Beer Forum

I recently received an oxygen kit as a gift, and I"ve used it on my last couple batches. I've noticed that I have a much longer lag time than I did when simply shook the bejesus out of my carboys. I even more recently brewed with a friend (and I administered the oxygen) and he said he noticed an abnormally long long on his end too. I know it's not the yeast, as I'm a microbiologist and have been growing up yeast well for a long time. Furthermore, they were foaming heavily in the starter and VERY active. The only thing different in my process is the oxygen. This was a moderate gravity beer OG: 1058. What I have been doing is

I put the wand into the beer and turn on the O2 until I see bubbles forming and rising. I move it around, but kept it submerged for 75 seconds (originally was 60, but wanted to see if more oxygen helped). Am I missing something?

Hmmm. You're putting the stone all the way to the bottom of the carboy, right?

PhillyBrewer wrote:Hmmm. You're putting the stone all the way to the bottom of the carboy, right?

Not quite. The tubing isn't quite long enough. It gets down about 80% of the way.

I o2 for about 3 min,, I always a a long lag due to the low temp that I pitch at aproox 62-65deg,, but after 12 hrs it takes off well

what flow rate you are using? The amount of oxygen you are putting in depends on the flow rate and the time. A lot of people don't know their flow rate and are putting in way too much oxygen. Also, what size of stone are you using?

How much longer is the lag time?
When I started using pure O2 I noticed that the wort took an extrar 2-3 hours to get a good krasuen going. Usualy I would pitch at 2:00 in th afternoon, would have a little activity at 8:00pm that night and by the next moring a good 2" of krausen. However I did notice that the total time to ferment fully out was 2-3 days less and also a few points lower.
I remember listening to an old archive before it was even called The Session and they mentioned super fast lag times where not always critical. I can not rember why, but they said not to sweat over it.
But it sounds like you are going in the right direction and should be making great beer.
Cheers.
Fritz

Fritz Eye wrote:How much longer is the lag time?
When I started using pure O2 I noticed that the wort took an extrar 2-3 hours to get a good krasuen going. Usualy I would pitch at 2:00 in th afternoon, would have a little activity at 8:00pm that night and by the next moring a good 2" of krausen. However I did notice that the total time to ferment fully out was 2-3 days less and also a few points lower.
I remember listening to an old archive before it was even called The Session and they mentioned super fast lag times where not always critical. I can not rember why, but they said not to sweat over it.
But it sounds like you are going in the right direction and should be making great beer.
Cheers.
Fritz

I used to see bubbling around 4-6 hours. Now I'm seeing bubbling 18 hours later.

beltbuckle wrote:what flow rate you are using? The amount of oxygen you are putting in depends on the flow rate and the time. A lot of people don't know their flow rate and are putting in way too much oxygen. Also, what size of stone are you using?

I have the basic cheap regulator from northernbrewer that doesn't give me PSI or flow rate. I was told to turn it up until I got bubbles, and that if the bubbles are breaking the surface I have it on too high.