Show us your DIY stir plate!
- Thread starter DeBrewer
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
Double Stir Plate. It went from Ghetto to Ghetto Fabulous.
Brewer Gerard
Well-Known Member
Is it possible to have vortex envy?
tripplehazzard
Well-Known Member
Well.. I took an old practice amp and did a stir plate conversion. It worked beautifully. All the knobs already there and an on off switch. Plus a flask sits perfectly on it! There was a hole where the speaker was and the fan mounted great there. Easy and free!!
bovineblitz
Well-Known Member
Ooh very nice, good idea.
bovineblitz said:
Till you hear - "honey, have you seen the drip pan for my planter?"
The box is an old silverware case from 1925 (old newspaper found in the interior lining) found at a thrift store for 5$.
Hops were done by making a stencil from a image online.
Will most likely instal two more stir plates on this thing as I tend to make large quantities of liquid.
[/url] IMAG0095 by elpenoso, on Flickr[/IMG]
Hops were done by making a stencil from a image online.
Will most likely instal two more stir plates on this thing as I tend to make large quantities of liquid.
user 163849
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2013
- Messages
- 296
- Reaction score
- 96
I put mine in an old Bakelite box that I found in my tool crypt. I'm sure it is from an old storage unit that I cleaned out a few years ago that was full of old electrical bits, some used some new in boxes so old that they disintegrate on touch. The knob and plate on the rheostat likely came from the same haul.
Dylan42
Well-Known Member
I made it through about half of the pages in this thread and all of these are awesome/ functional.
Question: I have a dead old laptop hanging around, can the fan and HD be used from it, or will it be too small? Thanks.
Question: I have a dead old laptop hanging around, can the fan and HD be used from it, or will it be too small? Thanks.
^ It'd have to be "Kaypro Old" to have a fan big enough to be useful 
Cheers!
Cheers!
HoppingC
Member
I just took a old computer fan, coffee can, wood, magnets of the fridge, and cell phone charger.
I dont get a full tornado effect but i do get a good swirl and attempts to tornado. My flask fits perfect. I might lower it for safety sake.
I dont get a full tornado effect but i do get a good swirl and attempts to tornado. My flask fits perfect. I might lower it for safety sake.
Dylan42 said:
Mine uses a small thin laptop fan. I had same concerns, but it worked fine.
I put this together "until I get a chance to do it right" about a year and a half ago. I'm doubting I will ever get around to the next iteration.
4 scraps of wood, random piece of plexiglass, old pc fan with 5/8" ID washer duct taped to it, magnets stuck to washer, two clamps and some electronic bits from my big box of parts for other projects that may never get finished either. Has yet to fly apart or self destruct!
4 scraps of wood, random piece of plexiglass, old pc fan with 5/8" ID washer duct taped to it, magnets stuck to washer, two clamps and some electronic bits from my big box of parts for other projects that may never get finished either. Has yet to fly apart or self destruct!
bern1
Active Member
Here's mine. 12v power supply and a home made stir bar made from a small magnet, that I had in my toolbox at work, with 2 ss dowel pins added on both sides of the magnet. Wrapped the whole thing in heat shrink tubing and it works great! Still waiting on the flask though. Nice vortex and a bunch of tiny bubbles fill the jar! Posted the pics with the app, which kept telling me it had crashed, so sorry for the multiple pics.
Stealthcruiser
Well-Known Member
When you get a chance, post up a pic of your home made stir bar, Plz.
bern1
Active Member
Hope this worked. Keep getting an error about the app crashing when I upload. But anyway, I should add that I haven't tried this yet with an actual starter. Just tested in the dyed water which the bar was spinning in for over 4 hours before shutting it off to take the pic. Also the magnet was from one of those telescoping tools used to pick up screws and such which have been dropped in tight places. Amazed it works so well! The Mason jar has a pretty good curve on the bottom so I'm not sure what results I'll get with a flask. It measures 1 1/2 inches long and its kinda beefy....about as round as a number 2 pencil, perhaps slightly smaller and as you can see, bulges in the middle where the magnet is.
bern1
Active Member
Some pics of the inside just for the heck of it.
Stealthcruiser
Well-Known Member
Nice!
Is the heat shrink tubing open on the ends,(as I'm seeing it)?
Might be a PITA to clean!
Is the heat shrink tubing open on the ends,(as I'm seeing it)?
Might be a PITA to clean!
bern1
Active Member
Yes...I cut the tubing a bit short. If I try again, I'll definitely leave the tubing longer ....so that it completely encloses everything. . It was kinda neat though watching it shrink around the pins & magnet. Honestly didn't think it would work after I did it. Lol. The pins are stainless though and I don't think anything could get in there. It's all very tight. May be something to experiment with....but the bars aren't expensive anyway and I only made it because I was getting impatient waiting for a "real" one.
bern1
Active Member
I'm amazed the darn thing worked! Lol. Did I mention I used a BIC lighter to shrink the tubing.
JoppaFarms
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2012
- Messages
- 378
- Reaction score
- 31
Well, I totally forgot that I had a cigar box laying around (think I paid $3 for it years ago) and I saw some others use a cigar box so I figured why not? I bought a Thermaltake 120mm fan with speed control ($18 on Amazon) and found a 2 port USB power adapter at the store on clearance for $3. As you can see in the first picture, I had completed a working unit, but I figured that I had time so why not make it custom. So I sanded, stained, and sealed it over the last few days. The screws are countersunk so it won't scratch a countertop and the speed knob is also countersunk because it had to be (the wood was too thick to make with a simple drill through). The countersinking by hand was difficult but not impossible. It works! My erlenmeyer is on the way, should be here early next week.
JoppaFarms
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2012
- Messages
- 378
- Reaction score
- 31
[ame]http://youtu.be/V8ZZDccjli4[/ame]
Hi there.
This is my first post, so it better be a good one Here the stir plate I made. I took care of the electronics, my wife took care of the cosmetic details. I like it, it is very functional, fits a 2L flask perfectly and looks good.
Fan rotation speed is controlled through a spare Arduino nano I had left from a previous project, pretty simple, read potentiometer, get PWM value from look-up table and apply to PWM output. Power supply is 2A @ 12V, a mosfet takes care of the last stage before the FAN.
The most fun was drinking my favorites beers so I can the stickers !
This is my first post, so it better be a good one
Here the stir plate I made. I took care of the electronics, my wife took care of the cosmetic details. I like it, it is very functional, fits a 2L flask perfectly and looks good.Fan rotation speed is controlled through a spare Arduino nano I had left from a previous project, pretty simple, read potentiometer, get PWM value from look-up table and apply to PWM output. Power supply is 2A @ 12V, a mosfet takes care of the last stage before the FAN.
The most fun was drinking my favorites beers so I can the stickers !
MangoMead
Well-Known Member
Hi there.
This is my first post, so it better be a good one
Fan rotation speed is controlled through a spare Arduino nano I had left from a previous project, pretty simple, read potentiometer, get PWM value from look-up table and apply to PWM output. Power supply is 2A @ 12V, a mosfet takes care of the last stage before the FAN.
The most fun was drinking my favorites beers so I can the stickers !
What kind of box is that? Really unusual shape!
Looks like he carved it out of a laid up blank...
Cheers!
Cheers!
Jsslack
Well-Known Member
Angrymonk, i really like what you did with that box, care to create a diy thread on how you did that?
Sorry for the delay, today was brew day
The box comes from Micahel's a craft store chain around here.
I may, I should have some time in the next two weeks. I have a few other DIY project I worked on (fermentation chamber, RIMS tube, stir plate). Maybe it is time to start sharing
here's my cheap stirplate:
parts list:
fan from a cpu cooler from an old scrap early 2000s PC (I picked it up off the curb)
magnets from the dead harddrive from the same PC
frozen food container as a housing (I forget the brand - was one of those frozen pasta dinners, I sometimes take them to work for lunch)
old cellphone charger, from my box of wall-warts. (4v, I tried a couple others I had (7v & 5v), they threw the magnet, the 4v one was the winner)
lids from old containers to stick fan to, and to raise it up slightly.
all held together with hot-glue, fan glued into the container, and magnets glued to fan.
only thing I bought was the stir bar itself, and while not part of stirplate per se, I use a dollar store pasta jar as my "flask" - it has thick glass walls, and a somewhat thinner, but relatively flat glass bottom.
finally, not related to the stirplate, but in the first picture to the left, another good dollar store find (dollarama here in Canada) - small glass jars sold as (awful) salt shakers. (3/$1). They were just what I needed to try freezing yeast. I'll know in a few months if that was a success when I try thawing it and making a starter from it.
parts list:
fan from a cpu cooler from an old scrap early 2000s PC (I picked it up off the curb)
magnets from the dead harddrive from the same PC
frozen food container as a housing (I forget the brand - was one of those frozen pasta dinners, I sometimes take them to work for lunch)
old cellphone charger, from my box of wall-warts. (4v, I tried a couple others I had (7v & 5v), they threw the magnet, the 4v one was the winner)
lids from old containers to stick fan to, and to raise it up slightly.
all held together with hot-glue, fan glued into the container, and magnets glued to fan.
only thing I bought was the stir bar itself, and while not part of stirplate per se, I use a dollar store pasta jar as my "flask" - it has thick glass walls, and a somewhat thinner, but relatively flat glass bottom.
finally, not related to the stirplate, but in the first picture to the left, another good dollar store find (dollarama here in Canada) - small glass jars sold as (awful) salt shakers. (3/$1). They were just what I needed to try freezing yeast. I'll know in a few months if that was a success when I try thawing it and making a starter from it.
I used a 4" 120VA variable speed fan with some rare earth magnets. Works like a dream.
1fast636 said:
You may want to put a short wooden dowel in the center to raise the magnets up towards the top of the enclosure that you are putting it in.
How do you plan to vary the speed? It's fairly complex to DIY an AC speed control that is capable of low speeds.
ClaudiusB
Well-Known Member
Those type of fans use a shaded pole motor which you can control with a light dimmer from your favorite building supply store.
Looks like aluminum blades...If the blades get in the way, you could snip them off with some avaiation scissors, or maybe just flatten them out. Need to be careful that you dont throw the balance off too much though.
Similar threads
