Hey gang. Probably my least favorite part of the brewing process is aerating the wort. Shaking around a 5 gallon bucket for several minutes is just a big pain in the ass.
Has anyone tried aerating their wort using an electric hand mixer with extra long beaters? I was also thinking you could use an electric drill with a beater-like attachment.
Thoughts?
You could do any of the above. I had good luck using an oversized kitchen wisk and whipping it up to a nice froth. Took about 30 seconds
I just bought a wine whip and use it with my cordless drill. It has worked great.
+1 I’ve done it that way also and it works great but now I just use a stone and a O2 tank.
I do this for mixing my must to make mead. I use the whisk attachment (sanitized) on my stick blender. Works like a charm.
-4 foot aluminum pipe just the right size to chuck into a drill opened most of the way up.
-Drill two small holes all the way through the pipe from 90% offset - right near the bottom. You should have 4 holes in the wall of the pipe (equally spaced around the pipe) right at the end (bottom) of the pipe.
-Zip tie 4 longish zip ties through the holes such that the tails stand out in different directions.
A very cheap way to get the gob done. Spent way less than 10.00.
Barry
I had tried various attachments to a drill, a spoon and wire wisk and wasn’t really happy with the amount of aeration I was getting…
Finally realized I already had the perfect tool, for me, in the kitchen…
A couple three minutes of alternating deep and surface level agitation does the job. Do it before and after pitching the yeast then to the fermentor.
Ya. um … no.
I would not go sticking that boat motor into fresh wort.
That will not be an item that one could dependably sanitize.
[quote=“Tullybrook”]Ya. um … no.
I would not go sticking that boat motor into fresh wort.
That will not be an item that one could dependably sanitize.[/quote]
Why do you say that? I could very easily clean and spray the hell out of anything (starsan) I’m submersing in my wort.
Haven’t had any issues with that. It sits in Starsan until needed…
There are probably other things in my brewing that could/would be a greater risk…
Ok, I should revise my post.
It looks like that would work great!
I would just advise one to thoroughly clean this, and then sanitize completely before using.
Sorry, didn’t mean to be so negative about your cool idea.
I’ve used a mix-stir to aerate my wort for years now. Quick, simple, easy.
Not a problem Tully.
Thankfully the mixer I have is a sealed unit and simple to keep clean… Also it being dedicated to brewing also helps…
Thanks to this forum, and others, I have picked up many a trick that makes life, and brewing in particular, much easier without having to learn from my own mistakes…
Just joined the forum now as I didn’t feel I had that much to offer in the past. But now I’m at least brewing some pretty decent German lagers, though my methods are still pretty primitive compared to others… Just now reaping the benefits of my pond pump and chiller I learned about on the forums.
[quote=“Vulkin’”]-4 foot aluminum pipe just the right size to chuck into a drill opened most of the way up.
-Drill two small holes all the way through the pipe from 90% offset - right near the bottom. You should have 4 holes in the wall of the pipe (equally spaced around the pipe) right at the end (bottom) of the pipe.
-Zip tie 4 longish zip ties through the holes such that the tails stand out in different directions.
A very cheap way to get the gob done. Spent way less than 10.00.
Barry[/quote]
Big thanks to Vulkin for the recommendation. Here’s my homemade WineWhip / Drill-powered Aerator. It’s a little crude but definitely gets the job done. And cost me like $6.
Cheap and simply (I love those words!) If you used solid stock (aluminium stock) you are one step ahead of me as I have bought a solid piece but haven’t fabbed up the 2.0 version yet. If you are using the hollow rod version like I still am – take your hose at its highest pressure setting and blow it out from both ends to assure you remove all hops particles. Been using mine now for 9 months and it works like a charm. I do want to buy a drill to dedicate to this one purpose so I stop being paranoid about dust from my last job.
Barry
Here is a couple of pics of the homemade all SS mix-stir that I made. I also have plastic blades to fit it. It cost me nothing but the time it took to build it.
[attachment=1]2011-01-02_03-39-45_708.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=0]2011-01-02_03-39-24_363.jpg[/attachment]
[quote=“Vulkin’”]Cheap and simply (I love those words!) If you used solid stock (aluminium stock) you are one step ahead of me as I have bought a solid piece but haven’t fabbed up the 2.0 version yet. If you are using the hollow rod version like I still am – take your hose at its highest pressure setting and blow it out from both ends to assure you remove all hops particles. Been using mine now for 9 months and it works like a charm. I do want to buy a drill to dedicate to this one purpose so I stop being paranoid about dust from my last job.
Barry[/quote]
Yeah, I used a solid aluminum rod. So no worries about wort hanging out in a tube. Works really well.
I rigged up a paint stirrer on a ceiling fan motor, it has 3speeds and is reversible.
[quote=“Chris-P”][quote=“Vulkin’”]-4 foot aluminum pipe just the right size to chuck into a drill opened most of the way up.
-Drill two small holes all the way through the pipe from 90% offset - right near the bottom. You should have 4 holes in the wall of the pipe (equally spaced around the pipe) right at the end (bottom) of the pipe.
-Zip tie 4 longish zip ties through the holes such that the tails stand out in different directions.
A very cheap way to get the gob done. Spent way less than 10.00.
Barry[/quote]
Big thanks to Vulkin for the recommendation. Here’s my homemade WineWhip / Drill-powered Aerator. It’s a little crude but definitely gets the job done. And cost me like $6.[/quote]
I love this!
Simple is almost always best!
This is flat out awesome.
I use a Bubble Box live well aerator. Costs less than 10 dollars. Works great.
