BeerBorg

Well, after musing about getting a stir plate to improve my process, i finally pulled the trigger and picked one up at my local store. It is a non-brand, and I assume the store makes them or has them made for them. It has no speed adjustment on the plate itself, rather , it uses a Multi Voltage Transformer to control the speed. It has a little yellow stir bar with a raised band in the middle. I also got a 1000 ML flask with a slightly convex bottom.

The setup in the store had the same equipment running with water in the flask, and it was completely silent. Well, After getting home and making my first starter, I was bummed to find out that I could not get my stir bar to be silent. No amount of centering or different speeds could stop the pinging of the stir bar. I'm running it as slow as possible to just get a dimple in the center of the wort. I'm NOT running it at full blast trying to get a tornado. I tried putting a plate under the flask to try and change the distance between the magnets and the bar, and it helped a little, but not enough. Not sure whats up. I've read other forums (sorry) and some that have had this issue have tried putting small o-rings near the ends of the stir bar. I think I will give this a try. I'll post pics once the starter is finished. Has anyone else had this issue, and resolved it?

Edit: I suppose I should have experimented more with water before I just rolled with a starter, but I was thinking, does the volume of water have an effect. I'm only running 500 ml of wort. Would a larger volume of water effect the stability of the stir bar???

I'm not sure why but there are times when my stir bar makes more makes more noise than others though not something that I would call bothersome.
I can say that when I use my 5 L flask versus my 3 L flask it is much quieter. It is also possible that your flask is thin and cheaper which may make a difference though the one in the store was quiet.

It is so noisy that it will wait to dad or just that it's new and you're not used to it?

Beer-lord wrote:It is so noisy that it will wait to dad or just that it's new and you're not used to it?

It's friggin noisy. Clinkity clink CLINK!!! My wife already barely tolerates my ever expanding assortment of equipment, and this will not fly as the only place I can have it is in the kitchen.

Nah, that shouldn't happen. Maybe the stir bar is unbalanced or slightly bent. I have read where some have gotten a odd weighted bar and even broke a flask but that is extremely rare.
When the starter is done, I'd get a new bar or let your LHBS try your bar on their stir plate and see what happens.
It's always good to have a replacement bar any way. I've accidentally added mine to the fermenter a few times.

My 1 inch stirbar makes a little noise on the stirplate once in a while too, although nothing like the noise the 2 inch stirbar made. I guess I bought the 2 inch bar for nothing because I won't use it it's so loud.

Some stir plates use a bar magnet or c-shaped magnet from an old hard drive, others use separate button (disk) magnets, still others use chunks of other magnets (the worst as you don't always know where the field lines are as they are generally ragged and uneaven chunks!)

It is possible that if disc magnets are used, that one could be installed upside down thus repelling instead of attracting the stir bar.

If a c-shaped magnet was used, it may have been attached in such a way that it presents an oblong rotating field to the stir bar causing the bar to both rotate and move off center on each rotation (Note, this is a very slight possibility but 'could' happen with certain size/shape magnets and certain length stir bars. It is not a likely scenario though)

If uneven chunks were used then good luck...

Also, the magnets may be installed correctly but at too close or too wide of a spacing for that stir bar (try a longer/shorter stir bar?)

One of the magnets or the magnet if single could be installed at an angle... Check for that.

It may also be possible that the convex bottom of your flask is uneven, thus kicking the stir bar end up on each rotation (try another temporary vessel like a measuring cup or growler)

Just some thoughts... Good Luck!

By the way. This is only loosely related to this thread, but my beer store sells White Labs liquid yeast. When I picked up my ingredients the other day, I was surprised to see that they have changed their packaging from vials to packets. Using a "flex cell" process, it is supposed to be a more pure and healthy yeast as it is grown and packaged in the same pouch. Just a heads up.

http://www.whitelabs.com/homebrewernews

My LHBS has already had a few, I think White Labs rolled out the PurePitch with the 001,002 and 004. I have already used the 004 in an Irish Red, supposed to be more viable for a longer period of time too.

RedBEERd just got a pack of 002 in the new package.
I actually like it in this new package.

I got one last week, too!

Related to the OP, could it be the slightly convex flask? I believe mine is flat and it is silent as can be.

Kealia wrote:I got one last week, too!

Related to the OP, could it be the slightly convex flask? I believe mine is flat and it is silent as can be.

What I was thinking, mine is flat also.

Mine is 2L flat bottomed flask and a 1" Teflon coated bar. It use a home built stir plate based on this set of instructions:

http://stirstarters.com/instructions.html

I do not get much noise unless I am spinning the bar at very high speeds where it's getting close to flinging itself of the magnets, except for a random tick once in a while.

He said his stir bar had that little raised part in the middle. All mine are the same thickness across the bar. Maybe try one of those bars?

Inkleg wrote:He said his stir bar had that little raised part in the middle. All mine are the same thickness across the bar. Maybe try one of those bars?

Hmmm... How'd I miss that...

Well, no matter as the pivot type (which is what he has) seems to be the correct one for the convex flask he has...

Also F.Y.I., here's a cool site if you ever wanted to know how many different types of stirbars there are...

StirBars.com

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I brewed my "Sasquatch Slobber" this morning and freed up the stir-plate. For whatever the reason it was rattling, I was able to fix it like a boss. Two o-rings and it it's as quiet as you like.