15 gallon keg stir plate

I was looking for a way to make big starters for lager beers. Well at NHC Seattle I decided to ask the good people at Wyeast if making a small beer +/- 1.040 in the ten gallon-ish size would work as a starter for a 12 gallon lager. After a bit of head scratching and calculating, they said yes. It may be slightly over pitched, but if I fermented a bit on the cool side it would probably work with two packages of yeast.

Well fast forward I did it. I used a 15 gallon keg with a 1" stir bar on stir plate mounted on a shelf in my temperature controlled fridge.

I use the stir plate to start the yeast going for the first few hours and later in fermentation to rouse the yeast. I also find it useful to blow off sulphur and accelerate a diacetyl rest.

Now I make a Cream Ale starter with the same malt and hops as my lagers. I like making starters alot more now.

The resulting lagers have been quite good. They all have scored in the low to mid 40's in competitions. The Cream Ale is a hit too.




Bottom view


1" stir bar in about a gallon of water (open top keg)


with ferm wrap

I did a Cream Ale six days ago that is going to be a starter for a Bo Pils. This afternoon, I increased the temperature from 65 to 69 degrees and turned on the stir plate for a few hours to finish off fermentation.
It has now been five hours and the blow off tube went from no activity to bubbling once per second. it's my plan to increase the temp again when activity slows by increasing the temp another two degrees and turning on the stir plate again for an hour or so.

Below is photo of the blow off tube five hours after increasing the temp up four degrees and two hours of stir plate usage:

Hey Curious about what stirrer you used. I am looking to agitate a 3 gal keg I use for seltzer. I have a waterline and float set up so that it always stays full, and I don't have to constantly fill it for seltzer. However it takes a bit for it to work. I already have an airstone but some agitation would be great to get it carbonated as flat water is added.

AsherF said:

Hey Curious about what stirrer you used. I am looking to agitate a 3 gal keg I use for seltzer. I have a waterline and float set up so that it always stays full, and I don't have to constantly fill it for seltzer. However it takes a bit for it to work. I already have an airstone but some agitation would be great to get it carbonated as flat water is added.

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The OP was last seen on the forum 1/16/2016 so it doudtful that you will get an answer.