Manual Mixer for Electric HLT?

I am working on the lid for my 10 gallon HLT. It is made of 2" foam, and will have two 2kw heatsticks built into it.

What I am thinking about for the mixer (to keep the temperature even) is a stir paddle that extends through the lid that is manually turned. Just give it a few spins every now an then.

That negates the need for a motor. I wonder how well it will work?

The only bummer, IMHO, is that it ruins the otherwise fully automated water heating process. You might build something for a manual spin for now but keep the design adaptable to adding a small motor if you find a cheap one.

"A brewery is never finished..."

The heat will be manually controlled too, to begin with. A PID, SSR's and motor will come later, in stages.

I will be happy for now just not having to heat water in the kitchen and carry it outside.

:rockin:

Will this tank gravity feed other tanks?

GreenMonti said:

Will this tank gravity feed other tanks?

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Heh.

Think I will need a ladder to stir it?

Cpt_Kirks said:

Heh.

Think I will need a ladder to stir it?

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Yes I was thinking that. Wasn't sure how you had things setup.

I haven't done it yet, but I am looking to use automotive sourced windsheild wiper motor or one from the electric window winding mech. in the door.

Cheap from breakers yards, and should be strong enough, plus they already have reduction gearboxes fitted.

Heatsticks and stirrer will live in the lid that already holds my immersion chiller coils. (See "massive 96ft wort cooler" in DIY section)

Cpt_Kirks said:

"A brewery is never finished..."


I will be happy for now just not having to heat water in the kitchen and carry it outside.

:rockin:

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IME a stirrer is really needed if the HLT is automated so the temp senser gives accurate feedback. Operated manually, you can do without.

silverbrewer said:

I haven't done it yet, but I am looking to use automotive sourced windsheild wiper motor or one from the electric window winding mech. in the door.

Cheap from breakers yards, and should be strong enough, plus they already have reduction gearboxes fitted.

Heatsticks and stirrer will live in the lid that already holds my immersion chiller coils. (See "massive 96ft wort cooler" in DIY section)

Click to expand...

The only downside is the 12v operation. You'd need a pretty hefty AC/DC supply to run it.

I can't imagine something like that pulling more than 10 amps. Most car battery chargers (I ASSume most of us have a battery charger...) put out better than 10a if asked to. There are varying ways the wiring could be done.

Bobby_M said:

The only downside is the 12v operation. You'd need a pretty hefty AC/DC supply to run it.

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I have a spare motor like the one I use to paddle my HLT water as it heats. PM me if you are interested.

You can see it here on top of my HLT:

curtis97322 said:

I can't imagine something like that pulling more than 10 amps. Most car battery chargers (I ASSume most of us have a battery charger...) put out better than 10a if asked to. There are varying ways the wiring could be done.

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I think the problem is that most chargers use a pulsed voltage higher than 12v, at least I know that mine does. It's not just a source of high current 12v. It is nice that it's already a reasonably powerful and geared down motor. Need to find a 120v equivalent.

Ice cream maker motor. Strong, 110 VAC and the right speed.

On the 12 volt idea, I would think a deep cycle battery would outlast the amount of time the motor was needed. They run trolling motors for longer periods of time.

I had no idea of such a thing. I assume you're talking above 15V?

I know a properly charging vehicle's rectified voltage is in the 14-15V range and it seems like the last time I took a multimeter to MY charger it was right at 14 or 15v and reading steady. My electrical knowledge doesn't come anywhere near to that demonstrated on this board so I might be talking outta my rear...

The icecream motor idea is a good one - though at least 'round here they're difficult to find second hand. An industrial gearmotor can be had on ebay for the price of a new icecream maker motor if one is patient enough...

I guess my reasoning on the wiper motor working reasonably well with a battery charger is this: A starter motor will run on a battery charger - why wouldn't a wiper motor? Would the life of the motor be significantly shortened by the less than optimal power supply? Wiper motors are mere miles away from many of us at the local salvage yard - icecream motors would be harder to find...

I DO wonder if the wiper motors have enough torque... My lazy butt needs to get to the salvage yard soon...

Bobby_M said:

I think the problem is that most chargers use a pulsed voltage higher than 12v, at least I know that mine does. It's not just a source of high current 12v. It is nice that it's already a reasonably powerful and geared down motor. Need to find a 120v equivalent.

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curtis97322 said:

I had no idea of such a thing. I assume you're talking above 15V?

I know a properly charging vehicle's rectified voltage is in the 14-15V range and it seems like the last time I took a multimeter to MY charger it was right at 14 or 15v and reading steady. My electrical knowledge doesn't come anywhere near to that demonstrated on this board so I might be talking outta my rear...

The icecream motor idea is a good one - though at least 'round here they're difficult to find second hand. An industrial gearmotor can be had on ebay for the price of a new icecream maker motor if one is patient enough...

I guess my reasoning on the wiper motor working reasonably well with a battery charger is this: A starter motor will run on a battery charger - why wouldn't a wiper motor? Would the life of the motor be significantly shortened by the less than optimal power supply? Wiper motors are mere miles away from many of us at the local salvage yard - icecream motors would be harder to find...

I DO wonder if the wiper motors have enough torque... My lazy butt needs to get to the salvage yard soon...

Click to expand...

Some battery chargers will cook a battery if left alone. This is due to the incease in voltage. From what I understand some will go up to 16V. That's crazy for a system that is ment to run at 12V. Charging systems run at 14.4V. This compensates for the various things running while the charging system is running. Not to mention having to put more in then you get out. Remember a perpetual motion machine doesn't exist. Some battery chargers don't watch voltage like the charging system on a car. There is also to some extent a rectifying factor that the battery is giving off. A good audiophile can get in depth here.

As far as torque is concerned, this is for a HLT. No real resistance here. Just water. I would assume that snow on the windshield is far more resistant then just hot water.

Misread HLT vs MLT. My bad.

How about an air stone with a aquarium pump and bubble the water?

A good source of powerfull 12 volt dc power supplies are old computers. The psu's in them don't cost much even if bought new, and only need a bit of "hot wiring" to get them fired up. A bit of asking about should get you one for nothing....

I'll sometimes recirculate the HLT while bringing it up to temp, that keeps it well mixed.

curtis97322 said:

Misread HLT vs MLT. My bad.

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Not so bad. Gives the thread a chance to take another direction while sticking to the mixing topic.

I'm working on using a gearmotor to stir a direct heat MLT. Any idea on how much torque that would take? Thinking about McMaster Carr's 35 rpm with 20 in-lbs of torque, but not sure if has enough power to stir a mash.

I think that would depend a lot on the stir mechanism design. IOW, a big 8x12" flat paddle would be lot harder to turn than a couple small diameter horizontal rods hung off the center shaft. What did you have in mind?

I somehow missed your post, but made a shaft and paddle yesterday. It's a 2" wide by 12" long paddle on a 5/8" diameter shaft. It will be spinning at the very bottom of the kettle. I also ordered the gearmotor mentioned above (35 RPM / 20 in-lbs), but I'm second guessing even before it gets here. The 10 RPM gearmotor would have had two times the touque. Do you think that would be enough speed to even out the mash temperature and prevent scorching?

Mash thickness will probably determine if either of these motors work.

Still needs some trim work, but it's functional.
It has no problem pushing water, have to wait to see what it does with mash.





Edit:
In hopes of improving circulation, I bent the paddle after taking the picture above.
It's a counter clockwise (looking down) rotation.
The idea is to force the flow up through the center of the mash and down the sides.