Yesterday I performed my first two step infusion mash, which I was a littler nervous about. First time brewing a Witbier.
The first step leveled out at 129–warmer than target, but still within range. Then after I added the second infusion for the sach. rest, my thermometer probe
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=109024
crapped out, so I was unable to get accurate readings inside the mash. I think my second step occurred at around 147. Obviously low, so the final product will end up drier than planned. RDWHAHB, right?
Well immediately upon waking this morning I realized that I forgot to aerate when I pitched last night! Crap! The batch already had about a 2" krausen when I ran downstairs to check. I went ahead and gave it a good minute of O2. Did I do the right thing or did I miss the window by not doing it at pitching?
What was the OG? Did you splash the wort into the fermenter? You’re probably fine, especially since you have a very fermentable wort and it’s probably a lower gravity beer.
1.048 OG. Used a 1.2L starter with stir plate.
I’m sure a good amount of air got diffused into the wort when I transferred from the kettle to the primary, because I used dual strainers to filter out solids while transferring. But the wort sat in the primary for a couple hours before I pitched.
You had active fermentation. Why would you add O2?
Sometimes it is better to do nothing than to do something. 
[quote=“Nighthawk”]You had active fermentation. Why would you add O2?
Sometimes it is better to do nothing than to do something. [/quote]
Fair question. There was clearly enough O2 to begin fermentation, but I wanted to ensure there was enough to sustain adequate growth and healthy fermentation to prevent under-attenuation/stuck fermentation. Perhaps I overreacted, but didn’t seem like it would cause any harm (sans infection from aerating, but I’m pretty careful about that).
Thanks for the link. Hopefully I got to it early enough in the process that any effects are minor. I aerated 7-8 hours after pitching. I continue to be amazed by the ability of yeast to clean up beer during the conditioning phase.
I’ll definitely remember to aerate at pitching from now on!
