Mash Stirrer?

A few of us were discussing the possibility of having a motorized stirring mechanism mounted on the lid of you MLT. It seems like it would be a pretty simple project.

Anyone ever done this?

I did find this picture of one a guy made:

I'm working on making a motorized one using an old ice cream churn motor and some stainless steel flat stock.

Anyone have an idea for one on a rectangular cooler type mash tun?

This is a small gear motor with the output shaft pointing down. This is without another part - the s/s "skin" to protect the wort from airborn nasties.
Motor turns at 290 rpm. Had a guy in the shop fabricate the impellers on the s/s shaft.
I am rethinking to have it all one part. A cover for the brew pot that holds the mixer, instead of a two piece device.
I get from boiling down to 10 degrees over what my supply water is in less than 10 minutes.
Then, a prechiller brings me down under 70 F in 20 minutes.

Brewpastor has. You could contact him about the details.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=21180

I am thinking about putting one of these together myself to fully automate my steam mlt. I was thinking more in the range of 20 - 40 rpm. Anybody got ideas on motors or torque?

I'm pretty sure Brewpastor had a very similar conversation on here. Really, ask him. He's da man!

This would be a great tool for doing decoction mashing!

I am finding it difficult to find a motor that makes me happy, outside of tearing into and old cordless drill. But I'll keep looking.

Would a worm (like in a meat grinder) serve the purpose? That would probably be the easiest thing for a rectangular MLT.

I guess you would need to alternate the direction of rotation or all the grist would collect on one end.

I'm think more like cheap aluminum fanblades on a ss shaft.

A good article:

http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue2.6/put.html

I built one and found it useful for stirring in the large amounts of grain I dump in, but I really have not found it to be a great benefit to the beer itself. The first time I used it my mash got stuck. The second time was better, but the eeficency was no better then usual. I had fun with the project, but really only ended up with just another brewery wall decoration!

I thought it might be nice with an automated temp controlled steam heated mlt. I could just drop the top and walk away.