[jeffy]

For me, dropping in a stone attached to an O2 tank for a minute is way less effort than shaking, pouring back-and-forth, getting out the whisk or hooking up the drill with a whip on it.  The O2 tank is a convenience thing for me.

Me too.  No trouble at all.

[hopfenundmalz]

As the old back gets in the way at times, the O2 is the low impact solution.

[beersk]

For me, dropping in a stone attached to an O2 tank for a minute is way less effort than shaking, pouring back-and-forth, getting out the whisk or hooking up the drill with a whip on it.  The O2 tank is a convenience thing for me.

It works especially well for me since I ferment in kegs now. I can stick the aeration wand in there, turn the gas on for a minute, then I'm good to go. With the mix-stir I had to take the liquid tube out when I wanted to aerate, so the blades didn't hit it, and put it back in. That was kind of annoying. Plus it splashed wort all over, making a mess. With a carboy it's fine, but anything with a wide opening, it gets messy.

[Thirsty_Monk]

Hooray!  Do I get a sticker or something? But seriously, on a homebrew level I just don't see the point of pure O2.

Agree. No need for pure O2.

[gmac]

Hooray!  Do I get a sticker or something? But seriously, on a homebrew level I just don't see the point of pure O2.

Agree. No need for pure O2.

Well crap. Spent the weekend in Buffalo (lost a bet) so I brought a couple home with me to see what all the fuss was about and now I'm hearing it was a waste of money. Plus the damn things are threaded backwards so I don't have anything to screw them onto anyway.

[davidgzach]

Hooray!  Do I get a sticker or something? But seriously, on a homebrew level I just don't see the point of pure O2.

Agree. No need for pure O2.

Well crap. Spent the weekend in Buffalo (lost a bet) so I brought a couple home with me to see what all the fuss was about and now I'm hearing it was a waste of money. Plus the damn things are threaded backwards so I don't have anything to screw them onto anyway.

What was the bet?  Buffalo huh?  It will cost you $55 plus shipping to find out if you like it or not!

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/WILLIAMS-OXYGEN-AERATION-SYSTEM-P699.aspx

Dave

[beersk]

Yeah, it's totally sweet and easy to use, even if it's not ultimately necessary. It works great for me fermenting in kegs.

[theDarkSide]

Yeah, it's totally sweet and easy to use, even if it's not ultimately necessary.

Neither is a $5000 brew sculpture but people do that.  I love this wand...I can put the stone exactly where I want it, instead of trying to fish a tube around.

Since I've been using pure O2, my fermentations have been rock solid.  Honestly though, I can't really remember what they were like before I was using them...I drink a lot, you see. 

[beersk]

The first beer I used the wand on was a hefe with that new Mangrove Jack's hefe yeast. It only attenuated to 1.016 from 1.050. I rehydrated the yeast and aerated for 30 seconds so the I could see just a little movement on the surface of the wort. Perhaps that yeast just isn't that high of an attenuator. I mashed at 150-152, I think. Oh well, it should still be good.

[bluesman]

I use the little red canisters of pure O2 from Home Depot/Lowes with a sintered stone on the end of some tygon tubing, and stir while adding the O2 for better dispersion. One minute for medium gravity ales and two minutes for lagers. I find it to be very easy, and I seem to be getting good results with the final product.

[redzim]

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/WILLIAMS-OXYGEN-AERATION-SYSTEM-P699.aspx

Dave

Anyone using this exact system? I'm intrigued... 

How do you keep it clean though? Is the wand part difficult to sanitize?

-red

[Joe Sr.]

I use this exact system.

Super easy.  I drop the wand into a bucket star san while I'm filling the fermenters.  Then I hook it up and drop it in the fermenter.  I run the 02 while I do whatever else needs doing and then pitch the yeast.

I honestly cannot say if the 02 performs any better than using an aquarium pump and the wand, which is what I used to do.

[redzim]

I thought it only takes seconds?

[Joe Sr.]

I give it about 60 seconds or so.  But I don't time it. 

Usually what I'm doing at that point is writing out the masking tape label for the fermenter and checking the hydrometer sample for OG.

My typical batch is 1.07+ so I figure a little extra oxygen is not going to hurt.

[beersk]

I boil the stone part in a small pot, then spray the wand part with starsan before dropping it into the wort. Then pull it out, rinse it off, and stick it back into the boiling water for a few minutes. I turn it on before I put it into the wort and keep it running for a second after I pull it out of the wort to blow the stuff out. It's great, very simple to use.