Best stir plate

I bought an inexpensive stir plate last year and I am tired of playing around with it to get it to work. I use a 2000ml flask and anything over 1000ml takes a lot of playing around to get the stir bar over the magnet, and even more playing around to find a speed that moves the wort but doesn't throw the bar. Now I want to go to some larger starters and I know that this stir plate is not going to work, no way. So what is the best stir plate for the 3000ml - 5000ml range of starters? I want something factory made as I am not a very good handy man with projects.

I bought 2 laboratory grade ones off of a liquidation website. I got both for about $70. I have not experienced any issues with throwing the bars while using a 2000ml Erlenmeyer. The bonus is after I got them I found out that they are both also hotplates.

Check out stirstarters.com. I bought one of his stirplates and am very satisfied. I use it primarily for 2 liter starters but I did make a 5 liter starter on it with no problems. Nothing fancy, but it works very well. In my opinion a good deal for $42.00.

johnnybob said:

Check out stirstarters.com. I bought one of his stirplates and am very satisfied. I use it primarily for 2 liter starters but I did make a 5 liter starter on it with no problems. Nothing fancy, but it works very well. In my opinion a good deal for $42.00.

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That is the one that I have. It seems like the magnets are somewhat weak, and that they are spaced too far apart on the fan to be effective.

You could try to improve the magnets on the one you've got. If it doesn't work out, so what. You're looking at getting a new one anyway.

GRHunter said:

That is the one that I have. It seems like the magnets are somewhat weak, and that they are spaced too far apart on the fan to be effective.

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Wow. I've been thinking of buying one from Dan.
What about the one from Brewers Hardware? Maybe look into that one. I'm sure someone here has one that can tell you how it does.

3 months ago I picked up a stir plate from Amazon. Didn't feel like taking the time screwing around to build my own. This one works great, I've had no issues with 2L starters.

I have a stirstarters one and it works perfectly fine. The box is a little small for resting a 2L flask on it. But still works perfectly fine and is a great price.

itsme6582 said:

You could try to improve the magnets on the one you've got. If it doesn't work out, so what. You're looking at getting a new one anyway.

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I spent $3.99 on a couple of rare earth magnets and that did the trick. I just dropped one magnet on top of each of the existing magnets (no glue or anything) and it works great now. Before the modification I was only able to turn the dial to 1/4 speed, beyond that it would throw the stir bar. Now I can go at 100% speed without any problem at all. If anything, I'm a little worried that my yeast may get too dizzy to do their job.

GRHunter; the plates from stirstarters come with a lifetime repair or replacement warranty. I'd contact Dan if you're not happy with it's performance. BTW, don't know what size you use, but I use a 1" stirbar for all my starters with no problems whatsoever..

GRHunter said:

That is the one that I have. It seems like the magnets are somewhat weak, and that they are spaced too far apart on the fan to be effective.

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The units from stirstarters come with a lifetime repair or replacement warranty. I'd contact Dan if you're not happy with it's performance.
BTW, don't know what size stirbar you're using, but I use a 1" stirbar for all sizes with great results.

johnnybob said:

The units from stirstarters come with a lifetime repair or replacement warranty. I'd contact Dan if you're not happy with it's performance.
BTW, don't know what size stirbar you're using, but I use a 1" stirbar for all sizes with great results.

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It's not really broken, or defective so I don't think it's a warranty issue. It just needed a little beefing up, that's all.

Sounds like you need a bigger stir bar.

If anyone is thinking about getting a stir plate from Dan, he's currently offering a free stir bar- http://www.homebrewfinds.com/2011/03/stirstarterscom-special-offer-for-hbf_09.html

GRHunter said:

I spent $3.99 on a couple of rare earth magnets and that did the trick. I just dropped one magnet on top of each of the existing magnets (no glue or anything) and it works great now.

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Do you happen to remember what size rare earth magnets you used?

Thanks!

I don't know what he used, but I bet the 3/8in disc ones will work. They're about the diameter of a dime but a lot thicker. I think the ones I use have an 8lb pull strength.

Harvest rare earth magnets from an old hard drive or cd/dvd drive. Just built my stir plate with an old cpu fan, rheostat, and frogtape case. Works great!

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