Beer Baron Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 So this yeast starter process is really pi$&ing me off. The attached video shows the maximum speed and I think it’s a bit slow. When I finally got the bloody stir bar the stick on the magnet I ramped the speed up ridiculously slow and it kept flicking the bar off. I finally had it going and recorded the video and as I am writing this message the bar got flicked off at that speed. What am I doing wrong?? 506B21F2-F774-4DE8-9BEF-C5569C1A1D7A.MOV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olemate Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Not sure if this will help but, I bought a set of different length stir bars of eBay and I found that if I use a bar that is too short it gets flicked off the stir bar magnet quick smart. I should have said from the outset that my stir plate is home made using the rare earth magnet from an old computer hard drive. I found that if you bar is the same length as the magnet(s), the stir bar will stay put, if not it will flick off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joolbag Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Beer baron have you emailed your supplier for some tips? Perhaps you have a faulty stir plate / stir bar? I bought mine from Kegland ($33) and using the stock stir bar in a 3L Erlenmeyer flask, also sourced from Kegland. Only threw the stir bar once when I started it on full blast. You are doing eveything right, so please reach out to your supplier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Baron Posted August 16, 2018 Author Share Posted August 16, 2018 9 minutes ago, joolbag said: Beer baron have you emailed your supplier for some tips? Perhaps you have a faulty stir plate / stir bar? I bought mine from Kegland ($33) and using the stock stir bar in a 3L Erlenmeyer flask, also sourced from Kegland. Only threw the stir bar once when I started it on full blast. You are doing eveything right, so please reach out to your supplier. I got all of my equipment from Kegland too. I’ll email them today and see what they say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Lao Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 This happens to me as well. I have to find the sweet spot otherwise it will get flicked to the side. A longer magnet sounds like it would make sense though.. Will have to look into this a bit more deeply. Cheers for reminding me what a PITA this is! James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Sounds like a stir bar being the wrong size for the magnet problem. I have a yeast forge and the bar never gets thrown off. The bar is about an inch long, maybe a tad shorter. When I took it apart trying to fix the heating function it looked like it had two magnets attached to two computer fan blades opposite each other under the plate itself, perhaps this means it holds the bar at each end. I don't know if that keeps it more stable or not but it works well. Unfortunately the heating function couldn't be fixed and I have no time to send it back for repairs as I'm constantly brewing. Most of the time I don't need it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenyinthewestofsydney Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 I made my own stir plate. Found it flicked as well depending on the size of the stir bar. After some research I wired up a variable voltage power source and consequently a variable speed for the fan. Works a treat now. Just got to pick the right voltage for the stir bar size. My small one gets flicked over 6v. The big one goes good up to the full 12v Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Baron Posted August 16, 2018 Author Share Posted August 16, 2018 I have sent an email and am eagerly waiting for a reply. Meanwhile at home the starter is hopefully still spinning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 I will pull mine apart tonight. But i am still suspecting that either a magnet is missing or they have have both been stuck on with same polarity up. This essentially means the stir bar is only being held by 1 magnet and is being thrown off at increased speeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Baron Posted August 17, 2018 Author Share Posted August 17, 2018 This is the response I got back. The stir bar that comes with the machine is quite small and you might find that for larger batches you might want to use a large stir bar if you wanted to get more agitation especially for the large 3000L flasks. With that said but the looks of the photo you have got a perfect level of agitation. You dont need to make a huge vortex like we see many people do. All you need to do is to agitate the product. BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Baron Posted August 17, 2018 Author Share Posted August 17, 2018 My stir bar is 3cms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Baron Posted August 17, 2018 Author Share Posted August 17, 2018 What size stir bar does everyone else use?? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 A 3000 litre flask would make a lot of yeast. I haven't measured mine but probably about the same length, maybe a bit shorter. It is right about the agitation though, I usually just aim for a small dimple on the surface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Pulled mine apart last night. You should be able to drop the stir bar across the 2 magnets. If it does not allow you to do this. Then 1 of the magnets is upside down and you end up as in the second picture with the stir bar only held by one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 So does it work properly now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Lao Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 Have been doing a bit of looking into this issue. My stir plate is a BrewSci from Europe, and looked on the website and it says my model is good for stirring 2 litres. My starters are usually 2.0 - 2.4L, (last one was 2.7L and it was a struggle with the smaller magnet) Also noticed the base of my Erlenmeyer flasks are raised in the centre. I did a test with 3L of water, one using the smaller magnet, then the larger magnet with the raised line in the middle of it. They both worked but the thicker magnet seemed to work better but was noisier. I tried it again so the magnet wasn’t sitting right on top of the raised bottom / middle of the flask, (off centre) and both magnets seemed to work better, judging the dimple on top of the water. I think I will get some bigger magnets before getting a new stir plate, and make it so the flask is off centre when on the plate. When I first got the stir plate I didn’t get so OCD about it being dead centre and don’t remember the the magnet getting flicked off as much. Now I am using the 3L flask I have been trying to get it dead centre and have been getting issues. If this doesn’t work I will try the KegLand stirrer, it’s meant to be good for 5L?? And reasonably priced as well. Cheers James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 @Beer Baron Mate I watched your video over and over and compared it to my current starter. The whole of your wort is moving from the outside. If you can do me a favour and when you have time, do the same thing again but this time just drop the magnet on the plate (no flask). I just want to see how the bar spins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 See if you can find stir bars without that ring around the middle. It makes them noisy because the ends are always hitting the flask. The digital homebrew ones are smooth the whole length and are very quiet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Baron Posted August 18, 2018 Author Share Posted August 18, 2018 2 hours ago, Titan said: @Beer Baron Mate I watched your video over and over and compared it to my current starter. The whole of your wort is moving from the outside. If you can do me a favour and when you have time, do the same thing again but this time just drop the magnet on the plate (no flask). I just want to see how the bar spins. I’ll have a go tomorrow. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Lao Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 Made another starter today and put the smaller/smooth magnet in the flask - off centre, and it started spinning but within 10 minutes got flicked off. Have puy the bigger magnet in now and it is spinning well,but is noisy like a small bell ringing. Will get some bigger smooth type magnets off eBay I think. Hope bell sound doesn’t keep the kids awake tonight! Cheers James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 This is mine from Digital Homebrew. 3cm and works fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 My life would be so much easier if everything that was 3cm worked as satisfactorily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Lao Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 The smaller of my 2 stir bars is 25mm x 6mm. The one with the pivot ring 25mm x 8mm. The pivot ring has kept stirring all night so it looks like the bigger magnets are the go. Have ordered a pack of 7 off eBay last night for about $8, sized from 15mm x 6mm up to 40mm x 8mm They are the smooth ones with no pivot ring. Hopefully that’s the end of the bar getting flicked off, it had been giving me a headache for a while now! Cheers James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Baron Posted August 20, 2018 Author Share Posted August 20, 2018 Here you go @Titan I had a go just with water in the flask today and a couple of times I could get the speed to halfway and then full but most of the time when getting up to speed you could tell it wasn’t spinning smooth and eventually flicked off. EC0728F6-542A-4381-94A9-581BA35E6EBC.MOV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted August 21, 2018 Share Posted August 21, 2018 Everything looks ok. That speed you had it at is about all you need. Just wondering if the magnets are strong enough or the stir bar has a balance issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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