maybe lost a third of it. Not sure how much of that was yeast though ><. When no obvious ferm at 13 hours, I pitched an entire additional vile of the same white labs yeast. Visible fermentation commenced not terribly long after.

 

[dbkdev]

How much yeast do you think you pitched?

There are a lot of people that aerate the same exact way. Based on what your saying nothing is out of the ordinary.

What type of off flavors have you had in the previous 2 years?

One of my beers had a very strong grassy vegetal taste, chalking that up to the hops. Going to dry hop for only 5 days instead of 7, I also used a Wilser Hop Boil bag which cut way down on the amount of hop matter going into fermenter (8.25 oz boil, 3.75 dry hop).

The other one I way under pitched my yeast and let it ferment a few degrees too hot. Had a funky flavor that I can't really describe, I just didn't like it.

 

[revelation]

Aeration is a much bigger deal depending on how you transfer wort from your boil kettle to your fermenter. If you have a closed system, you aren't going to get any O2 into the wort (and you boiled the O2 out) and that will make the yeast cell membrane less functional and can produce off flavors. If you have an open system, like pouring wort from brew kettle to fermenter, you will have aeration - perhaps not enough for the yeast to make really functional cell membranes but you will get O2 into the wort.

 

[dcodd87]

My aeration consists of the wort going into my fermentation bucket and shaking it. I've made many batches this way and never once have had a problem. Made a imperial stout this way with an end abv of approx 11.5%

Another thing I have never done was yeast starters. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[seigex]

My aeration consists of the wort going into my fermentation bucket and shaking it. I've made many batches this way and never once have had a problem. Made a imperial stout this way with an end abv of approx 11.5%

Another thing I have never done was yeast starters. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Except for yeast starters (which I do), this is how I aerate as well, with no issues and great attenuation.

Sometimes it easy to panic when you think you've messed things, but you just end up making thing worse trying to fix it.