stir bar vs magnet

i bought a 2 in stir bar but it won't stay spinning. i bought some small strip magnets that work but they are just magnets. am i able to put the magnet in the starter if i sanitize and clean the magnet or is that plastic coating on the stir bar protect it from infecting the yeast or something?

 

The plastic (Teflon I think) will help you to clean and sanitize the stribar. It will also help to make sure that it wont crack. Some magnets can chip pretty easily. I would also worry about scratching the bottom of your flask, depending on the magnet.

Just some thoughts.

 

2" is a huge stir bar. Larger stir bars tend to spin off the magnet. 1" is plenty big for a 2000 ml flask.


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Try moving the flask so that the stirbar is in different positions relative to the flask wall and the magnet beneath.
It could also be too high in the flask, ie., too far from the magnet. Also, start slowly, as a stirbar that large may shatter the flask wall. Perhaps your fluid is too viscous? Try with plain water. Good luck.

 

i tried moving it everywhere but with no luck. i bought a fan that you can speed up and slow down. i can make my little magnets to it right which are about 3/4 of an inch. the magnet is a hard drive one, i think i just need a smaller stir bar. i was just trying to get it going because i was doing a second octoberfest and wanted to try the starter with a stir plate see how my fermentation changed, its going good now. no stir plate just shaking. its rewashed yeast so I'm trying to experiment and get better!

 

If you get a shorter stir bar it will work i have a short and a long one the short one works fine at any speed The long one wont stay on no matter what it has to do with the placement of the magnets on the fan it took me some time to find the sweet spot for the short one to work properly