My Stirplate... Cheap and Easy Build...

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DoctorMemory said:
So why do you need a speed control? Do you start out fast then slow down as you get more slurry, or do you need to tweak the speed for different types of yeast? K I'm just wondering if you really need the speed control, or if you can just use a resistor to set a fixed speed.
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Depends. Different volumes (and different stirbars) can require different speeds.

Also, some people like a vortex but need to start out slow and then increase speed to get it, and some people (like me) need to start fast just to get the fan going and then drop it to prevent the bar from being thrown.

Even without all those issues, swapping resistors until you get the performance you want is a pain - especially since you'd have to do it every time something changes.
 
Also, if your stir-bar does not have a pivot ring, you will start to have problems as the slurry thickens. So then you can speed it up and that is why you should just spend the $5 on the rheostat.
 
I just built one using these instructions – works great! I've found that my 1" stir bar needs a much higher speed than my 2" does to make a vortex. The 2" bar is thrown off at high speeds too. So a rheostat (potentiometer) is necessary in my experience.
 
I rigged mine up yesterday and I have no experience with tinkering with electronics. You can also save $4 by not going with a rocker switch.
 
made this up per OP directions (with help from this thread!). One more question. The OP pictures show the wires going to the potentiometer looking like they are just wrapped around the posts. I attached female quick disconnects the the wires leading to the posts but they keep falling off. Can I just wrap them around the post without soldering?

Once again I'm making DIY projects WAY harder than they need to be!
 
Blackhawkbrew said:
The OP pictures show the wires going to the potentiometer looking like they are just wrapped around the posts. I attached female quick disconnects the the wires leading to the posts but they keep falling off. Can I just wrap them around the post without soldering?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't recommend it. The vibrations from the fan (especially if your magnet and washer are even slightly off center) may cause the wires to come loose and potentially short. Then it becomes a fire hazard. You should be able to find correctly sized spade connectors for the potentiometer.
 
Blackhawkbrew said:
made this up per OP directions (with help from this thread!). One more question. The OP pictures show the wires going to the potentiometer looking like they are just wrapped around the posts. I attached female quick disconnects the the wires leading to the posts but they keep falling off. Can I just wrap them around the post without soldering?

Once again I'm making DIY projects WAY harder than they need to be!
Click to expand...

Meh, as long as you twist them around solidly enough so that they can't even jiggle loose, you'll be fine. A bit of electrical tape wouldn't hurt either.

Is it the "right" way? No. But you seem to be aware of that, so, realistically speaking, what you're asking is doable and quite safe unless you're really careless.

But I should ask... why don't you want to solder?
 
Blackhawkbrew said:
made this up per OP directions (with help from this thread!). One more question. The OP pictures show the wires going to the potentiometer looking like they are just wrapped around the posts. I attached female quick disconnects the the wires leading to the posts but they keep falling off. Can I just wrap them around the post without soldering?

Once again I'm making DIY projects WAY harder than they need to be!
Click to expand...

You can crimp them or just use electrical tape but don't be surprised if they come off. :)

Edit: sorry, didn't realize others said the same thing already.
 
Would it be a problem if your fan had an LED, and the top was plexiglass? AKA the yeast is exposed to LED light?

also, is there a limit to fan size? like would 140mm fan be too large? and what RPM are your fans running at? all the ones im looking at seem to be 2000RPM
 
I'm getting ready to build one of these.. I ordered some of the K&J magnetics 1" x 1/4" x 1/8" magnets...

Still have yet to order a stirrer magnet and a fan.. I should be able to make my own case out of wood and scrounge everything else up... might have to buy the pot... not sure I have one that low of resistance though...

I have two questions.. I looked through the first ten pages and didn't see them addressed and didn't want to go through all 102 pages to find them.. so forgive me if these questions have already been addressed..

a) In every picture I see of a computer fan, there are bars connecting the frame of the fan to the motor in the center. this makes sense as the thing has to be mounted some how... Do the fans typically have these on both sides or do I have to find one with them on only one side? IF so, how do I do this seeing as nobody seems to show pictures of both sides? Or is it okay to cut the frame connecting bars away on one side?.. Or better yet can someone point me to an affordable one that is 'recommended' for this purpose?

b) What size stirrer should I get.. I was going to get one that was 1" long with a rib in the middle... is that large enough?

Thanks,
Mark

PS.. my plan is to make a wood disk with a perfectly centered recess to hold the magnet (I have a CNC router) and mount that on the fan... I was also planning on carving the box out of wood... how is the wood disk (steel washer in the original post) attached to the fan.. silicone? and what is the optimal distance the fan magnet should be from the bottom of the flask?
 
r8rphan said:
a) In every picture I see of a computer fan, there are bars connecting the frame of the fan to the motor in the center. this makes sense as the thing has to be mounted some how... Do the fans typically have these on both sides or do I have to find one with them on only one side? IF so, how do I do this seeing as nobody seems to show pictures of both sides? Or is it okay to cut the frame connecting bars away on one side?.. Or better yet can someone point me to an affordable one that is 'recommended' for this purpose?
Click to expand...

They usually have them on just one side. I doubt it matters, though.

r8rphan said:
b) What size stirrer should I get.. I was going to get one that was 1" long with a rib in the middle... is that large enough?
Click to expand...

I've found that my 1" stir bar is ok for 1L starters but 2L starters need a 2". I'd go with a 2".


r8rphan said:
PS.. my plan is to make a wood disk with a perfectly centered recess to hold the magnet (I have a CNC router) and mount that on the fan... I was also planning on carving the box out of wood... how is the wood disk (steel washer in the original post) attached to the fan.. silicone? and what is the optimal distance the fan magnet should be from the bottom of the flask?
Click to expand...

Mine is super-glued. Closer is better, mine is about 3/4" from the top of the plate and works fine.
 
Just finished building mine! I ended up using a 90mm fan with a 12vdc power supply. I made my own stir bar and the whole assembly works wonderfully. I had to make some "modifications" to the fan, however. The fan would not sit high enough for good contact so I cut the 4 top screw holes off to give me some added height. I used nuts to adjust the height accordingly after that. Thanks for the article!
 
brewinitup said:
Just finished building mine! I ended up using a 90mm fan with a 12vdc power supply. I made my own stir bar and the whole assembly works wonderfully. I had to make some "modifications" to the fan, however. The fan would not sit high enough for good contact so I cut the 4 top screw holes off to give me some added height. I used nuts to adjust the height accordingly after that. Thanks for the article!
Click to expand...

how did you make a stir bar?
 
I just used a set of 5/16" rare earth magnets from radio shack and put them inside an inch of 5/16" ID vinyl tubing. I capped off the ends with cut pieces of a 5/16" nylon bolt that I sealed internally with epoxy. It may not quite match the typical stir bar, but it stirs wonderfully.

Edit: I should also note that I already had the magnets lying around for another one of my nerdy hobbies. Otherwise, it would be cheaper to just by some stir bars.
 
Mellow52 said:
This is a fool proof wiring diagram. All parts is obtainable from your local Radio Shack.

2746854079_cc609a0d77.jpg


This will allow for perfect speed control. Using just a potentiometer will work at first but wont last and last. You wont get good speed control and using lower volt DC adapters for speed control is silly. Don't do it, build it right.

Also checkout this handy link: http://www.stirstarters.com/instructions.html

If you like DIY then build one if not just order one from here, it is much easier and only marginally more expensive than parting and building it yourself.

Cheers to happy yeasty beasties! :mug:
Click to expand...

I just purchased the parts in the original post, but this puts the heat dissipation on the LM317T right? (AFAIK, the LM317T turns the excess power into heat for current regulation)? LM317T's are typically inefficient, but they can handle the heat fine when you heatsink them. I'm considering returning my parts and going this route.

Please correct anything I said that is not correct, it's been a while since I worked with the LM317T and my circuit may have been a bit different.

For the money all of these additional parts would cost, would I just be better off buying a stirplate?
 
Justintoxicated said:
For the money all of these additional parts would cost, would I just be better off buying a stirplate?
Click to expand...

Since some of the parts comes in packages of two or more, I just ended up making 2 stir plates and gave one to a friend! But yes you will need some sort of heat transfer from the LM317t. You can cut some copper or aluminum plate and drill a hole and screw it to the LM317t with some thermal paste. I ended up snapping the piece of copper I had and ended up purchasing a tiny aluminum one from radio shack. (http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...ce=CAT&utm_medium=RSCOM&utm_content=CT2032230)
 
rpryor said:
Since some of the parts comes in packages of two or more, I just ended up making 2 stir plates and gave one to a friend! But yes you will need some sort of heat transfer from the LM317t. You can cut some copper or aluminum plate and drill a hole and screw it to the LM317t with some thermal paste. I ended up snapping the piece of copper I had and ended up purchasing a tiny aluminum one from radio shack. (http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...ce=CAT&utm_medium=RSCOM&utm_content=CT2032230)
Click to expand...

Funny, I just found one of those in my spare parts drawer. The local RS does not seem to carry those heatsinks it anymore.

My soldering iron ran out of butane last night or I would have finished. The LM317T did not even get warm after 1/2 hour of testing so i'm thinking it will work fine without any heatsink (at least for the fan I am using now which is only consuming about a watt of power). I did not bother to buy one of those blank circuit boards for this project although I think it would have made things easier. My LM317T is lose in the box but I will eventually hot glue it.

My only other mistake was using a switch that has a burned out LED :( So I ordered a new fancy one from DX to make me feel better. I already have a 3/4th inch hole drilled into the box. Just hope it fits in the box (It should as I purchased the largest project box RS had).

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/car-switch-with-blue-led-indicator-12v-102125?item=32

It took a lot longer than I anticipated (because I am careful to lay things out as I want them and get everything centered, and wires carefully twisted) but wasn't hard by any means.

My RS did not have the exact capacitors or resistors. I used 2 470 ohm 1/2 watt resistors in parallel with one 10 ohm 1/2 watt in series, because I already had these laying around from YEARS ago. Seems to work fine although it would make more sense to use 1/4th watt 470's with a 1/2 watt 10 ohm, or a 1 watt 10 ohm with the 1/2 watt 470's. I don't think it will matter much in this case as the components are probably overkill already.

I used a 22uf cap and a 4.7uf cap since thats what ratshack sells.

I also cut the shaft of the 5k pot so I could add one of them fan cy $4 knobs (well they only come in a packet of 2). My cost is up a little, but I can vary the fan from 0 RPMs to full speed with a 12v power source.
 
I made 2 stir plates based on the original post and both work fine, but I have some questions based on what others are doing:

1) why use resistors, capacitors and the LM317T? I didn't and my stir plates work. I just wired up an on/off switch and a pot and the fan.

2) does anyone have a good fan recommendation? I took both of mine from old computers. One came from a Mac and is clearly better-made and has no trouble spinning a 2" stir bar in a 2L starter. The other is a cheapie from a crappy PC and can only spin the 1" stir bar in a 2L starter - the 2" bar can stop the fan from spinning! I tried a third cheapie fan and it's no better, maybe worse.
 
troyh said:
I made 2 stir plates based on the original post and both work fine, but I have some questions based on what others are doing:

1) why use resistors, capacitors and the LM317T? I didn't and my stir plates work. I just wired up an on/off switch and a pot and the fan.

2) does anyone have a good fan recommendation? I took both of mine from old computers. One came from a Mac and is clearly better-made and has no trouble spinning a 2" stir bar in a 2L starter. The other is a cheapie from a crappy PC and can only spin the 1" stir bar in a 2L starter - the 2" bar can stop the fan from spinning! I tried a third cheapie fan and it's no better, maybe worse.
Click to expand...

1) The LM317T allows more control over RPM and depending on the fan can better handle the power dropped, especially if heatsinked. I can' t remember how to do the calculation, but essentially the resistors are wired to the LM317T to set it's current or voltage, where I am confused then is why they are needed when using a pot anyways. maybe it's to get a minimum voltage drop required. http://users.telenet.be/davshomepage/current-source.htm

A rheostat dissipates the power that is dropped as heat and will eventually burn up. Of course the amount of power dropped using it will depending on the current pull of your fan. For my .12 amp fan, it probably would have worked well enough, but with the circuit I have no I can change fans and still have full control without neededing to change power bricks.

I used a cooler master ball bearing fan, I would not use a cheapo sleeve bearing fan for this design. I used it only because it is what I had laying around but I too am interested on what the prefered speed of the fan is. I have some real nice Panaflo L1A (Legendary but no longer made) and L1BX's that I was tempted to use, but those are like $20 each. I have a few of them that have been running in my PC almost non stop for 7 years and have yet to show any signs of wear, while many other fans have been replaced several times. Hydro Sleeve bearing design seems very reliable from my experience and very quiet. They are quite stout and extra thick I just have a feeling that they would work perfect, unless of course super high speed is preferred. I guess they are a special sleeve bearing but they have outlasted all my ball bearing fans, and are easily my favorite PC fan. They look very plane are seem more industrial quality and less marketing than competitors in the same price range.

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/pa12ulqu.html



stir plate by Glamisduner, on Flickr


stir plate by Glamisduner, on Flickr


need my stir bar by Glamisduner, on Flickr

The larger size project box holds a 2L flask nicely.

Unfortunately I think the switch I ordered off deal extreme is going to be too deep to use so I will need to order another one, it might fit depending on if they measured to the ennd of the leads or not. Going to be close though! The switch I have on there now does not have a functioning LED, since it burned out when used for another project. My problem now is that I already have a 3/4th inch hole. I know I had more of these somewhere but I seem to have misplaced them some time ago.

My Local Home Brew shop has 1" stir bars but they want $12 each for them so I think I'm going to order them online.

* NOTE TO OTHERS
If I was going to build another one of these I would put the switch and knob on the wider side of the box, that would avoid clearance issues with the switch being too long and hitting the bolt that holds the fan.
 
I grabbed an old 42V fan that wasn't being used at my work today, it measures 120mm. I also picked up a potentiometer than only says 4 watts, 10k ohm on it. Would this still work with this fan? I know the fan is overkill, but its $8-10 I can save by not buying a new one (don't have an old computer laying around). If I use a 12V power cable and a 12V switch, would it just limit my fan to this voltage, essentially making it work as a 12V computer fan?

Lol, I didn't look at the rating of the switch when I picked it up from work... it says 3A, 125VAC, and 1.5A, 250VAC :mad:

Also, in the center of the fan, there is plastic on one side, and metal on the other. The magnet sticks to the metal side... would I be able to keep it there, and have that side facing the top of my stir plate? Or will the fan not run properly? I'm guessing the stainless steel washer is being used to shield the magnet from the magnet in the DC motor (which I'm guessing this metal center is)... so is it best if I glue on a large washer to the side with the plastic center? and then glue the magnet on to the washer?


Thanks!
 
JayMac said:
If I use a 12V power cable and a 12V switch, would it just limit my fan to this voltage, essentially making it work as a 12V computer fan?
Click to expand...

Not quite. Reducing the voltage will slow down the fan. At a certain point, it won't have enough voltage to start up.

SOME fans (ie one that has a higher startup voltage requirement than its minimum voltage requirement) can be "helped" along by applying the power to it and manually giving it a quick spin to get it started (kinda like a rolling start with a vehicle). Obviously, operating it like that isn't really conducive to its use in a stirplate.

And even then, there will be a minimum voltage at which it will be able to CONTINUE spinning. 12V is probably below that minimum voltage - to give some perspective, it's like operating a 12V fan a 3.4V. I have never personally seen a 12V fan able to run at that kind of voltage.

And EVEN IF ONE COULD, it would be so close to its minimum voltage that speed control would be practically non-existent. Let's say that this fan had an astonishingly low voltage at which it could startup and maintain spinning of 3.0V. The minimum to maximum would therefore be 3.0V to 3.4V, meaning you have a usable range of 0.4V - or roughly 3% of its voltage rating. That's essentially negligible when it comes to controlling the RPM. Scale all these things up by a factor of 3.5, and you can say the exact same thing about a 42V fan.

JayMac said:
I'm guessing the stainless steel washer is being used to shield the magnet from the magnet in the DC motor
Click to expand...
Not really. It's just to make it easier to position it well. Trying to fine tune the placement of one neodymium magnet onto (essentially) another one is not an easy thing, and can really hurt if you're not careful!
 
emjay said:
Not quite. Reducing the voltage will slow down the fan. At a certain point, it won't have enough voltage to start up.

SOME fans (ie one that has a higher startup voltage requirement than its minimum voltage requirement) can be "helped" along by applying the power to it and manually giving it a quick spin to get it started (kinda like a rolling start with a vehicle). Obviously, operating it like that isn't really conducive to its use in a stirplate.

And even then, there will be a minimum voltage at which it will be able to CONTINUE spinning. 12V is probably below that minimum voltage - to give some perspective, it's like operating a 12V fan a 3.4V. I have never personally seen a 12V fan able to run at that kind of voltage.

And EVEN IF ONE COULD, it would be so close to its minimum voltage that speed control would be practically non-existent. Let's say that this fan had an astonishingly low voltage at which it could startup and maintain spinning of 3.0V. The minimum to maximum would therefore be 3.0V to 3.4V, meaning you have a usable range of 0.4V - or roughly 3% of its voltage rating. That's essentially negligible when it comes to controlling the RPM. Scale all these things up by a factor of 3.5, and you can say the exact same thing about a 42V fan.


Not really. It's just to make it easier to position it well. Trying to fine tune the placement of one neodymium magnet onto (essentially) another one is not an easy thing, and can really hurt if you're not careful!
Click to expand...

Thanks! I guess I'll go buy a 12V fan from a local computer store. So you're saying I could just flue it right onto the center of my fan? If so, I'd rather due this, to make things easier.
 
I built my stir plate several weeks ago and it works ok, but I can't really get the speed that I expected out of it. As a matter of fact, if I bump down the potentiometer even just a little bit it stops turning. I'm using a 12VDC CCTV camera power cord and a 12V fan, but the current rating on the power cord is only 500mA.

I've ordered AC fans for my lagering chamber and they get lots of juice straight from the wall. It seems to me that my potentiometer would work just as well for an AC circuit, but I'm afraid that it's max resistance isn't enough to really even slow the fan. Has anybody built one of these with an AC fan?

Thanks,
Andy
 
I built my stirplate using a 12vdc fan and it works just fine. Obviously you could use a 120vac fan, but you'd need to get a new potentiometer and rocker switch. You really don't want to use 12vdc equipment on a 120vac circuit.
 
brewinitup said:
I built my stirplate using a 12vdc fan and it works just fine. Obviously you could use a 120vac fan, but you'd need to get a new potentiometer and rocker switch. You really don't want to use 12vdc equipment on a 120vac circuit.
Click to expand...

That's what I suspected. I imagine it's not rated for that kind of current and it will burn it up. Thanks!
 
Justintoxicated said:
You could use a dimmer switch to adjust the fan. Just be careful when dealing with direct 110v!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't use a typical dimmer for this, if for no other reason than that it's going to make a really annoying buzzing sound (has to do with how it alters the voltage sine wave). I would go with a switch that is *intended* for adjusting fan speed.
 
So my stirbars came in. I got a 1" and a 1 and 3/8th inch. I think I like the 1 and 3/8th inch better but please advise.





Not sure why I would need to turn it down, perhaps it will ferment too much and need to be slowed down?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I started a 3L starter last night of Wyeast German Ale 1007 in my 5L flask. This morning I looked at it and it had developed a thick Krausen and almost blew out the top! Be careful with the 2L flask in the video...
 
Huaco said:
I started a 3L starter last night of Wyeast German Ale 1007 in my 5L flask. This morning I looked at it and it had developed a thick Krausen and almost blew out the top! Be careful with the 2L flask in the video...
Click to expand...

Oh great, the starter I have on the plate at home is over the 2000ml mark. However I didn't notice any fermentation when I woke up this morning. Perhaps the yeast is not viable :(
 
Justintoxicated said:
Oh great, the starter I have on the plate at home is over the 2000ml mark. However I didn't notice any fermentation when I woke up this morning. Perhaps the yeast is not viable :(
Click to expand...

What yeast did you use? 1007 is a pretty active top yeast. May just be this strain. I have had krausen before but not this big!
 
Justintoxicated said:
Oh great, the starter I have on the plate at home is over the 2000ml mark. However I didn't notice any fermentation when I woke up this morning. Perhaps the yeast is not viable :(
Click to expand...

In my experience, you don't see a big krausen when stirring. Almost all my starters looked like this while on the stir plate and they've all been very vigorous fermenters.

image-41006716.jpg
 
I use a 10:1 ratio of extra light DME to Water. What is your ratio? Example... 3000 mL of water gets 300 grams of DME.

(this is not a thread about starters though... lets keep this discussion short)
 
Huaco said:
I use a 10:1 ratio of extra light DME to Water. What is your ratio? Example... 3000 mL of water gets 300 grams of DME.

(this is not a thread about starters though... lets keep this discussion short)
Click to expand...

200g DME & 2000ml water (about 2 cups DME) if put into a mesuring cup.

I was wondering if the stir plate is hiding the fermentation or not. I guess I will put it in the fridge tonight and see how much yeast I have created, if not enough I'll have to overnight ship some greenbelt yeast from somewhere.

This would be my second failed starter.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=12720
 
Is this a dry yeast, smack-pack, or vial? I have never heard of "Greenbelt"
If it is dry, DO NOT make starters with dry yeast. I have it on pretty good authority that making a starter with dry yeast is detrimental to the yeast. I've got now empirical evidence to support this off-hand, but this comes from a guy that KNOWS yeast and KNOWS homebrewing.
 
Huaco said:
Is this a dry yeast, smack-pack, or vial? I have never heard of "Greenbelt"
If it is dry, DO NOT make starters with dry yeast. I have it on pretty good authority that making a starter with dry yeast is detrimental to the yeast. I've got now empirical evidence to support this off-hand, but this comes from a guy that KNOWS yeast and KNOWS homebrewing.
Click to expand...

I linked the yeast above, it was in a smack pack. It's good to know that I might not see any fermentation when making a starter with a stir plate though, the yeast arrived almost hot though (cold pack was hotter than room temperature which was in the 80s) and felt heated to the touch.. So I still have my doubts.
 

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