Oxygen filters and stones

Ward Chillington

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So I was listing to a Brulosophy podcast on the dreaded and fabled idea of hot side oxidation while driving home last night which had a short mention of adding oxygen to wort just before pitching. I have been taking this step with my brewing for many a batch now and haven't given a thought to how long is that HEPA filter good for and should I be doing anything else beyond just dropping the air stone into some Star San before and after use.

Thoughts?
 
Depends on what you're feeding the filter. If it's oxygen from a bottle, the answer is that it'll last almost forever. If it's air from an aquarium pump, then just a few days less than forever. Air from a compressor maybe a little less still, due to the oil in the air stream. If you blow through it with your mouth, then maybe not so long at all.

Like the fuel filter in your lawnmower: It'll look dirty when the time comes.

My two cents' worth.
 
Depends on what you're feeding the filter. If it's oxygen from a bottle, the answer is that it'll last almost forever. If it's air from an aquarium pump, then just a few days less than forever. Air from a compressor maybe a little less still, due to the oil in the air stream. If you blow through it with your mouth, then maybe not so long at all.

Like the fuel filter in your lawnmower: It'll look dirty when the time comes.

My two cents' worth.
Pretty good summation. But if you're aerating/oxygenating, you are no longer on the hot side. Sanitation rules apply.... What HSA does is establish the precursor to the chemical that gives the "wet paper" oxidation flavor. A few facts:

1. Boiling strips the wort of all gas, oxygen included.
2. Some O2 uptake is impossible to avoid at our scale.
3. The hotter the wort, the less O2 will dissolve in it - this saves my bacon, because when I start recirculation I inevitably blow some air through the hot wort. Thinking hard about a way to keep this from happening....

Reasonable precautions on the hot side are all that's really needed. On the cold side, sanitation is a issue but as mentioned, the HEPA filter will keep most of the bugs out of the wort, unless you're blowing air into it through your mouth. It's time to start looking at HSA when:

1. You get the "wet paper" oxidation flavors.
2. You get little to no malt flavor.
 
I boil my stone and every time prior to use, I don’t think starsan can get into all the crevasses where bacteria and mold are. Plus boiling is a more effective sanitizer than starsan.

I use pure oxygen without any filtering so I can’t comment on the filter. Injecting air limits the amount of oxygen that can dissolved into solution. 8 ppm is the maximum you can get with air, which works fairly good with most ales, but lagers need 15ppm. Pure oxygen can exceed 35ppm.

Edit: I do believe lighter beers can suffer from HSA. Since I been doing things to avoid it, I’ve noticed an improvement in the overall malt flavor of the beer.
 
I boil my stone and every time prior to use, I don’t think starsan can get into all the crevasses where bacteria and mold are. Plus boiling is a more effective sanitizer than starsan.

I use pure oxygen without any filtering so I can’t comment on the filter. Injecting air limits the amount of oxygen that can dissolved into solution. 8 ppm is the maximum you can get with air, which works fairly good with most ales, but lagers need 15ppm. Pure oxygen can exceed 35ppm.

Edit: I do believe lighter beers can suffer from HSA. Since I been doing things to avoid it, I’ve noticed an improvement in the overall malt flavor of the beer.

Does your stone have any plastic? I have not boiled my stone because it has plastic parts and just used Starsan. Good point you make since it is hard to rinse and dry the stone.
 
Reasonable precautions on the hot side are all that's really needed. On the cold side, sanitation is a issue

That was pretty much the point of the podcast, Cold side is the REAL precaution side!
 

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