substitute stir bar

[McCoonigan]

So i can't find my stir bar anywhere so am looking into substitutes. It occurred to me that bottle caps touch the beer so should be pretty safe in cooled wort right? What's the consensus on using a sanitized bottle cap as a stir bar for a yeast starter? Any help would be most appreciated as i'm trying to get this started tonight.

 

[NeoBrew]

Anything you can get to stick to the stir plate would work. Most stir bars are magnetized themselves, so it helps it "stick" to the stir plate magnets. You might try a few options in water to see what might work. I don't think a bottle cap would give you what you need. It has not polarity, so it would probably not have enough magnetic pull to rotate when the stir plate rotates.

If you have a bar magnet laying around you might be able to cover or wrap it in something that would protect it from the beer/the beer from it.

If you get something working I'm sure we would all love to hear. Good luck!

 

[Horseflesh]

The inside of the cap is coated in plastic to keep the beer away from the metal. The outside isn't.... But for the amount of time it's in the starter wort, it's probably fine. If it were me, I'd try it.

 

[ProblemChild]

if you use a bottle cap, it seems that you would have to squish it into a football shape. If it is round, the spinning will not move the wort much at all - if it spins that is.

A stir bar is that shape for a reason. Just thinking anyway......

 

[Horseflesh]

A bar shape would definitely be better. The disc with notches might be good 'nuff. I want OP to try both and let us know. Embarrassed to admit how many stir bars I've accidentally thrown out...

 

[triethylborane]

A bar shape would definitely be better. The disc with notches might be good 'nuff. I want OP to try both and let us know. Embarrassed to admit how many stir bars I've accidentally thrown out...

Tip from my lab days is to get another magnet and use it on the outside of the erlenmeyer flask, attracting the stir bar, to ensure the stir bar does not get decanted.

 

[McCoonigan]

Sorry to disappoint guys but I went with good 'ol fashion 'swirling as I walk by'. The bottle cap did work in so far as sticking to the stir plate magnet and I was thinking football shape as well, but was more worried about chemicals and some of the metal from the cap getting in there (when i bent it the cap chipped some). I think if you could get just a plain metal cap and bend it w/o chipping though, it'd probably work. (I also order like a 10 pack of stir bars off amazon last night, lol).

 

[McCoonigan]

Thanks for all the replies though. Might still give it a go on a day i'm feeling braver, lol.