Holy Stirplate!!!!!

[Magnanamous]

So I made BMs Tits Up IIPA for the second time on Sunday (so friggen good). The first time I made it with 2 packets of safale -05 and it turned out great. I recently procured a stirplate from Bells and of course had to try it out- so I used a vial of WPL01 for a 1.5 litre starter. My efffciency is better that that calculated for the recipe so my OG was a good bit higher than predicted. I wisely used a blow off that I rigged using the bottom half of a airlock and 3/8 tubing. Wouldn't you know that 12 hours later I hear this BOOM! Luckily I get up quite early for work and was able to run to see what the hell had punched a hole in the side of my house. As guessed the fermentor had shot the lid across the basement, blow-off tube and all... I was too tired and worried about being late for work to get pictures. Finally I was able to get the sanitized lid back on but it was like some kind of spewing, hissing angry-god volcano out of the grommet hole. I had to jam a spare bit of tubing into the hole to control the madness. Two days later the thing is still pissed and on a murderous rampage to smother the Earth with CO2 and krausen.

Moral of the story: Get Ye a STIRPLATE!!!! Cant wait to compare this batch to the last.

 

[EdMerican]

While the stirplate/starter thing sounds good when the cash flow situation allows it, I am not entirely sure I wanna be dodging flying lids and cleaning up sticky beer from the basement floor, let alone losing beer! Terrifying fermentations are supposed to be a good thing, but sounds... well... terrifying. :cross:

 

[CannibalAJ]

Did you remove the little crud catcher/filter thingy from the bottom of the air lock? Its a small plastic "screen" of sorts that is just a bit of plastic that is supposed to keep particles from passing into the airlock itself. All it really does is clog and cause the fermenter lid or stopper to pop off!! I used a pair of wire cutters and clipped them off of each of my 3-piece air locks. Trust me, it's worth the 30 seconds of labor to save 30 minutes of cleaning up.

 

[Magnanamous]

Naturally I grabbed the first sharp object I could find simply in self defense against the raging behemoth. And indeed I did hack off the silly filter thingy with a drywall saw. However, I destroyed the thing in my panic and had to resort to the plain tube (which incidently made a good seal).

For those who are deterred by the prohibitive cost of a stirplate and think a wiring diagram is a map of Topeka...heres the link to the one I bought. Its about the cost of a grain/hop build of a decent IPA. NEVERTHELESS!!! CONSIDER YOURSELVES WARNED!!!!! I keep a pint glass under my pillow lest the beast find its way up the stairs.

https://bellsbeer.com/store/products/StirStarter-%2d-Yeast-Starter-Stir-Plate.html

 

[Kate00]

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https://bellsbeer.com/store/products/StirStarter-%252d-Yeast-Starter-Stir-Plate.html[/QUOTE]

I have the same stir plate. I highly recommend it. Great price compared to others and it works well.