Yankee Brew News Archive

Gadgets for Your Fermentation Tool Kit

Originally Published: 10/96

By: Gregg Glaser

The Oxynator

Liquid Bread, Inc., 1007 La Quinta Drive, Orlando, FL 32809, 407-888-3533, [email protected], http://www.pmark.com.bread, $39.95

The Oxynator is a 1.1 cubic foot disposable tank filled with 99.9% pure oxygen which uses a regulator, plastic hose and a stainless steel diffusion stone to oxygenate wort. As most homebrewers know, oxygenated wort is essential to a good fermentation.

To use the Oxynator, you first boil the diffusion stone for 15 minutes for sanitation. The stone is connected to a sterilized plastic hose and lowered into cooled wort. The other end of the hose is attached to a regulator on the oxygen tank. Before yeast is added to the wort, you turn on the regulator for 15 seconds, giving it a blast of pure oxygen.

After the foam has settled, and believe me, there's a lot of foam, you give the wort another 15-second blast of oxygen. This will leave pure oxygen in the head space of your fermentation vessel. Remove the hose and stone, add yeast and ferment as usual. Liquid Bread claims that use of the Oxynator will increase the efficiency of your yeast, cause fermentation to finish faster and deliver a lower finishing gravity to your beer.

The Oxynator tank should last for about 15-20 five-gallon batches of beer. Extra oxygen tanks cost $11.95. A good tip to remember is to keep your hands as clean and wet as possible when handling the diffusion stone. You don't want to block the tiny stainless steel pores in the stone with oils from your hands.

Fermentap

P.O. Box 30175, Stockton, CA 95213-0175, (800) 942-2750, $30.00

Would you like to give up siphoning between primary and secondary fermenters and in the bottling/kegging process? Would you like to be able to drain off and harvest yeast the way professional brewers do? Would you like to ferment your beer in a upside-down carboy? Well then, the Fermentap is just for you.

A simply designed inverted carboy stand holds the carboy securely, but the heart of this system is the Fermentap valve kit. The various parts include a vent tube screen, strainer, diverter, gasket, valve body, spigot, rinse port, spigot port, compression nut, clamp and cap. After assembling these assorted pieces, along with a 30" piece of 3/8" racking tube bent to form an airlock (not included), you're ready to invert your filled carboy into its stand.

Risky? Well it's definitely nerve-racking the first time, but if you've followed the directions carefully (and practiced with water before wort), all should go well. As your beer ferments in the inverted primary, you can drain off trub and yeast as needed. If you have a second Fermentap setup, you can transfer your beer to an inverted secondary fermenter without siphoning. A gravity feed between two Fermentap valve kits will do the job. The same works for bottling or kegging.

The folks at Fermentap also make a siphon spray wort aerator ($2.00). This small plastic device attaches to the end of a siphon hose and sprays (aerates) wort into your primary fermenter.

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