Jiffy Mixer - what size mixer blade do I need?

[fosaisu]

I'm looking at picking up a mixer attachment for my power drill - primary purpose is to get the wort moving quickly around my imersion chiller to improve chill times. I know there are various cheaper paint/grout mixer attachments, but I'm looking at the Jiffy Mixer line because I want to go with a stainless mixer.

My question is, can I get away with the 1-2 gallon mixer blade ($21 on Amazon), or should I suck it up and buy the 5-10 gallon mixer blade ($54 on Amazon)? I currently use a 10 gallon kettle and generally have 5-7 gallons of wort in at flameout. May step up to a 15 gallon kettle (and 10-11 gallon flameout volumes) at some point.

My hope is that wort is much thinner than the paint, grout, and thick foodstuffs that these blades are designed for, so the 1-2 gallon mixer might be sufficient. Would love to hear from anyone that's tried either Jiffy Mixer product, but especially anyone that's used the 1-2 gallon mixer and has thoughts on whether it's sufficient. Of course if you've found a cheaper stainless automated mixing option, I'd also love to hear about it!

 

[logdrum]

That 1-2 gal mixer is only 2 5/8" in diameter & 15" long, prolly not going to work. Any way you could modify this bad boy?:

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/48-stainless-steel-mixing-paddle/40719948.html

 

[BSD_Glass]

I bought the 2 5/8" Jiffy mixer with the longer (36"?) shaft to use for my mash paddle. It is PLENTY to get grain and wort moving around. It was less than $20.

Also, it is really cool how fast it chows through dough balls leaving a happy mash.

Cheers.

BSD

 

[fosaisu]

I bought the 2 5/8" Jiffy mixer with the longer (36"?) shaft to use for my mash paddle. It is PLENTY to get grain and wort moving around. It was less than $20.

Also, it is really cool how fast it chows through dough balls leaving a happy mash.

Cheers.

BSD

Thanks! Any chance you have a link to which one you bought and where you got it from?

[EDIT: looking more closely at Jiffy Mixer's website, I assume you've got this one with the 30" shaft. Would still love a recomendation on where you picked it up thought!]

 

[Minbari]

you are trying to move something the consistency of water. the smaller one will prolly whirlpool on a fast enough drill.

 

[BSD_Glass]

I bought the Jiffy Mixer HS-3. I got it on amazon through wisemen trading or something. It has the small mixing head with the longer shaft option. I have no complaints.

Cheers.

BSD

 

[fosaisu]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I went with the Jiffy Mixer HS-3 (the smaller 1-2 gallon model with the 30" shaft, longest available). Bought it through Big Ceramic Store, currently $11.25 on sale with $9.15 shipping, plus they have a 15% off your first order for new customers so it ended up being a few bucks cheaper than the HS-3 I found on Amazon.

I'll post back when I've had a chance to test the HS-3 out along with my wort chiller. Looking forward to it!

 

[smoothbean]

So what was the end result, I'm looking at this just for whirlpooling purposes, did the small 2 5/8 get it done?:rockin:

 

[fosaisu]

I finally got a chance to try it out a few weeks ago. I think it did an adequate job mixing ~ 6.5 gallons of hot wort, but there was no vortex when I held the mixer toward the bottom of the brew pot (seemed pretty comparable to the mixing I get doing a steady swirl with my large brewing spoon). I will say that I was using an old 12v cordless drill that's not very powerful, for my next brew I'm planning to use a corded hi-torque drill I picked up at Harbor Freight to use with my grain mill. Will report back again if I get superior mixing with the more powerful drill. But based on this I would suspect that the next head size up (rated for 5-10 gallons) would work just fine too and might give you a more aggressive mix.

All told I'm still happy I bought it, and will be building a drill stand to further automate the mixing/cooling process. I will say that the 30" shaft is really long, and I may end up trimming it down depending on how my drill stand build works out.