O2 or Not to O2 – That is the Question

As we all know aerating wort accurately and consistently creates a healthy environment for yeast to function efficiently.  By knowing your aeration rate and volume brewers can relax in the knowledge that their yeast is in a happy place to excel.  By using the BrewIQ solution, Precision Fermentation will provide a DO reading (in PPM) every 30 minutes enabling you to visually see DO drop in initial phase of fermentation and DO aeration over multiple knockouts.

The graph below shows a double knockout where the brewer aerated on the first and second knockout.  By having the BrewIQ plugged in they were able to hit aeration targets consistently and removed any guesswork from their process. 

In addition to being able to concisely monitor aeration rates the BrewIQ solution also provides alert functions that will notify the brewing team if the fermentation is progressing as expected.   Along with providing a healthy environment for yeast to thrive, our customers have also been able to save money by not wasting O2 through over aeration.

Obviously, this example is a simplistic way that brewers are monitoring O2 with the BrewIQ, but if it has piqued your interest please take a look at the Case Study from Back East Brewery who used data that the BrewIQ provided to bring stability to their Hazy IPA…

‘We had a huge issue with the variable of pH to dissolved oxygen to original gravity, and thanks to BrewIQ’s readings found that if you see your pH drop rapidly while DO is still kind of hanging out higher and then your gravity drops rapidly, your yeast is scavenging for oxygen, even though there’s plenty of dissolved oxygen in there. It will then take up free amino nitrogen (FAN) from the proteins in the wort, which for a hazy IPA becomes a nightmare because you’ll end up with a clear product’