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DIY Stir Plate

Posted by on January 19, 2013

In January’s meeting we learned just how easy it is to build a stir plate out of spare computer parts.  This is a great tool to aid in achieving proper yeast pitching rates when you’re making a beer >1.060 OG.

 

Most liquid yeast starters you buy are good if your OG is <1.060 , but if you are making a big beer you’ll need to have a yeast starter.  The general rule is 1 million yeast cells- per ml- per 1 degree Plato- that’s a lot of yeast cells!

For reference THIS is a great pitch rate calculator located  at mrmalty.com.

So you’ve done the math and come to the conclusion that you need a starter- now what?  Well a starter can be made in any sanitized vessel,- just add your yeast to about a quart of  1.040 wort ,stir well  and cover loosely with an aluminum foil cover.  Without a stir plate you would need to  “swirl” the wort a couple times a day to keep the yeast in suspension- which helps in increasing yeast cell count.  But if you want to make this process a little more automated, or if you just like to build stuff, you need a stir plate.

BYO has a great step by step article on making a stir plate HERE.

For those that are more visual take a look at the video below.  Enjoy-