tymekeepyr

Recipes 

Just built this.

Quick and easy. I even got to gloat to SWMBO about how I really DID need to keep all of those old PC parts for something useful

For some reason though (perhaps magnet is not centered enough) it throws my 1.5" stir bar, but the 1" seems fine (as long as I keep the speed up)

Bottom line, it was easy, cheap and does what it needs to do

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Anthony_Lopez

Recipes 

Glad to hear everyone is fairing well with the write up.

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I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy.
--Tom Waits

You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.
--Frank Zappa

The Boston Wort Processors

My Cheap and Easy Stirplate

flyweed

Recipes 

Hey got a quick question. I Just built one of these, and installed a 1 inch by 2 inch long rare earth magnet on the fan....when I install it in the box, and sit my 2000ml flask with 1 inch stir bar on it....and turn it on..my stir bar stands straight up vertical. It doesn't lay horizontal and spin..it stands up and spins..is my magnet too strong?? or what????

Dan

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5 gal secondary: Strawberry Mead
1 gallon secondary: Blood orange Mead
1 gallon secondary: Grape Mead
On Tap: Blackberry Blonde Ale
On Tap: Apple/Cherry Hard Cider

Catt22

Recipes 

The magnet is too long for use with the small 1 inch stir bar. The bar will slide to one pole or the other and either get thrown immediately or it will do what you are describing. You could try it with a two inch bar or a shorter magnet. Ideally, the poles on the magnet should be spaced about the same as the poles on the stir bar. The stir bar has a magnet embedded in it that has a north and south pole just like the magnet on the fan.

flyweed

Recipes 

ah...I see..Ok..I'll give it another go.

Dan

__________________
5 gal secondary: Strawberry Mead
1 gallon secondary: Blood orange Mead
1 gallon secondary: Grape Mead
On Tap: Blackberry Blonde Ale
On Tap: Apple/Cherry Hard Cider

Niederhofer

Recipes 

I don't think it's a length issue. I think the magnet has poles on the top/bottom, not the ends like the stir bar...

djii

Recipes 

That is correct.
Here is a great FAQ http://www.kjmagnetics.com/faq.asp
This is also where I ordered my magnets, I've used them for everything from suspending tea strainers in my cornie kegs to making my stir plate. No idea if they are the best price but I liked the FAQ and that I could order singles.

Good luck!

Catt22

Recipes 

Yeah, that would explain it. I was thinking that he had bar type magnet with the poles on the ends. Might not work at all with only a single magnet of that type. I use two disc type magnets on mine.

djii

Recipes 

Surface area is the name of the game in aeration. You want a nice deep vortex that has rippling on as much of it's surface as possible. play with water first, but keep in mind that the mini-wort will be much denser so you will have to adjust some.

flyweed

Recipes 

so you guys are saying I need two smaller magnets on opposite sides of my fan, rather than one long one? I'll give that a shot if so. it's pretty funny to actually watch the stir bar stand up on end vertical and spin that way. but I'll give a couple of smaller magnets a try to see if I can get my stir bar to lay flat and spin properly.

Dan

__________________
5 gal secondary: Strawberry Mead
1 gallon secondary: Blood orange Mead
1 gallon secondary: Grape Mead
On Tap: Blackberry Blonde Ale
On Tap: Apple/Cherry Hard Cider