Stir Plate for Yeast Starter

Does anyone know how to make a stir plate?

I got one from Yuri about 2.5 years ago. Not sure if hes still selling them though

To build a stir plate one must first master the art of the search.

I'd buy one from Yuri if he's up for building another batch.

mcguyver style...

You'll need an old dead hard drive, a computer fan, a 5V DC wall wort, a piece of plexiglass/plastic, a piece of antislide stuff (for like cabinets). Now all you need to know is that there are very powerful rare earth magnets inside hard drives.

This thread has all you need to know. I built one a couple weeks ago, works great!

Ya I found that thread after I had already posted this thread. After looking at that thread I think it might just be easier for me to buy one. Yuri would be the guy to ask you say.

Look here he has a pretty good article on it. He was also on the brewingnetwork as well talking about his gadgets.

http://onebeer.net/beergadgets.shtml

thedude123 said:

Does anyone know how to make a stir plate?

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Don't even try, it can't be done. Totally impossible!

A quick aside.......

How long do you leave it on for a starter? 24 hours a day?

xamers said:

A quick aside.......

How long do you leave it on for a starter? 24 hours a day?

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3-4 days then into the fridge to crash cool. Then decant most of the liquid off the top. However in a pinch I have started some yeast the day before and just pitched the whole thing while it was at peak fermentation.

BlindLemonLars said:

Don't even try, it can't be done. Totally impossible!

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That is the tits.

thedude123 said:

Ya I found that thread after I had already posted this thread. After looking at that thread I think it might just be easier for me to buy one. Yuri would be the guy to ask you say.

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If you don't mind a crappy looking one, you can have one built in like 30 minutes.

I grabbed an old dead computer. Pulled out the bad hard drive, opened it up and took the magnets out. I pulled out a case fan and found a 5V wall wort laying around the house. Glued one of the magnets to the to the hub on the fan, spliced the wall wort to the fan and there you go. I used the other magnet as a stir bar (I did put it into some vinyl tube and sealed the ends with a lighter and pliers). It works great.

When I used a 9V power supply the fan was spinning way too fast, would pull air to the bottom in a 1 gallon glass jug with a gallon of water. The 5V spins it perfectly.

What is a 5v wall wort? I don't care what it looks like I just want it to work.

Nice Gaggia Coffee! I'm hopelessly addicted to espresso...I've got a Quickmill Vetrano plumbed in.

-Joe

thedude123 said:

What is a 5v wall wort? I don't care what it looks like I just want it to work.

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A wall wart is just a small power supply, like the ones you plug into the wall and then into your cell phone, or laptop, or cable modem. You can usually look around your house and find a piece of junk electronics that you kept for some reason and they come with a wall wart a lot of the time. Find one with something close to a 5 volt output and you should be good.

So if I had an old cell phone charge and cut off the end piece that goes into the phone then connected the wires to the fan, I would be all set?

thedude123 said:

So if I had an old cell phone charge and cut off the end piece that goes into the phone then connected the wires to the fan, I would be all set?

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assuming the voltage and amps were okay. It should say that on the wall wort.

Sick I am going to try this when i get home. I work in a warehouse filled with scrap hard drives and computer fans.

steelerguy said:

When I used a 9V power supply the fan was spinning way too fast, would pull air to the bottom in a 1 gallon glass jug with a gallon of water. The 5V spins it perfectly.

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Could you compensate for the fan spinning too fast by placing the flask slightly further away from the magnet? Say, by putting a magazine in between the flask and the stirplate?

I have no idea whether that would improve things or add a new layer of wrongness.

Danek said:

Could you compensate for the fan spinning too fast by placing the flask slightly further away from the magnet? Say, by putting a magazine in between the flask and the stirplate?

I have no idea whether that would improve things or add a new layer of wrongness.

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In my case I couldn't, things got wonky when the two magnets could not spin at the same rate. If I moved the jug further away and the fan magnet started to spin faster than the stir bar (which was just the other magnet from the HD), the stir bar would stop spinning and just sit there vibrating.

thedude123 said:

So if I had an old cell phone charge and cut off the end piece that goes into the phone then connected the wires to the fan, I would be all set?

Click to expand...

You might be as long as the voltage and fan speed is good. The output amperage on cell phone chargers is pretty low, but computer fans don't draw much at all so I doubt that will play much of a role.

You don't really need the slurry stirred very fast, you just want to keep the yeast all up in that there wort.

If people are still interested in buying one I know this guy on ebay and it is a really good deal. Includes the stir bar too.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Magnetic-Stir-P...ryZ38172QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem