Stir Plate

Chris Craig · June 17, 2013, 06:04:29 PM

I made a starter of WLP002 on Sunday morning for an ESB I'm making on Wednesday. I threw it on my DIY stir plate, and everything seemed great when I went to bed. This afternoon when I got home from work, I checked on it, and the stir plate had thrown the bar. All the yeast was sitting on the bottom of the flask.

Anyway, I'm giving up on it. It barely worked anyway. I ordered one from OBK. http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/Magnetic_Stir_Plate_for_Homebrew_Yeast_Propagation_p/stir-plate.htm

Anybody have this one? Comments?

brew · June 17, 2013, 06:42:07 PM

Magnet not strong enough maybe? I have great luck with mine, it never stops. I used hard drive magnets and an 80mm computer fan...

JohnQ · June 17, 2013, 07:21:05 PM

Quote from: Chris Craig on June 17, 2013, 06:04:29 PM
I made a starter of WLP002 on Sunday morning for an ESB I'm making on Wednesday. I threw it on my DIY stir plate, and everything seemed great when I went to bed. This afternoon when I got home from work, I checked on it, and the stir plate had thrown the bar. All the yeast was sitting on the bottom of the flask.

Anyway, I'm giving up on it. It barely worked anyway. I ordered one from OBK. http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/Magnetic_Stir_Plate_for_Homebrew_Yeast_Propagation_p/stir-plate.htm

Anybody have this one? Comments?

Looks identical to the smaller one I have, if you want to "try before you buy", let me know.

JQ

chrismccull · June 17, 2013, 07:21:41 PM

Do you want to borrow mine until your new one arrives?

Chris Craig · June 17, 2013, 07:25:06 PM

I appreciate the offer guys. I've already pulled the trigger, and for now, the stir plate is chugging along nicely.

JQ, I assume the larger one is the carboy stir plate?

JohnQ · June 17, 2013, 07:27:27 PM

Yup,
to do 2 steps from a WL tube to enough for 20 gallons needs a first step to 1 litre, then another step to 5 litres (according to Yeast by JZ) and the big plate is too big for the flask, so you need 2 plates.

JQ

Jake · June 18, 2013, 09:46:15 AM

I have this same stir plate from OBK. I've never had any problems with it myself.

Chris Craig · June 18, 2013, 09:53:41 AM

Quote from: Jake on June 18, 2013, 09:46:15 AM
I have this same stir plate from OBK. I've never had any problems with it myself.

Good to hear that I didn't just waste $90 then

Roger · June 18, 2013, 08:51:38 PM

My 2 cost me about $8 to build. I had the same problem as you until I experimented with speed and different size bars. I've got them dialed in now. I'll probably be in the market for a 5 gallon one though for the brewery.

fakr · June 25, 2013, 04:21:54 PM

I had the same problem at first chris. It was the magnet strength. All I did was add another magnet to each of the existing magnets...which brought the magnets closer to the top and bang, no problem.

fakr · June 25, 2013, 04:25:47 PM

By the way Senior, I was thinking about your huge stir plate that is too strong for a 1-4L starter and I have an idea to make it the best stir plate around...

Simply put, add another switch and resistor for a separate circuit. The switch switches between the current stir plate circuit and a step down circuit that cuts your voltage in half. Label the switch Small and Large. Voila. You should be able to put a 500ml starter on it on the "small" circuit, and a 5GAL starter on the "large" circuit".

chrismccull · June 25, 2013, 05:36:21 PM

That is a good idea.

JohnQ · June 25, 2013, 05:40:06 PM

Makes me wonder why the maker didn't do it!
JQ

fakr · June 25, 2013, 05:56:04 PM

good question...maybe they were going for a huge stir plate and didn't think about making it dual purpose.

JohnQ · June 25, 2013, 05:59:09 PM

I might email Tom Hargrave, who sold me my first kegging system in '03 and is the developer of the product an suggest this...ok?

JQ