| Author |
Message |
    
Jeff Sherer (172.167.236.240)
| | Posted on Sunday, August 31, 2003 - 04:14 am: | 
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I recently acquired a used magnetic stirrer on eBay (I seem to have been the last person on Earth to discover eBay) that I’m planning on using for yeast starters. I figure having something like this will elevate my beer geekitude to a whole ‘nother level. :-)
My question for those of you who use these: is it necessary to use anything other than a regular old airlock to keep airborne contaminants out? I seem to recall seeing that some folks use some kind of filter, though I’m guessing that it’s overkill.
Thoughts?
Jeff |
RonJeremy4Pres (24.132.175.80)
| | Posted on Sunday, August 31, 2003 - 01:07 pm: |
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I use a sanitized piece of aluminum foil. Works great. |
Belly Buster Bob (142.177.79.32)
| | Posted on Sunday, August 31, 2003 - 01:40 pm: |
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geekitude? funny |
Tom Gardner (198.81.26.42)
| | Posted on Sunday, August 31, 2003 - 02:01 pm: |
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If you want to aerate it while stirring, you can get a good vortex going and just cover it with aluminum foil or a special foam plug that lets air in, but not bugs. I use an aquarium pump to aerate the starter while stirring, so I bent up some lab glass tubing and use a little filter between the aquarium air pump and the flask. Welcome to the next step of geekitude! Now have you gotten your microscope, hemacytometer, and dissolved oxygen meter? Enjoy your new toy, Tom |
Farmer Ian (216.222.79.19)
| | Posted on Sunday, August 31, 2003 - 03:31 pm: |
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Of course, the next thing you will need is a CO2 logger so that you can interface with your fermentation model, and ..... no wait....I was thinking of someone else ;) |
Mike Kidulich (66.67.219.144)
| | Posted on Sunday, August 31, 2003 - 07:17 pm: |
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Go to B3 (morebeer.com) and get one of their sanitary filters. Item number is FIL90. Filters down to .023 micron. Stick this in a stopper and fire up the stir plate. The starter can now draw air without fear of contamination. I just bought two of them for my brewery. One will be for starters, the other for sanitary water for meads. This will go on the output of my carbon block filter. And, they only cost $4.95. |
Craig Johnson (198.81.26.42)
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 02, 2003 - 01:47 pm: |
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You may want to check out labx.com If you haven't already made your purchase. The prices there are usually significantly lower than on ebay. |
Jeff Sherer (172.167.252.64)
| | Posted on Friday, September 12, 2003 - 02:11 am: |
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Thanks for the comments, fellas.
A follow-up question: Is it ok to boil stir bars described as "Alnico-V magnets encased in Teflon PTFE fluoropolymer"? I think it'd be ok but I want to be sure before I poison myself or worse, make my beer taste bad. :-)
Jeff |
Joseph Michael Alf (67.243.44.29)
| | Posted on Friday, September 12, 2003 - 03:07 am: |
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From my understanding you can cover the top of the stirrer with a deep glass or mug, my Spaten mug is now covering my 1000ml starter of Edinburgh ale yeast I had to pull from an old bottle. The consensus is the beasties can't climb up but the air\oxygen is being exchanged with the co2.
beergardener |
Craig Johnson (198.81.26.42)
| | Posted on Friday, September 12, 2003 - 04:29 am: |
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Jeff,
Boil away these babies are designed to be put into hot solutions.
Craig |
Jeff Sherer (172.167.252.64)
| | Posted on Friday, September 12, 2003 - 04:41 am: |
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You know what I love about homebrewers? It's that it doesn't take much for us to work words like "babies" into conversations. :-)
Jeff |
Brews and Views Archive 2003