My Stirplate... Cheap and Easy Build...

[EricT]

If you can get a printer power adapter it would be about right. I have 1 of them I believe it is 35 volts.

 

[camiller]

Just went through a box in my attic. Nothing I have has the amperage I'll need. Looks like I'll order online.

edit: Fans say 12V .18A I'm thinking I need at least 6A with the resistance of the speed control. Does that sound right?

6A is I think way more than you need. Are you using just a potentiometer for speed control or a LM317 based voltage regulator? Look at it this way, if most people are running one fan just fine with 500mA, 1.5A should be fine for three fans.

 

[jdoiv]

Just using a potentiometer for speed control. Fans are old Rosewill 80mm case fans with blue LEDs taken out of my old computer case. I'll still need to pick something up, none of the power supplies I had gave more than 800mA. Did find a old laptop charger that may work. 3.6A I think. But it is huge and bulky and probably overkill for what you think I'll need.

 

[amb1935]

Just using a potentiometer for speed control. Fans are old Rosewill 80mm case fans with blue LEDs taken out of my old computer case. I'll still need to pick something up, none of the power supplies I had gave more than 800mA. Did find a old laptop charger that may work. 3.6A I think. But it is huge and bulky and probably overkill for what you think I'll need.

You probably only need about .5 A. I pushed a 12 V fan with 15 V and it still didn't draw the .18 A for which it was rated. Also, make sure you wire the fans in parallel.

 

[jtkratzer]

15 hours on the plate with about a liter of water, 100 grams of DME, and 55 ml of WLP400 yeast slurry.

 

[weconway]

Just did my first starter using my frankenstir plate. I haven't finished the enclosure. Here's my starter - Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale in a 1.1L starter after 20 hours.

Check out that krausen! It's going into some Caribou Slobber.

William

 

[jtkratzer]

15 hours on the plate with about a liter of water, 100 grams of DME, and 55 ml of WLP400 yeast slurry.

I meant to post the picture from one hour later, I guess I forgot. Here it is. Also found out those 1/2 gallon jugs work on this as well.

 

[EricT]

Good looking starters, I never get krausen like that.

 

[jtkratzer]

Good looking starters, I never get krausen like that.

I couldn't help but think of the line "Feed me Seymour!" when I saw that change in an hour. I just swirled the starter to pull the yeast back down into the liquid before putting it in the fridge so they didn't dry out and stick to the sides of the flask.

 

[Anthony_Lopez]

I meant to post the picture from one hour later, I guess I forgot. Here it is. Also found out those 1/2 gallon jugs work on this as well.

That is some crazy krausen ya got there

 

[oregonparamedic]

Just finished mine. Can't wait to try it out! :rockin:

 

[Anthony_Lopez]

Just finished mine. Can't wait to try it out! :rockin:

The metal plate should be on the inside of the plate holding the fan bolts down... As long as it works, go to town!

 

[oregonparamedic]

I ended up using the metal on top to cover up the screw heads that adjust the gap between the plastic lid and the fan. Cleaned up the top a bit but I did have to warp it a little to get rid of some rattles.

 

[terrapinj]

just noticed these rare earth magnets on slick deals for $1 w/ free shipping if anyone is looking

i haven't used them, just passing the info along

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/49285/?utm_campaign=twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter

 

[maxposure]

I just finished wiring up my new stir plate. This is my first electrical project ever, and I figured it would be a great place to start. Fortunately, when I flipped my switch, the fan was spinning wonderfully. Unfortunately, I could not get my potentiometer to vary the speed. My wiring seems to be correct but I was hoping someone with a bit more knowledge might be able to share some advice and help me trouble shoot. -Much Thanks.

 

[Cranapple]

I just finished wiring up my new stir plate. This is my first electrical project ever, and I figured it would be a great place to start. Fortunately, when I flipped my switch, the fan was spinning wonderfully. Unfortunately, I could not get my potentiometer to vary the speed. My wiring seems to be correct but I was hoping someone with a bit more knowledge might be able to share some advice and help me trouble shoot. -Much Thanks.

It's a little hard to tell from the pic, but it looks like your quick disconnects on the potentiometer might be touching each other. That would short the circuit around the pot, essentially making it like it's not even there.

If it's not that, then I'd ask how you were sure it isn't changing the speed. Mine was hard to tell with a 5v power supply.

 

[maxposure]

Thanks CranApple. I think you were right about the quick disconnects making contact. When I separated them I was able to detect a difference in the sound of the fan when I changed the speed.

Is my 5v power supply underpowered? I don't plan on making starters larger than 1 liter. But I do have plenty of other supply's I could use.

 

[Cranapple]

Thanks CranApple. I think you were right about the quick disconnects making contact. When I separated them I was able to detect a difference in the sound of the fan when I changed the speed.

Is my 5v power supply underpowered? I don't plan on making starters larger than 1 liter. But I do have plenty of other supply's I could use.

I don't think it's necessarily underpowered, a ton of people here use 5V supplies (and the OP, Anthony Lopez, has said that's all anyone should really need.) Yours should probably be fine, especially since it has twice the max current of the one I tried to use. Mine worked at 5v but i wanted it to go slightly faster, so I went up to 9V. It's just on the edge of too fast, even for 2L of water in a 1/2 gal growler.

 

[maxposure]

Thanks again. As always, the members of HBT come through.

 

[EricT]

I had to go with a 9V power supply for my 2" stir bar. I had a 5V but it just would'nt get it going. I am thinking of making another with a 110V rack fan I have, I'll be using a regular dimmer switch for that though

 

[jtkratzer]

Unless the supply is broken, the fan won't spin at all unless I use a 12V...probably because it's a 12V fan. I'm also using a voltage regulator with the LM317 and potentiometer.

 

[cheffriz]

Need some assistance with this

not sure how to get the magnets off the larger pieces of metal

 

[EricT]

Get a flat head screw driver or something flat you can slip between the magnet and metal piece. you may have to gently persuade it with a hammer.

 

[cheffriz]

Get a flat head screw driver or something flat you can slip between the magnet and metal piece. you may have to gently persuade it with a hammer.

tried that on the first one. it broke the magnet, second one i used a razor blade and it worked fine.

 

[borrachio]

Need some assistance with this

not sure how to get the magnets off the larger pieces of metal

Two sets of pliers on each end. Bend.

 

[camiller]

Two sets of pliers on each end. Bend.

That is what worked for me.

 

[DIPAfool]

I have a PS question, will a 12v 500mA PS work for this build? I have found a flashlight charger PS with this output. Thoughts?

 

[EricT]

It should, I originally had a 15V on mine but it was too fast.

 

[BrewersKaramazov]

I did this build over the weekend using HDD magnets and taking advantage of all the experience here. I do not have a real stir bar yet, just a piece of metal rod to test with. I had a problem with the rod getting pinned to the floor of the flask and not spinning. I am using a 9v power supply without any speed control. I wonder if my fan is spinning too fast? My test stir rod is not a magnet, and I do not have any problem with it getting thrown.

 

[Kegerator]

I built this project over the weekend with stuff I had around the house, I only had to buy a box to put it in and a stir bar.