Windscreen Wiper Motor For Mash Stirrer

[ultrashock]

Hello brewers,

One more DIY from Bulgaria: Windscreen Wiper Motor For Mash Stirrer
I have built it for 1 hour using the following things:
- Windscreen Wiper Motor 12v - 5$ from the local autorpair center;
- Adapter 12v - 10$;
- Some computer cables - 0$;
- Piece of sheet metal - 5$;
- Stainless bolts and nuts - 1$;
- Stainless Barbecue spatula - 6$

First I cleaned the motor, then some measurement and after that mount the motor to the stainless sheet. Then I use a plate to mount the barbecue spratula. You can see the process on the pictures.
I can tell you that this stirrer is very strong, I'm sure it can manage with very big batches. You have to find a good power source for it - about 5A in order to have the real power of the motor. Usually there are 2-3 operational speed of the motor, 1 slow, one fast and one 1 impulse. For me the slowest one was the best, I even thing that it is a little bit faster than it should be. There is a lot of info in the net for these types of motor and I can advise you to have a look at this one: http://www.scary-terry.com/wipmtr/wipmtr.htm

Here is a video in action: https://goo.gl/photos/3DzKngQuNsY4muv16

Some pictures:

 

[Homercidal]

Interesting. I had plans to do something like this, but my spare motor ended up giving me it's brushes for another motor that had stopped working. I was going to use mine in the HLT to stir the HERMS heating water, but I might decide to go with a small 12V pump for that. I mash in a cooler so I don't stir too much, just a couple of times by hand during the rest.

 

[madscientist451]

Great idea and nice post with great pictures. But do you really need to stir the mash all that much when making a homebrew batch of beer? I just stir it in with a mash paddle and then don't mess with it and it works fine.
Not being a naysayer, but just asking: Do you expect to get better conversion with mechanical stirring?

 

[ultrashock]

If you can stir automatically, why not to do it? I have did this stirrer for bigger batches ~60L, now I’m using just a pump to recirculate the wort during the mash. I used this stirrer only once, but it is too big for the current equipment and now it is waiting for the bigger one.
I'm not sure if it good to stir during the mash, but in Bulgaria many homebrewers use stir, similar to this one, and that's why i have built it. I have tried to get some information, byt there is not so much info in internet about stirring.