Anthony_Lopez

Recipes 

FYI- most commercial stir plates use bar magnets like the ones listed in the original post

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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

My Cheap and Easy Stirplate

Homercidal

Recipes 

I bought a Futurekit DC Motor Control Circuit to power my Boil Kettle. The idea was that swapping a resistor allows the timer to work well for powering an SSR connected to the 220V heating element, allowing a precise boil rate on the cheap.

The circuit, as designed, works for controlling 12V DC motor speeds, like those used in computer fans. After I built the circuit (it was not prebuilt, like I thought, but only took 1/2 hour to solder together including getting out the soldering iron and stuff and putting it away again). I tested on a computer fan and the fan smoothly goes from very nearly nothing to full speed. Not like the potentiometer that I stole from some other project, which has a "lowish" setting and a very small range.

it works so well that I'm considering buying a few to save on shipping (The circuit costs less than $8, but the shipping doubles that) and building a few more stirplates, and of course I'll need another one for the BK!

Here is a link to a place selling the kit. There are others selling the same thing:

http://www.bakatronics.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=383

camiller

Recipes 

Currently the original post points to these at K&J Magnetics, but those are magnetized through the 1/8" thickness such that the large flat faces are the poles. I am thinking that if you really want a bar magnet, this one or this one would be better since they are magnetized along the long axis. Or maybe this one which is flatter.

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Schnitzengiggle

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FWIW, K&J Magnetics may not be the cheapest, but they have great service, fast shipping, and quality magnets. I used them when building my stirplate.

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Hebby

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Just finished making this last night. Took about 45 minutes. Used solder and shrink wrap for all the connections. I used a 12V Linksys router power supply. I haven't received my magnets yet but they should be here soon. Thanks for the post it made it easy to put together.

Cranapple

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Thanks a ton Anthony, I built this in my spare time over the last couple of weeks. It was a wicked fun project, as I've been wanting to start learning a little bit about electricity (I'm a mechanical guy) and I was able to do an "electronics" project related to beer! Total cost was $20-$25 (I burned out my first potentiometer and had to buy an extra package of quick disconnects.)

Mine works great, although the 1" stir bar only creates about a 1" deep vortex at full speed (even in a 1/2 gallon growler though). I know that's sufficient for what it needs to do, but I'll probably still switch it out with an 8-12V power supply if I find one for free somewhere.

I'm going to try my first yeast starter this weekend, on my first lager. I hope that's not too much new stuff in one try, lol.

Anthony_Lopez

Recipes 

I agree. those would work as well. I used the ones listed in the orginal post because I wanted to use a high voltage power supply and have two stacks of magnets. I personally like this one for a long bar application. I'll order a few and see what I get...

__________________
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

My Cheap and Easy Stirplate

jtkratzer

Recipes 

I just harvested 6 magnets from some hard drives on the way to be destroyed at work and it got me thinking when I was stripping these down to the bare chassis - is anyone using the motor from the drive that spins the platter?

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Drinking:
English Pale Ale, Kölsch, Summer Delight, Apfelwein (Montrachet), Apfelwein (Côte des Blancs), Christmas Beer (bottled Nov 2010), Franziskaner clone

Conditioning:
Wildflower Wheat (weird taste, not sure if this can be salvaged)

Fermenting:
Empty

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My e-Brew Magic HERMS build

Anthony_Lopez

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A few of our electrical engineers and I tried to do that last year and we couldn't figure it out. Granted we only spent 15-20 minutes messing with it. From what I remember, they are only meant for very high RPM with light loads.

__________________
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

My Cheap and Easy Stirplate

Homercidal

Recipes 

True, they have low torque and high speed. It only takes a light touch to drag them down.