5 Gallon Stir Plate

The stir plate has no problem supporting a 5 gallon carboy. I've had one spinning on one of my prototypes for over a month.

If you are really concerned you can use a non-skid pad like one of these.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000P910W8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Also, you will need to let the brew settle and/or rack to a secondary but since the yeast will be finished it should not take too long for the beer to settle.

The sample stir plates shipped with one stir bar but the production stir plates will ship with two. To remove the stir bar you pull the carboy off the stir plate, find the stir bar with a outside magnet then just walk it up the outside of the carboy with the outside magnet.

Got mine yesterday as well

Looking forward to doing a batch asap.

Anyone doing the testing willing to share the recipe they will be brewing?

Rock Chalk
Chris

Dirty - The only way the OP is going to get usable data from your testing is if you brew a recipe that *you've* brewed before and understand its nuances and how they've changed for better or worse from the stir plate treatment.

Got it. Misunderstood the original intent. My 10 gallon system should be up an running soon and ill do a couple high gravity split batches to compare side by side.

Rock Chalk

Chris

And BTW, that's what I'm looking for - actual results. I may have designed this beast but I'm only one person. I already know that the stir plate works. But does it do what I intended the design to do? Does it keep high gravity brews working that would have stalled and do high gravity brews finish faster? I know from experience that high gravity brews can drag on for what seems forever.

My next high gravity experiment will be a mead with 15 pounds of honey diluted with enough water to make 5.5 gallons. I hope to have the batch started this weekend. A typical fermentation cycle for one of these meads is 3 months for me. Then I have 6 months of settling time after the fermentation is done. I'm hoping that my new stir plate will reduce fermentation to one month or less.

I would love to have a stir plate that could reduce the fermentation time for a mead like that. You are planning on stirring the mead during fermentation, for the full length, or just first week or 2?

I had a brochet that just didn't want to ferment. Stirring might have helped.

I plan on stirring for the full length.

Just like the ones I gave samples to, I'll post the results to this board.

I just posted a new video of the stir plate. Thanks, joeybeer for all of your help!!!!

It really is an awesome stir plate, it's incredibly powerful - one of those tools that you know will work the first time and do whatever you want it to. The Ferrari of the stirplate world

I wish I'd have found this early enough to be one of the testers. I mean, I know why you made it and I brew really high gravity on most of my brews. I have an RIS I'm looking to make that's super high gravity(like 1.148) and I know I'd want this. Oh well, maybe I'll buy one when I can pony up the bucks. Sweet plate, though, you should be proud

Thanks, I'm eagerly waiting feedback. I was supposed to start a batch of mead on the one I'm using this weekend but things got too busy around here. Maybe I'll start it tomorrow.

Still waiting for mine... hopefully I'll get it soon

Yours was shipped the same day as the others. I marked it as a gift with a very low value since you did not pay anything for the stir plate - maybe Customs is having heartburn over it?

thargrav said:

Yours was shipped the same day as the others. I marked it as a gift with a very low value since you did not pay anything for the stir plate - maybe Customs is having heartburn over it?

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Who knows... nothing to be concerned about yet though.

Although labelling it as a commercial sample would have been the most appropriate thing, it shouldn't matter either way

Just received it as I was leaving the house. It actually WAS labeled as a commercial sample. I'll try it out when I get back

Well, mine is turnin n burnin. Brewed on Monday. I made two starters prior, both large. one was 2L the other was a half gallon. Honestly, I liked the preformance in the growler better (shape, I'm sure). The Plate is under (no extra supports, and feels fine, just like Tom said) a Dunklewisen, sitting next to a Stout. similar grain bills, and similar OG. We'll see which wins! (both batchs brewed on Monday)

We finally have the Black MAXX Stir Plate page up on the stir-plate.com web site.
http://www.stir-plate.com/BlackMAXX.htm

Damn... haven't put anything on it yet, but it seems damn powerful. I first ran it on an uneven surface, and it sounded like a washing machine that's ALSO on an uneven surface!

It's a bit late in the year, but I think I'm going to make 10gal of saison using the notoriously slow Dupont yeast, and ferment half of it on this thing. It'll give me a good chance to see not just if it can speed up the fermentation, but also how it affects production of esters and phenols, which should be very noticeable.

Speaking of which... is this thing waterproof? My current ferm chamber gets a lot of condensation, but I'm also wondering if it can take spills and whatnot.

emjay said:

Damn... haven't put anything on it yet, but it seems damn powerful. I first ran it on an uneven surface, and it sounded like a washing machine that's ALSO on an uneven surface!

It's a bit late in the year, but I think I'm going to make 10gal of saison using the notoriously slow Dupont yeast, and ferment half of it on this thing. It'll give me a good chance to see not just if it can speed up the fermentation, but also how it affects production of esters and phenols, which should be very noticeable.

Speaking of which... is this thing waterproof? My current ferm chamber gets a lot of condensation, but I'm also wondering if it can take spills and whatnot.

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You can't submerge it in water but spills aren't a issue. Also, my son runs his in the fridge.

Any additional feedback from the samples I sent out?

Thanks, Tom

Tom, I'll have mine to you in a day or so. Been traveling. Post here, or email you?

Posting here is fine.

Thanks, Tom

Sorry for the delay everyone.

I brewed two batches, a stout, and a dunkleweiss. Both had similar grain bills, OG, etc. both were made with starters. One (Dunkel) was on the stir plate. The stout was static. They sat side by side in a room that tends to be a little cool this time of year. The y were brewed the same day. And racked to secondary the same day. The stout had a higher gravity than the Dunkel. The stout was much farther along than the stout by a point and a half. The stir plate helped the fermentation overcome the temp, and ferment faster that ln the stout sitting static. The plate had the carboy (a 6.5 by the way, sitting just fine without help) spinning beautifully the whole time.

Well done Tom!

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk

Thanks, now that I have confirmation for what I already believed I'll start putting the Black MAXX stir plates up for sale.

They can be found for sale here:
Black MAXX Stir Plate

For wholesale customers, FOXX Equipment will start carrying inventory after the first of the year.

Thanks, Tom

I should have some results in a few days.

Does anyone else have any feedback?

Sorry been busy.
Just finished main fermentation on an IIPA. Yeast tore through the primary and went ahead an cold crashed. Will keg tomorrow evening or Monday and reprot back on the taste ASAP.
Quad or Imperial Stout on Deck.

Rock Chalk

Chris

Has anyone used this stir plate to do a mead yet? I am very interested in this. Seriously considering buying one of these as a Christmas gift to myself.

Has anyone opened theirs up? What is the build quality like?

Yavid said:

Has anyone used this stir plate to do a mead yet? I am very interested in this. Seriously considering buying one of these as a Christmas gift to myself.

Has anyone opened theirs up? What is the build quality like?

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That would be an awesome use! Used along with staggered nutrient additions, I would bet you could ferment in 3 wks or less. Or, any wine for that matter.

I'd try with my next batch of mead, but $190 is a bit of a commitment.

Yavid said:

Has anyone used this stir plate to do a mead yet? I am very interested in this. Seriously considering buying one of these as a Christmas gift to myself.

Has anyone opened theirs up? What is the build quality like?

Click to expand...

I'm the designer and I have intended to start a MEAD but we have been busy building product. I guess I need to find time to start my next MEAD this weekend.

As far as quality is concerned:

The housing is a quality box & not some food container or Radio Shack project box. It has aluminum front and back plates and is strong enough to stand on if you really wanted to.

The housing is large enough to support a 5 or 6 gallon carboy with no danger of the carboy sliding off.

You'll find that we use the same type motor everyone is using to build stir plates with one exception. Our motor is a high torque fan motor designed to cool servers. It draws 5X the power and has 5X the torque of the same size motors used in our Stir Plate 3000 products.

The controller card is commercial quality FR4 material.

The controller circuit is PWM & not a LM317 voltage regulator design. We don't use a LM317 voltage regulator in any of our stir plate designs because it does not work as well as a PWM controller. But if we attempted to use a LM317 voltage regulator we would find that unless we used a huge heatsink, the regulator would get so hot that it would shut down. Our PWM controller generates no measureable heat.

The magnets are large & very powerfull and if I stick two together I can't pull or slide them apart. They are contained in a assembly composed of a cross bar (steel plate) and top plate (Fiberglass reinforced). The top plate was necessary to prevent the magnets from flying off when the stir plate is run at full speed without a load. This actually happened in prototype and the magnets left dents in the walls. I can't tell you how we fasten the magnets to the crossbar and how we fasten the crossbar to the motor hub but we don't use any form of glue.

For taceability all of our stir plates are date coded & serialized and they always have been. I know this does not mean much to you but it's extremely imprtant for design changes, potential product recalls and warranty replacements. We are serious about quality.

Also our other stir plates, the Stir Plate 2000 and Stir Plate 3000, have had a very low warranty return rate. Out of over 1000 manufactured to date we have had less than 20 returned for replacement or repair.

Thanks, Tom
Stir-Plate.com Home

I started my MEAD today.

My recipe is really simple. I put 5 gallons of water in a 6 gallon carboy. I pour in 15 pounds of honey, usually clover honey. Then I pour in one pack of Safale S-05 yeast and put in a sterile airlock. I do not cook my MEAD - cooking drives off too much of the honey aroma. The result is a 6 gallon carboy with about 5.75 gallons of liquid.

And BTW, S-04 is a dry Ale yeast.

In the past I would rock the carboy after adding the yeast to help pull some of the honey into suspension then I would rock the carboy once a day until there was no more honey in the bottom - about one month. The MEAD would finish in about three months, then it would settle for at least 6 more months before I would bottle. I usually rack to a new carboy every three months. The result is a slightly sweet MEAD of about 18% alcohol.

This year I'm trying my new Black MAXX Stir Plate.

I started with 5 gallons of water in my 6 gallon carboy then I put the carboy on my stir plate & dropped in a sterile stir bar and turned on the stir plate (picture attached). Then I poured in the 15 pounds of honey - the stir plate maintained a vortex (picture attached). Finally I poured in one pack of Safale S-05 yeast and put in a sterile airlock (picture attached).

From here on out time will tell. But I expect the MEAD to ferment faster. The settling time should be the same - about 6 months. That's how long I have my MEAD settle before it meets my standards.

Any more feedback from the samples I sent out?

Definitively waiting on more information.

what information are you waiting for?

Thats a huge *****!

Sorry its been a bit. Just tapped my first sample batch. I bottle my "Control Sample" so in a few more days i know if there are any flavor difference but so far the spun sample is great.

One thing i did do was i fermented in a bucket with the lid on but i didnt fill the airlock. Just sanitized and covered with foil. I figured this would allow it to breath just as you would with a started.

There are no apparent oxidation and the batch fermented down to terminal gravity in 6 days. Cold crashed for 2 and was kegged Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Double IPA up next.

Nice piece of equipment.

Rock Chalk

Chris

thargrav said:

what information are you waiting for?

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How well it worked with the mead. Pretty interesting concept, accelerated mead fermenting, still age just as long?

thepirho said:

How well it worked with the mead. Pretty interesting concept, accelerated mead fermenting, still age just as long?

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Accelerated mead fermenting. It''s been almost 8 days and my mead is already down to a bubble every 8 seconds. My mead starts with 15 pounds of honey and 5 gallons of water and a regular batch would be more active even now.

For those of you who only brew low gravity beer, one of my meads usually takes 3 months to completely ferment because of the high gravity. And even at the end of the third month I would have a bubble every minute or so.

Once the activity completely stops I'll sample and will know the outcome.

Settling will take about 6 months to produce a mead with no "floaties" in the bottle.

GNBrews said:

Right. Any pinhole will expose the beer to oxygen. Air is 21% oxygen and atmospheric pressure is 14.7PSI. Since there is no oxygen inside the carboy, atmospheric oxygen is now attempting to diffuse, with .21 X 14.7 = ~3PSI of pressure, on all of the outer surfaces of the sealed container. The airlock is keeping that oxygen out. While it's true that CO2 is heavier than air, if you have a leak, that ~3PSI of oxygen will rush in and become part of the gas mixture inside

While CO2 is technically toxic to yeast, having some in solution actually creates a cleaner tasting beer by inhibiting some yeast metabolism. It will definitely be interesting to hear what stir plate fermentations taste like.

There's a thread over in the "General Techniques" section about pressurized fermentation if you want to read more. Also, here's an article from Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, titled "Effects of CO2 on the formation of flavour volatiles during fermentation with immobilized brewer’s yeast".

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There is the same 14 psi pressure inside the carboy, so a leak wouldn't cause air to "rush" in. If anything, there is more pressure in the carboy because of positive pressure from the CO2 being released from solution.

I'm very interested to hear the results of the mead. It's very impressive that you can get a high gravity mead to ferment faster with the stirplate. I've thought about doing this with a 5L flask and a 1 gallon batch. 1 packed of un-rehydrated dry yeast however, is extremely underpitching. If you made a normal size starter I doubt it would take more than 3 weeks for full fermentation without the stir plate.