Starter vessle for stir plate.

[Mookie]

I am thinking of using a 1 gallon glass jug for a starter vessel and am curious if it will be ok on a stir plate. Seems like everybody used a conical flask, but a 5000 ml one is $40 plus shipping. I can have a glass jug for $5.

Thanks,

Mookie

 

[QuaffableQuips]

You might be able to make a glass jug work just fine on your stir plate with some tweaking. It's only a vessel, after all. The reasons I use a flask are

1. I can heat the flask directly on my gas stove, so no need to bust out the pot and funnel.
2. The stir bar gets thrown when I use a growler jug due to the curved base. The flat-bottomed flask allows the bar to spin freely without getting chucked to the side.

My two cents. Your mileage may vary with your own particular setup.

 

[Mookie]

The lack of a flat bottom was my main concern. I have a feeling that the curved bottom will make it hard to hold the stir bar in place.

I am currently putting parts together to build my first stir plate. Mr Malty would have me do 1 L starters most of the time, but if I get some old yeast, I will need to do larger starters, so figured I should just start with a larger flask, but got sticker shock.

 

[Carter5112]

I just built a stir plate and use a one gallon growler with no problem. The bar jiggles a little due to the curved bottom, but not a problem. Still get a good vortex going. I use a 1.625" stir bar. No reason not to give it a shot before purchasing a flask.

 

[Mookie]

My bar is 2.5" long. I assume I will not have to turn it as fast to get a good vortex, so maybe it will work fine. I will try to find the flattest bottom jug I can. Also considering a 1 gallon large mouth jar......They look like industrial pickle jars. I will see if one has a flatter bottom than the other. The large opening would be really nice for dumping in wort and yeast.

Mookie

 

[Carter5112]

Some men's bars are longer than others.

 

[Mookie]

Roger that Carter5112. I did not mean to brag.

 

[wyzazz]

My bar is 2.5" long. I assume I will not have to turn it as fast to get a good vortex, so maybe it will work fine. I will try to find the flattest bottom jug I can. Also considering a 1 gallon large mouth jar......They look like industrial pickle jars. I will see if one has a flatter bottom than the other. The large opening would be really nice for dumping in wort and yeast.

Mookie

I use the 1 gallon pickle jars without an issue. Your bar @2.5" may give you a bit of an issue, I have a longer 2.5" barbell that won't work on the jars and a 1" that works great with them. YMMV.

 

[Clementine]

I have a longer 2.5" barbell that won't work on the jars and a 1" that works great with them.

I was going to get one of these to use with curve bottom vessels. I might just try a larger regular one first.

I did hear that spacing on your magnets varies and this can affect your maximum size bar that you can spin. I guess it will call from some experiments

Clem

 

[Johnny9]

I actually found a very large vase at IKEA. Wide mouth and holds 1 gallon with some head room. Flat bottom and cheap!!

 

[Mookie]

My best bar is a 1.625" bar. It makes a nice vortex at low speed and it is so quite you can not hear it at all.

I have a 1" bar that lets the plate spin too fast. At lowest speed the thing is still haulin butt and will pull the vortex all the way down to the bar.

My 2" and 2.5" bars put too much load on my homemade stir plate and make things get hot (ie fan and speed controler). Those I will have to save until I can get a higher quality stir plate.

I like the pickle jar idea.

Thanks all.