Shameless promotion of GREAT product!!

In May, I purchased 2 stir plates from www.stirstarters.com, a recommendation I found on this forum. Less than $100 for both, and 4 days later I was making 2 starters- worked beautifully, I couldn't have been more pleased.

Cut to last night... I just pitched yeast into 2 flasks (I always brew 2 batches per brew day) and set one on the stir plate; worked great as usual. I plug the second one in... and nothing. I played around a bit and realized the power supply was to fault.

I recalled reading that these stir plates are warrantied for life... so I email them. Within an hour, Dan Jenska responded and asked for my phone number. He called me at work within the hour!! Everything was worked out by this afternoon.

Dan explained to me he makes these stir plates as a post-retirement hobby/job. I highly encourage anyone who doesn't already have one to purchase a stir plate or two from Dan, a great guy! That's www.stirstarters.com where 1 stir plate is $42, 2 for $75, and 3 for $100 (less than 1 from anywhere else).

Thanks Dan!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

This is good to know. Having a recommendation from a fellow HBT member and hearing that they are not only supposedly warrantied for life but also go into a small business that cares for it's customers is gold to me (as I'm sure for any other HBT-er)

I'm sold. Thanks for the "shameless" (but welcome) recommendation

Bought one of those too, it was a good deal!

The fact that he even gives instructions on his site to build it yourself speaks volumes of how admirable this guy is!


Rev.

I agree it is a great product. Mine sees a lot of use.

There is a new-ish subforum on company reviews and there's a thread on stirstarter.com https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f173/stirstarters-com-278756/ You should add your positive review to that thread, so that folks who are thinking about buying from him can find the review easier. I need to order one from him!

I have had mine for years, never a problem. Recommend him to everyone.

Stir Starters: Yeast stir plate for the home brewer

Got mine yesterday, only took a couple of days to get here. Started using it last night, works nicely! Made a starter for the Northern Brewer Patersbier I'm brewing tomorrow. Stir plates are twice the price or more everywhere else. Happy to have bought mine from Dan.


Rev.

This 'shameless review' actually led me to buy one of these just now. I think one of the best things about a community like ours here is the ability we have to disseminate information among the group in a helpful manner. I've been brewing for < 6 months at this point, and haven't been making starters. The last couple of beers I've made I feel have suffered a little because of that. A tool like this will hopefully help me in producing better beers. And because of the price of a lot of these, and my inability to make one on my own (I live in a small apartment and don't really have access to the tools required for building things like this), I had put off doing it. Now I'll add that as one more piece of my brewing process going forward, and hopefully make some better beers for it.

Cheers.

This is definitely on my "to buy" list.

I just ordered one of these. The guy is very cool for doing these for a really affordable price. Lifetime warranty? Ridiculously awesome.

Haven't gotten mine yet, but from what I hear I won't be disappointed.

I have had one of Dan's SP's for a couple of years now and it was a welcome addition to my home brewing arsnel. I do however wish that Dan/Stirstarters would offer a wider base SP that can better hold a 5 ltr flask. While I know that the current Stirstarter SP can technically hold the 5 ltr, it is kind of like an elephant riding a peanut. I would snap up a SP with a wider base for the 5 ltr and a bit more powerful motor instantly.

Thanks for the feedback... been meaning to build one or two of these but for that price and with the feedback I am seeing I just purchased from there instead.

This thing is awesome. I have had mine for almost 2 years and have never had an issue!

Just got mine last week. Did a 2l starter of WLP 833. What an improvement over shaking the flask several times a day. Dan's stir plate works great, not sure how much better the $80-$100 models on other sites could be.

Paul07293 said:

What an improvement over shaking the flask several times a day. Dan's stir plate works great, not sure how much better the $80-$100 models on other sites could be.

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Tell me about it!!! I had a foam over the last starter I made without a stir plate because when you swirl it up a just a little too much it foams up like crazy. Not dealing with that anymore.

Like I said before, the guy seems to really care about homebrewing first and foremost or he wouldn't provide the instructions for people to bypass purchasing from him to build their own. I myself am VERY handy but I find the time often isn't worth the investment. For what I get paid hourly I think about the time it would take to visit one or more stores to collect the parts (who's going to have stir bars???), or pay shipping online to order them, then the time to put it together, which can be quick but again... what I get paid hourly says umm just click order and be done with it! And the guy seems totally nice as well.


Rev.

I considered buying one of these, but thought I could build my own for cheaper.

Not true.

Unless you have some of the parts already, you can't beat the price, even DIY. I'd rather have spent the same amount of money and gotten a few hours back.

TyTanium said:

I considered buying one of these, but thought I could build my own for cheaper.

Not true.

Unless you have some of the parts already, you can't beat the price, even DIY. I'd rather have spent the same amount of money and gotten a few hours back.

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Yeah that is why I went this route. I probably have a lot of it laying around but for the price he is asking I can save myself the hassle and order one.

I would have bought one (or two) from a fellow Michigander if it wasn't cheaper to make my own using this shameless link.

I've gotta chime in and add my own rec for Dan and stirstarter stir plates. The only time I've had a question he got back to my really quickly, even though it'd been a couple years since I bought my stir plate. It works great, great price, small footprint, everything you could possibly want.

A 3L starter on a stirplate can handle up to about 11g of a 1.080 beer, anything bigger than that and I simply step up a starter. Rebel Brewer is one of the few brew shops I've found that sells 3L flasks, perfect size IMO.

Thanks for the post I was about to buy one from nb now ill get everything for less then just a stirplate at nb.. gonna order it when I get home

Primevci said:

Thanks for the post I was about to buy one from nb now ill get everything for less then just a stirplate at nb.. gonna order it when I get home

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Crazy fast turnaround by the way. I ordered mine last Friday and got it today. You can't beat that!

Clanchief said:

Crazy fast turnaround by the way. I ordered mine last Friday and got it today. You can't beat that!

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Did he let u know when it shipped

I order mine sunday but havent herd a thing since the order other than the email from paypal and the deduction from the bank account

It's probably in the mail Primevci. I ordered mine last Thursday and got it yesterday. It seems like he ships then out the next day, which is nice. I didn't get any notification from him that my product shipped but wasn't worried since it got to me so fast. This is a great product and the price was WAY lower than anywhere else online. Thanks Dan for a great product for a great price with fast shipping.

It goes out via postal service. I got a Paypal notice that it shipped with the usps tracking number. Remember, it's free USPS shipping so you'll need to give it a few days.


Rev.

If this says anything for the longevity of his product, my LHBS has one of his stir starters that has been running for years nearly non stop (yes it stays on over night too). Not to mention Dan is one of the nicest guys I have ever met and stands behind his product 100%.

Just got mine (2 plates and 2 flasks) and am thrilled. Sure I could have built one but these are very well put together and at that price well worth it. Well packaged, quick delivery and great product. Kudos to Dan!

I just received one of these for my birthday - looking forward to my next brew so I can run this thing through it's paces!

I did give it a quick try though with some water. I've got a 2L flask, but the stir bar that came with the stir starter just looked so tiny, I had to know if it would be sufficient or if I needed to secure a larger stir bar.

That little bitty stir bar almost instantly got a vortex going in about 1.8L of water. Color me impressed!

Yeah it does seem small but I have it running with a full flask of water and it seems to be doing a fine job of it.