Yeast Stir Plate Update

I finally got my stir bar for my DIY stir plate. The stir plate kept throwing my stir bar so I had to modify the magnet mounting slightly. Originally I mounted the magnets to the outside of the washer mounted on the PC fan. I ended up moving the magnets inward so that they meet at the axis of the rotating fan. I also replaced the original 12VDC power supply with a 6VDC one. The 12VDC power supply was just a little too powerful even when the rheostat was turned all the way down. Even with the 6VDC power supply, I get a nice little vortex from 25% on up. I'll be brewing a Rauchbier this weekend. Rauchbier is a German Smoked Lager and since it's a lager it's best to have a good sized yeast starter. So I'll probably fire up the starter tomorrow night (Wednesday) and brew on Saturday. Here's video of the stir plate in action.


Another update 2/22/2011: After accidentally losing a stir bar down the disposal last year I ordered a larger one with a pivot ring.  The new one is slightly over an inch long and seems to work much better in that the stir bar rarely gets thrown now.