Do you brewers use a heated stir plate? I don't have a place to put a non heated stir plate that has a constant temperature in the right range, so I'm thinking a heated stir plate is the answer. Yes I could put the stir plate in an insulated container, but I'd rather not. Any ideas from anyone on this?
Heated Stir Plate or Not Heated?
- Thread starter Mike123
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boganll
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A heated stir plate is going to cost you more and unheated stir plates still generate a little heat all the same; the more inexpensive the plate, the more you can count on that. The point of using a stir plate is to propagate healthy yeast growth by keeping the yeast in suspension and keeping a fresh supply of oxygen while driving off carbon dioxide, but before you concern yourself with all of that you should find a place where the temperature is stable. More important than the exact temperature is the stability of the ambient temperature. You can grow healthier yeast in a stable environment by shaking your starter every hour or so than with a stir plate in an unstable environment. If you do buy one, my advice would be to go with a simple, inexpensive, unheated stir plate and account for an additional 3-5*F, which will be negligible in stable ambient temperatures.
I'd get a plain stir plate. That's all you'd need. As long as the location of your starter is in the upper 60s or higher you should be fine. If your starter is in a cool location just give it a little more time to finish up. I do mine in my basement.
You can find cheap used lab-grade stir plates on eBay. I just bought a Corning PC-310 for $35. Its like new. It was probably in a lab, but rarely used. The lab-grade stir places last forever.
You can find cheap used lab-grade stir plates on eBay. I just bought a Corning PC-310 for $35. Its like new. It was probably in a lab, but rarely used. The lab-grade stir places last forever.
