[PORTERHAUS]

Best I could do is boil it or bake the air stone. Ill also switch up sanitizers as mentioned and replace my tubing. All pretty easy precautions.

2nd question...is any wild bug/bacteria only a concern of everything post boil? As in can I be transfering anything over that the boil wont kill off? My mashtun is new but my kettle has many batches under it. I have a ball valve on it that might be holding something possibly. Also I use a wooden dowel in the boil as a dipstick...is that a bad practice maybe introducing something into the boil?

This place has really helped me hone in a lot of improvements in my brewing. Thanks all.

[yso191]

On a related note...  My oxygen stone is permanently affixed to the end of a stainless steel tube close to 3 feet long.  I'm thinking the only way to sanitize it is to bake it in the oven.  Anyone know what temperature and for how long?

[Stevie]

On a related note...  My oxygen stone is permanently affixed to the end of a stainless steel tube close to 3 feet long.  I'm thinking the only way to sanitize it is to bake it in the oven.  Anyone know what temperature and for how long?

300 for 2.5 hours, 320 for 2 hours, or 340 for 1 hour. Must be dry.

[morticaixavier]

Best I could do is boil it or bake the air stone. Ill also switch up sanitizers as mentioned and replace my tubing. All pretty easy precautions.

2nd question...is any wild bug/bacteria only a concern of everything post boil? As in can I be transfering anything over that the boil wont kill off? My mashtun is new but my kettle has many batches under it. I have a ball valve on it that might be holding something possibly. Also I use a wooden dowel in the boil as a dipstick...is that a bad practice maybe introducing something into the boil?

This place has really helped me hone in a lot of improvements in my brewing. Thanks all.

you pretty much only have to worry post boil. are you chilling in the kettle with an immersion chiller? or do you use a plate or counterflow? I would expect the ball valve gets hot enough to be at least reasonably sanitary but I do like to give it a shot of sanitizer before runoff just to be safe.

[yso191]

On a related note...  My oxygen stone is permanently affixed to the end of a stainless steel tube close to 3 feet long.  I'm thinking the only way to sanitize it is to bake it in the oven.  Anyone know what temperature and for how long?

300 for 2.5 hours, 320 for 2 hours, or 340 for 1 hour. Must be dry.

That was fast, thanks!

[PORTERHAUS]

On a related note...  My oxygen stone is permanently affixed to the end of a stainless steel tube close to 3 feet long.  I'm thinking the only way to sanitize it is to bake it in the oven.  Anyone know what temperature and for how long?

Thats how mine is. Ill probably do both. Maybe a quick boil to break up dried gunk/wort/sugars that might be in there and then bake once dried.

[PORTERHAUS]

Best I could do is boil it or bake the air stone. Ill also switch up sanitizers as mentioned and replace my tubing. All pretty easy precautions.

2nd question...is any wild bug/bacteria only a concern of everything post boil? As in can I be transfering anything over that the boil wont kill off? My mashtun is new but my kettle has many batches under it. I have a ball valve on it that might be holding something possibly. Also I use a wooden dowel in the boil as a dipstick...is that a bad practice maybe introducing something into the boil?

This place has really helped me hone in a lot of improvements in my brewing. Thanks all.

you pretty much only have to worry post boil. are you chilling in the kettle with an immersion chiller? or do you use a plate or counterflow? I would expect the ball valve gets hot enough to be at least reasonably sanitary but I do like to give it a shot of sanitizer before runoff just to be safe.

I use an immersion chiller.  I put it in the kettle with 15 mins left in tbe boil along with a thermometer and stainless steel spoon I use to stir. The wooden dowel is only in there at the start of the boil to make sure im at my volume. I usually spray the fitting on my ball valve but I have forgot to do so many times. I also heard running a bit of the boiling wort out of it is a good idea too.  I guess overall there are a few things I can certainly tighten up on.

[narcout]

On a related note...  My oxygen stone is permanently affixed to the end of a stainless steel tube close to 3 feet long.  I'm thinking the only way to sanitize it is to bake it in the oven.  Anyone know what temperature and for how long?

I have the same one, and I boil it.

[mabrungard]

Yes, over-oxygenation of your wort is reputed to foster rougher, fusel alcohol formation. Jamil mentioned that in an article or one of his shows many years ago. If using dry yeast, there is little need to oxygenate the wort. About 10 minutes of oxygen at a trickle that barely makes it to the surface of the fermenter is about all your wort needs.

[erockrph]

Yes, over-oxygenation of your wort is reputed to foster rougher, fusel alcohol formation. Jamil mentioned that in an article or one of his shows many years ago. If using dry yeast, there is little need to oxygenate the wort. About 10 minutes of oxygen at a trickle that barely makes it to the surface of the fermenter is about all your wort needs.

Did you mean 10 seconds? Ten minutes of pure O2 seems like a heck of a lot.

[PORTERHAUS]

Yes, over-oxygenation of your wort is reputed to foster rougher, fusel alcohol formation. Jamil mentioned that in an article or one of his shows many years ago. If using dry yeast, there is little need to oxygenate the wort. About 10 minutes of oxygen at a trickle that barely makes it to the surface of the fermenter is about all your wort needs.

I have recently come to understand that. I found it weird that was never mentioned in the yeast book. Of course dry yeast just doesnt get the same regards as liquid at times. I have read although not needed, the extra oxygen aso will not hurt when using dry yeasts. I usually do not go over 60 sec on a low flow where the surface is barley broken or turbulent by bubbles. I have also been using oxygen on batches for a year or so now. Only recently these 3 batches are an issue.

[klickitat jim]

Dave Logsdon has said that its (paraphrasing) virtually impossible to over oxygenate. I tend to lean more that way than Zainasheff's presumption of why a friends beer seemed fusel. I remember the episode. Its a draw back of these info sources like podcasts. Its Jamil, so everything said is fact. Well, some of it is and some is just them discussing possibilities. I took him to be postulating on why a buddy's beer seemed to be a little hot and he thought the o2 amount the guy used seemed high. Well, could be. But maybe not. In the same discussion, Palmer mused that perhaps too much oxygen would be placing yeast cells in a pure oxygen environment till they died, but short of that the extra o2 is going to dissipate before the yeast have time to do anything about it.

Besides, does it even make sense? When do yeast uptake o2? What are they doing at that time? What are fusels? When are yeast making that? The extra o2 is long gone before alcohol is produced, seems to me anyway.

I think that there's a narrow band of not enough oxygen, then a wider band of what could be considered enough oxygen to work, maybe in that wider band there is a precise point we could call optimum, but that point probably moves around depending on wort composition and yeast strain. My money is on the bet that harmful over oxygenation is probably hard to accomplish without pressure and time.

[erockrph]

Dave Logsdon has said that its (paraphrasing) virtually impossible to over oxygenate. I tend to lean more that way than Zainasheff's presumption of why a friends beer seemed fusel. I remember the episode. Its a draw back of these info sources like podcasts. Its Jamil, so everything said is fact. Well, some of it is and some is just them discussing possibilities. I took him to be postulating on why a buddy's beer seemed to be a little hot and he thought the o2 amount the guy used seemed high. Well, could be. But maybe not. In the same discussion, Palmer mused that perhaps too much oxygen would be placing yeast cells in a pure oxygen environment till they died, but short of that the extra o2 is going to dissipate before the yeast have time to do anything about it.

Besides, does it even make sense? When do yeast uptake o2? What are they doing at that time? What are fusels? When are yeast making that? The extra o2 is long gone before alcohol is produced, seems to me anyway.

I think that there's a narrow band of not enough oxygen, then a wider band of what could be considered enough oxygen to work, maybe in that wider band there is a precise point we could call optimum, but that point probably moves around depending on wort composition and yeast strain. My money is on the bet that harmful over oxygenation is probably hard to accomplish without pressure and time.

I've had similar suspicions myself, Jim. Now that I have a dedicated fermentation keg, I may have to experiment with this some time. This also leads me to wonder if the alleged benefits to fermenting under pressure are primarily because the initial oxygenation isn't lost to the atmosphere before the yeast can get to it.

[mabrungard]

Eric, I based the 10 minute mark off my typical practices. I have an in-line oxygenator and it typically takes about 10 minutes to complete the chilling and transfer. To calm your fear of over-oxygenation in my system, I can say that I get about 15 to 20, 5-gal batches per red cylinder of O2. So I am trickling oxygen into the in-line oxygenator. Those using up one of those tanks in a lot fewer batches should rethink their procedures.

[erockrph]

Eric, I based the 10 minute mark off my typical practices. I have an in-line oxygenator and it typically takes about 10 minutes to complete the chilling and transfer. To calm your fear of over-oxygenation in my system, I can say that I get about 15 to 20, 5-gal batches per red cylinder of O2. So I am trickling oxygen into the in-line oxygenator. Those using up one of those tanks in a lot fewer batches should rethink their procedures.

Wow. Ten minutes is a lot longer than I've heard suggested by most proponents of pure oxygen. I usually hear times in the 30-60 second range.

Personally, I have no fear of over-oxygenation in your system. I have about as much faith in the claims of over-oxygenation as I do in hot-side aeration. I'm sure there may be a specific set of circumstances where it may cause an issue, but I have a hard time believing that it is common enough where I need to be concerned about it in my normal practices.