Fermentation Presentation

HighVoltageMan!

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This is a paper I wrote up a couple of years ago for my local homebrew club on fermentation. I made a couple of changes since then and I'm posting it for 2 reasons.

I would like people to go over it and if you find a grammar or technical error in it, please let me know, I would be greatly appreciative.

The second reason is to share the knowledge I have gleamed from the internet and from forums over the years. I have added to it my own personal experience and tried to put together a practical way to brew great beer at home and to "pay back" for all the things that I learned from others.

It certainly isn't a perfect document, but I hope others can learn something from it. I've used these methods to win a lot of medals over the years and I hope you can do the the same.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lFRloGV-qEUXLcPUOldSX8JllQ4Qe1RXSh_FV651ieM/edit?usp=sharing
 
In your section on oxygenation, you give a time but not a flow rate. Since the flow can be regulated and influences the actual amount of oxygen you put into your wort, giving the time alone is meaningless. I've done the math on oxygenation, can't share it now but I will later. Otherwise, looks like a good paper - I'll go over it in more detail tonight.
 
In your section on oxygenation, you give a time but not a flow rate. Since the flow can be regulated and influences the actual amount of oxygen you put into your wort, giving the time alone is meaningless. I've done the math on oxygenation, can't share it now but I will later. Otherwise, looks like a good paper - I'll go over it in more detail tonight.
I didn't give a flow rate because most people, including myself, don't have a flow meter.

From what I understand, the flow rate can change but the oxygen absorbed (or dissolved) into the solution shouldn't vary enough to make a huge difference. If you inject at a higher rate, the oxygen will just escape into the atmosphere, but you will hit maximum aeration. It's pretty hard to get above 25ppm, unless you just sit on it forever and waste a lot of oxygen. Too low and your are right, the O2 level will not be known unless you know how much is used. The flow meter will also help get the most out of your oxygen without excessive waste.

The aeration numbers I got were from a Wyeast experiment and the dissolved O2 was measured. I think if you really wanted to nail it, it should be measure with a DO meter.
 
I didn't give a flow rate because most people, including myself, don't have a flow meter.

From what I understand, the flow rate can change but the oxygen absorbed (or dissolved) into the solution shouldn't vary enough to make a huge difference. If you inject at a higher rate, the oxygen will just escape into the atmosphere, but you will hit maximum aeration. It's pretty hard to get above 25ppm, unless you just sit on it forever and waste a lot of oxygen. Too low and your are right, the O2 level will not be known unless you know how much is used. The flow meter will also help get the most out of your oxygen without excessive waste.

The aeration numbers I got were from a Wyeast experiment and the dissolved O2 was measured. I think if you really wanted to nail it, it should be measure with a DO meter.
Exactly! My oxygenation rate is based on a flow of 1/32 lpm, batch size of 6 gallons. For 1 ppm O2, I oxygenate six gallons of wort for 1 minute at 1/32 lpm. If I'm going for 10 ppm (about the amount recommended for mid-range ales and lagers), it's 10 minutes, very little lost to air. The difference is altitude (I brew at 6,000', or about 80% of normal sea-level pressure). I won't bore the forum with the rest of the chemistry.

The DO meter is a nice thought but not worth the price to me. Here's a case where the mantra should be "close enough for homebrew." The yeast can sort the oxygen out as long as it isn't too high for them to live.
 

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