Magnetic Stirrers

[Benniee]

Hi All,

I've been making simple/shaken/swirled starters for a long while now and I'm considering making the move to a magnetic stirrer to provide constantly aggitated/stirrer starters. I'm hoping this will let me propagate more yeast from the same volume of wort.

I have looked over plenty of the "tight-arse" threads, and I'm very comfortable with the operation of these.

What I am interested in is if anyone has purchased/used a commercially available magnetic stirrer. There seem to be plenty listed on ebay in the US, and through the use of a fairly low-powered step down transformer they could be used successfully on our Australian 240V supply. The thing that attacts me to these units the most is the larger, sturdy top to place the starter vessel onto.

Is anyone using an off-the-shelf stirrer? If so are you happy with how it works for you?

Briefly scanning over some of the ebay listings there appears to be plenty from VWR, and Corning.

Benniee

 

[Crusty]

Hi All,

I've been making simple/shaken/swirled starters for a long while now and I'm considering making the move to a magnetic stirrer to provide constantly aggitated/stirrer starters. I'm hoping this will let me propagate more yeast from the same volume of wort.

I have looked over plenty of the "tight-arse" threads, and I'm very comfortable with the operation of these.

What I am interested in is if anyone has purchased/used a commercially available magnetic stirrer. There seem to be plenty listed on ebay in the US, and through the use of a fairly low-powered step down transformer they could be used successfully on our Australian 240V supply. The thing that attacts me to these units the most is the larger, sturdy top to place the starter vessel onto.

Is anyone using an off-the-shelf stirrer? If so are you happy with how it works for you?

Briefly scanning over some of the ebay listings there appears to be plenty from VWR, and Corning.

Benniee

Hi Benniee,
Being the hopeless DIY guru that I am, I stayed well clear of making anything myself. I purchased this one from Scientrific lab supplies here in Yamba, NSW. Costs probaby 4x what you can make one for but it can spin 5lt water no problems at all. I only make 1lt or 2lt starters & works brilliantly.

http://www.scientrific.com.au/PDFs/ch2080_2081-001.pdf

Around $280.00

Cheers,

Crusty

 

[Quip]

Hi Andrew from Winequip here

We have some Hanna HI 180 Magnetic Stirrers available ex stock that we are happy to move on, normal retail is $280, happy to move them on at $200

Rgds
Andrew

 

[bjay]

This is from this site contact micheal and talk to him about it i have one off these and its good no problems
made quite a few starters

bjay

stirr plate

 

[Crusty]

This is from this site contact micheal and talk to him about it i have one off these and its good no problems
made quite a few starters

bjay

stirr plate

How do I get that stir plate link to open like yours bjay. Cant work the damn thing out.

 

[dicko]

Hi,

I bought one some time ago from SEM in Adelaide, mainly because I didn't have the time to make one.

I did some research and found that the plates that will stir 5 litres are not much dearer than the smallest ones.

I am extremely happy with mine and from memory it is the second size up MS 5 I think. It is powder coated with a stainless steel top and has an excellent speed control and it will genuinely spin 5 litres.

I cant remember exactly but it was around the 240.00 with three stir bars included.

I found that there were many suppliers and I got mine in Adelaide cause it was convenient and was one of the cheaper ones available.

They also come up on auctions and second hand from time to time.

Do a google on lab supplies etc etc.

Cheers

 

[bjay]

Crusty

Go to the add reply page not the fast reply and hit the button to the right of the smily face it says add link,,, That is were you add the link to the page you want ,,,, You do that by opening the page then copy the address in the address bar at the top of the page,Then paste it in the add link box,, could be an easier way but that is what i do

cheers
bjay

 

[Wolfy]

This is from this site contact micheal and talk to him about it i have one off these and its good no problems
made quite a few starters

The ones there are no different to the DIY tight-arse ones except that someone has assembled it for you, they're quite different from the big/chunky/solid commercial/lab type ones.

 

[Crusty]

Stir Plate

Thanks bjay,
You're a legend.

Cheers,
Crusty

 

[Benniee]

Thanks for the info guys. I had seen a few photos of the IEC stirrers getting around but wasn't sure where to start tracking one down. It looks like they are one of the more common stirrers supplied/stocked by lab supply places.

Andrew - thanks for the info on the Hanna stirrer you sell. I notice that they list the maximum stirring capacity at 1L, and I was really hoping to work with larger volumes than that.

Benniee

 

[bum]

I got this one http://secure.sciencecompany.com/Magnetic-...H-3-P16396.aspx on eBay for about $120 about a year ago. Pretty sure its just a Chinese cheapy but it seems to perform well. I already had a transformer so paying $80 (or whatever it was at the time) for a mailorder kit didn't seem to make much sense to me.

[EDIT: it comfortably stirs much more than the 1L quoted on that page. I've had 2.5L going on it without any problems, I'm confident it could do more.]

 

[MeLoveBeer]

I got this one http://secure.sciencecompany.com/Magnetic-...H-3-P16396.aspx on eBay for about $120 about a year ago. Pretty sure its just a Chinese cheapy but it seems to perform well. I already had a transformer so paying $80 (or whatever it was at the time) for a mailorder kit didn't seem to make much sense to me.

[EDIT: it comfortably stirs much more than the 1L quoted on that page. I've had 2.5L going on it without any problems, I'm confident it could do more.]

Looks like an awesome unit bum. How good is it at maintaining ideal temp for yeast? Any issues?

 

[GTS350]

Ive had great results with the homemade version available from USA at stirplates.com
However IF i was going to spend on a commercial plate, I would definetly have heating on my list of requirements. (Shed 12deg limited to lager yeasts, Laundry is 19deg and great for ale yeasts).
In winter time, it sucks having a noisy stir bar in the laundry "clanking" away all night, just because you need that ale yeast to kickoff...

 

[bum]

Looks like an awesome unit bum. How good is it at maintaining ideal temp for yeast? Any issues?

To be honest I've never even used the heating. I've always used it in the fridge and given it basically the same treatment my fermenter gets.

 

[bum]

So I overchilled my starter wort today by about 6 degrees and thought I'd give the heat knob a turn and see how it goes. Only turned it up about halfway since it was my first shot using it. Temp jumped up to 24 (my target) in about 5 minutes. I was suitably impressed - my heat pad doesn't get up to temp that quick. So impressed was I that I decided to give it a little rub to feel the warmth for myself.

Spent the next 30 minutes with my palm under the cold tap. Burned the bejesus out of myself. Certain this thing could get a boil going. While that does seem like it might be handy to some it doesn't seem so handy for my hand.

 

[leiothrix]

Well, it does say Temp. Range: Ambient to 212F (100C) . . .

 

[bum]

I'm a very busy and important guy. I don't have time to read everything I post.