Aeration after fermentation begins

[bsegroves]

Hello,

I just purchased my first stainless air stone and filter to aerate my wort.
It was clogged at first so I boiled it, soaked it in vinegar, soaked it in star-san, boiled it again for longer, blew through it, and boiled it again,.......and it was still clogged.
I finally gave up and pitched my yeast, planning on returning the stone next week.
Today I had an idea and hooked it up to my 3 hp air pump. It worked!! Now I see thousands of bubbles like I should when it is hooked up to my little aquarium pump.
My question is should I aerate the brew that I did yesterday after its already doing its thing for 12 hours, or should I just forget it and start aerating on my next brew?

Thanks for the support.
Cheers,
Brannon

[RJH311]

From what I understand you shouldn't aerate after fermentation has begun. It's a good thing to add the oxygen to just the wort so the yeasties have some to feed on but something about oxidation with the yeast when you aerate with them in there. Thats just what i understand, I dont personally aerate so we'll see what others say.

[ColdBraue]

According to Wyeast, you can aerate up until the 50% attenuation mark (of your expected attenuation.) For example if you are expecting an FG of 1.010 with a 1.
060 OG, you can aerate up until it gets to 1.025 without ill effects.
The principle is that there are still enough cells in the aerobic phase that they will absorb and use the oxygen so that those cells in the anaerobic phase aren't hurt. Be careful if you start aerating as CO2 may be flying out of solution and foam out your bung hole.
Shaking for about 30 seconds or so should suffice, or aerating with your pump for a minute should be just fine. But if you've already used your pump when you pitched, and you've pitch enough yeast that is healthy for your OG, you should be ok at this point.
Cheers!

[bsegroves]

Thanks guys! I ran to do it after your response but,
I'm going to skip it to avoid a mess because its bubbling like crazy.
I'm pretty stoked about using the air stone though. I am hoping to get my attenuation up and I anticipate it's going to do the trick.

cheers!

Brannon