blaze379

Recipes 

Has anyone tried using a 115VAC fan and a light dimmer to control speed? I figure it works on ceiling fans, why not small fans.

__________________
Dog House Brewing
Campo, CA.
http://doghousebrew.com/

Aleforge

Recipes 

Small computer fans don't run on 115. Are you talking about taking apart a ceiling fan motor?

__________________
PRIMARY - Irish Red
PRIMARY - Apple Bee Cider
PRIMARY - Dunkelweizen
PRIMARY - Orange Blossom Mead

"A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes." -- Mahatma Gandhi

Evan!

Recipes 

That would rock. Get some really big REM's and mount a small ceiling fan in a wooden box, then make huge starters in a 5-gallon bucket using an 8" stirbar.

__________________
MOSS HOLLOW BREWING CO.
Aristocratic Ales, Lascivious Lagers

.planned:
•Scottish 80/- •Sweet Stout •Roggenbier
.primary | bright:
98: Moss Hollow Soured '09 72: Oude Kriek 99: B-Weisse 102: Brett'd BDSA 104: Feat of Strength Helles Bock 105: Merkin Brown
.on tap | kegged:
XX: Moss Hollow Springs Sparkling Water 95: Gott Mit Uns German Pils 91b: Brown Willie's Oaked Abbey Ale 103: Merkin Stout
98: Yorkshire Special 100: Maple Porter 89: Cidre Saison 101: Steffiweizen '09 (#3)

conpewter

Recipes 

Sweet, you could make huge starters, use this as your stirbar

http://catalog.miniscience.com/catalog/Magnets/Cow_Magnet.html
Cow magnets are rod magnets with rounded ends. They are usually about 3" (75mm) long and 1/2" (12mm) diameter. (Some are encased in food grade stainless steel)

Oh and I actually use a dimmer switch to control my stirplate. I have it wired in-line in a small extension cord, then have my wall-wort plugged into that (to convert to 18 volt) and run that to my fan. I don't recommend doing it this way, but it worked for me (so far...)

__________________
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." - V

Primary: Nothin
Secondary: Shady Lord RIS, Water to Barleywine, Pumpkin wine, burnt mead
Kegged: Crappy infected mild
Bottles: Apfelwein, 999 Barleywine, Oatmeal Stout, Robust Porter, Robust smoked porter, Simcoe Smash

bwitt

Recipes 

Yes. I got an $8 fan dimmer switch from ACE hardware and used a 115vac case cooling fan from Radio Shack $24. Put it in a $7 Project box from RS and used an old computer power cord and an old hard drive magnet. Total cost was right at $40.

Took about 30 minutes to build and it works better than the $75 stirplate that I bought from cynmar.

BrewBeemer

Recipes 

My son picked up a couple plated rare earth magnets 2" x 1/2" x 1/4" dang they are strong and hard to pull / slide apart. What would be wrong with placing one of these instead of puter magnets epoxy centered on the fan motor? My thinking a bar magnet against a stir bar magnet would stay centered better unless i'm all wet?

__________________
Bier Jagdwaffe... Bier 30 zeit.....~~=o&o>..........

bwitt

Recipes 

It should work just fine.

The trick is to get the magnet centered on the fan hub. I placed the Hd Magnet on the fan hub as close to center as I could tell then attached the stirbar to the magnet and turned on the fan. If you watch the center of the stirbar while it spins you can tell if everything is centered ok. If you see what looks like a hole in the center where the stirbar is spinning then it is not centered. Just make small adjustments to the magnet until the center of the stirbar looks solid while it is spinning.

basilchef

Recipes 

i have all the same stuff how did you power it? can you post a picture? or explain in detail? thank you so much