Beer not finishing to expected FG.

[siwelwerd]

When I transferred from kettle to fermentor, I used a siphon. I was not aware aeration of wort was a good thing. I was under the impression aeration and oxidization were equally bad for wort. Now I'm confused.

You want oxygen in the wort, as the yeast require it to reproduce. You do *not* want oxygen in the beer, i.e. post-fermentation, as this causes staling and oxidation (papery, cardboard character). Any oxygen in the wort (to a large extent) will be consumed by the yeast.

[Adam]

So instead of siphoning into the fermentor, I should just pour the wort into it directly from the kettle? Would that be enough/acceptable aeration?

[BeerPal]

When I transferred from kettle to fermentor, I used a siphon. I was not aware aeration of wort was a good thing. I was under the impression aeration and oxidization were equally bad for wort. Now I'm confused.

As previously mentioned, yeast require oxygen. But you just spent an hour, boiling all the oxygen out of your wort. It is essential that you get oxygen back into it.

So instead of siphoning into the fermentor, I should just pour the wort into it directly from the kettle? Would that be enough/acceptable aeration?

It will certainly aerate the wort to some extent. Is it ideal? Not by a long shot. If you have no other means of aeration/oxygenation, you may want to consider spending some time shaking the fermentor.

[scotchpine]

When I went to using a carboy as a primary instead of a bucket, I got myself one of those degassing rods from my LHBS. It has those hinged wings that, when used with my cordless drill, seem to whip a lot more air into my wort than I could ever get by shaking. My fermentations have been plenty strong and complete using this. I also almost always make a starter first too.

[twoskis brewskis]

I use on of the wine degassing mixers too. Mines called the "Mixstir". I have great results from a nice 1 minute spin with this attached to my cordless drill on slower speed. I was worried about ambient air getting into my carboy during this process so I got a sterile filter and a carboy cap from morebeer. I put the mixstir through the center hole and the filter in the other. This makes me feel better about sterility of the air I'm mixing with my wort.

[AdamWiz]

So instead of siphoning into the fermentor, I should just pour the wort into it directly from the kettle? Would that be enough/acceptable aeration?

You also want to shake the living shit out of the fermentor, before and after adding yeast (I usually shake it up until the top is nice and frothy, let it settle a bit, then repeat a couple more times). When I did primaries in a bucket, I would take my (sanitized)brew paddle and stir it very roughly for a few minuites to get a lot of air whipped in. It really does make a big difference in lag time and overall fermentation. And I have heard a lot of people say that there was a very noticable jump in their beer quality when they added pure oxygen aeration to their routine(but I have way too many other things I'd like to buy before I spring for an oxygen tank). But the general consensus I have found is that before there is any alcohol in your brew, get as much oxygen as possible in there. I have even heard some people say that they continue to give the fermentor a shake from time to time all the way up until fermentation starts. Once fermentation begins, though, oxygen becomes the enemy.

[Adam]

Thanks for the help guys. I'll have to buy some ingredients and brew it again with those changes.

[brewinhard]

Looking at that recipe, I see one major problem. The maltodextrin....it is completely unfermentable by saccharomyces and using 1# of it in a beer like this will give you about 8 gravity per 5 gallons that your yeast simply won't be able to chew through. That will leave you with an FG at least 8 points higher than you think.