Putting fermenter on a stir plate?

[chris000]

MackerelQ, this was a rant and not meant personal as I stated. sorry, perhaps I should have been more clear. However, if anyone thinks that shoe fits, it's their choice if to put it on.

the difference between little billy and a forum is that little billy has to go to school, but nobody has to actively participate in a public forum. forums work based on collective knowledge. lurkers do not contribute and the more a person knows the less interest they have reading all kind of questions that don't matter to them.
so, in the end only people who are looking for the same information will read and are likely to contribute.
it's the nature of the beast and if anyone wants to run a thread like a classroom, as in your example, they better know much more than the rest of us to make this a successful undertaking

 

[bleme]

What I do find very interesting is the phenomenon of the poster that has no knowledge on the subject, but for some reason still feels the need to respond.

By those people responding, they are doing you a favor and bumping your thread, making it more likely that some expert might see it. Surely it takes you less time to skim through those posts than it does to discourage them.

In 6 years of brewing, I have never had a stuck fermentation. I have accomplished that by paying attention to nutrition and aeration up front and by purposefully avoiding lazy yeast strains. I have no expert experience with using a stirbar in a 5 gallon vessel but I do know it is sometimes a pain to get it going in a 2 liter vessel and I don't even see how you are going to be able to tell if it spinning through all that murk. There are better ways to accomplish what you want.[/user]

 

[chris000]

...

If that was not a sufficient amount of research, I apologize- I’ll run all my research efforts by you from now on before I ask a question here. I would hate to decrease the overall time it takes to get an answer by asking possible experts, but instead lavish in the super rewarding task of aimlessly scouring the interwebs for a morsel of arcane knowledge (ahem).

maybe you should consider that it is not rewarding for anyone to be shut down if they try to give someone their perspective (relevant or not), because you didn't bother doing your own legwork.
I know it's not the silver platter, but google "agitation" and "bioreactor", spend a couple of months reading and then feel the reward of lecturing us. I'll be the first one to sign up - for free of course!

 

[balrog]

I see you were applying agitation/rousing of yeast in primary. I assume this was “5-10 gallon” batch size or similar?

Not sure what kind of fermenter or carboy you used, but if you had it on a lazy susan and could just give it a quick spin a few times a day would you have preferred that to opening it up and having to stick a whateverthehellwaslongenoughtoreach in there? That was the concept i originally had. Then i got cute and tried to automate the spin with a turntable, but i got lazy and abandoned it.

Yes 5g
Bucket, glass carboy, big mouth bubbler

I’ve not found spinning a vessel of mostly water does much stirring without having internally fixed vanes or something, but fixed vanes and lazy Susan appeals to me. Then I think of cleaning. Hm. I like the sanitized spoon method still.

 

[SanPancho]

What I find strange in this thread is that the OP has not done any research, but gets upset already by post #5 that nobody "answers" the question while he himself doesn't bring anything to the table!

the OP obviously can speak for himself, but i think you're being unfair. or at least not really thinking about his actual question.

the OP already posed the question- agitating during primary- pros/cons? which is essentially saying why would it be done, or avoided? so responses essentially coming back by asking "why would you do that?" are redundant and pointless. that's the OP's original question.

and if he was supposed to already have all the knowledge from countless papers, laboratory experience, and all the brewing books you can read then i would guess he wouldnt be asking a question, he'd be writing an article about it and reporting on it.

seems like you're angered that he had the nerve to ask questions to a subject he lacked knowledge of, which seems contrary to the spirit of these forums. if you cant ask the question here, then where?

to OP and anyone curious about his actual question- if i somehow remember where to find that presentation on the copenhagen(?) brewery with the wort spinner thingies i'll post the link. but i cannot for the life of me remember where i saw it. although i think there was a video clip in there that linked to youtube, if anyone wants to investigate.

other than that, im gonna get off this thread. need to get my ass back to work.

 

[MackerelQ]

@SanPancho, I appreciate your support and understanding. Not sure why these discussions seem to get so incendiary... we’re making beer here, folks.

 

[balrog]

yes, yes....but this is the internet!

 

[chris000]

the OP obviously can speak for himself, but i think you're being unfair. or at least not really thinking about his actual question
....

appreciate your feedback, but please really think about below and previous actual statement as well that this was not specifically to the OP.

MackerelQ, this was a rant and not meant personal as I stated. sorry, perhaps I should have been more clear. However, if anyone thinks that shoe fits, it's their choice if to put it on.
....

On another note, I did think of the topic for a minute or two why this isn't a big deal and remembered the old topic of yeast coating.
but since nobody asked, be sure I won't get started

 

[VFblade]

Sorry I'm a little late to the party, I'm glad to see in not the only one who has this curiosity (I was actually looking at ways to do the experiment myself before I even thought of looking for established knowledge) and a little support for the OP I very much understand the curiosity and I think everyone here knows it's not "necessary" so responses saying as much similarly aren't "necessary" though I do support the idea of them being thread bumps.

On to the actual topic, I apologize I do not have the answer to the effects good or bad but as far as testing wouldn't one be able to cut a very small circular notch into the bucket and use one of the 4-way stir bars with nubs to make sure it wasn't thrown after a good speed was found?

My thoughts were to reincorporate any yeast that fell out and potentially speed up the fermenting process (true it's not "necessary" with patience but it would be something interesting to know)

@OP I noticed you mentioned doing some experiments with water to see if you could get it to stir, if you do end up experimenting with your beers to see if it has any effect can you let us know, good, bad, or indifferent it is all useful knowledge.

I may end up doing my own experiment in a few months to see what effects it has (obviously exact same batch split in half one stirred one not for a control with blind tasters), but if anyone else has done this I would be more than happy to learn about their experience to avoid pitfalls

 

[Merak5]

The only commercial brewery I worked at that used agitation was to reduce temperature stratification in the vessel. One of the reasons I like using glass carboys is because I can see the swirling of the wort. Seems once fermentation starts there wouldn't be a need for artificial agitation as the yeasties take care of it themselves.

 

[Azura]

No, this is your chance to state how you definitively know it wont do anything. You are the contrarian here, not me. Ive pointed out numerous ways that brewing technique is copied from pro to homebtrew level with success. You have given zero proof that this case is different.

All you have is your uneducated and evidence-lacking opinion, which apparently all should accept because...... you said so?

Put up or shut up. Show us the goods. Or adnit the total lack of evidence for your statement.

Your rude attitude and obvious ignorance in this context simply tells me you aren't worthy of my conversation. Have fun brewing 10bbl batches for someone else.

You could have said with your first post "I use a stir plate for my 8 gallon home brew and it's better because..." You didn't though because you clearly don't. You are simply hung up on the false concept that some pro brewers do things, therefore all the things they do are beneficial to all hombrewers.

 

[MackerelQ]

As an update, I have a theory and build write up on my site for my “Fermentation Spinner”
https://onemanssite.wordpress.com/2018/03/12/the-fermentation-spinner/

 

[SanPancho]

jesus man, you were just supposed to try it in a normal carboy. plastic. even glass. easy peasy. that seems like a hell of a lot of work.

keep us posted on the test brews.

 

[MackerelQ]

jesus man, you were just supposed to try it in a normal carboy. plastic. even glass. easy peasy. that seems like a hell of a lot of work.

keep us posted on the test brews.

Aww shucks, you’re just saying that. I figure if you’re going to do it, do it big. After all, brewing is my dream hobby. Only limited by time and money.

 

[SanPancho]

a man without a hobby is a man i dont trust.

well, once you get to brewing the results will speak for themselves. every once in a while white labs has a sale on QC testing. i forget the full list of things they test for aside from the big ones like ABV, IBU, etc but i vaguely remember VDKs being one, diacetyl maybe. have to look it up, but that would be one way to get some pretty solid data on a split batch of spin/no-spin.

 

[MackerelQ]

a man without a hobby is a man i dont trust.

well, once you get to brewing the results will speak for themselves. every once in a while white labs has a sale on QC testing. i forget the full list of things they test for aside from the big ones like ABV, IBU, etc but i vaguely remember VDKs being one, diacetyl maybe. have to look it up, but that would be one way to get some pretty solid data on a split batch of spin/no-spin.

I dig it. I’ll have to look into that. Thanks again for your helpful input and information.

 

[day_trippr]

If there's a problem, it'll be protein shear, which will show up as attenuated or non-existent head...

Cheers!

 

[MackerelQ]

I’ll definitely look for that. Thanks for the tip.