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Stirplate for Carboys?

Wastegate

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Occasionally I will make a big beer (Above 1.060) for special occasions, family outings, or just for myself. Recently I made the third rendition of a Scotch Ale (1.109. You can see it on the "What are you brewing Next" thread. My procedures during fermentation change a little for bigger beers in that I roust the yeast twice a day to keep them going strong...

So I was thinking I have a Stirplate for my starters, why not for the carboy? I usually turn the stirplate up fairly high in order to get good aeration thereby increasing yeast production. I'm not talking about that kind of speed, just enough to move the beer around a little and keep the yeast in suspension during primary fermentation. I'm not worried about having too much yeast in suspension because these types of beer usually take 3-4 months to age. And they are usually in the primary for almost a month then in the secondary for a month.

Does Budweiser, Miller, or Coors (BMC) move their beer around during fermentation?

What are your thoughts? I will search the other forums to see if I can dig up anything else.

Cheers
Preston
 
A friend and I joked about this idea when I started using the Lazy Susan race to manually spin the carboy during primary ferm........

From my experience making 2L starters on a stir plate, I've thrown the stir bar many times once the yeast culture gets thick and gooey.  The bar just can't spin in the slop after a certain point.  That problem would be many times larger in a carboy, so perhaps instead the path would be to actually make a Lazy Susan and motorize that?  Low-height profile so as not to add much height in the cooler, and minimal motor speed needed?  Just enough to keep yeast up off the bottom?  Would be cool to find speed that allows trub to fall but keeps most yeast up. 
 
Hmmm, Not a bad idea. Totally agree about the Starters. I have had that happen to me also, just figured the volume of liquid would keep that from happening.

How often do you spin it? Any problems with rust or condensation?

Cheers
Preston
 
Weekdays 3-4 times, other.....wherever I walk by.  :D

Sometimes just a light twirl, others a thorough spin to lift the trub up too.  Spinning keeps the crud from bonding to the bottom, easing clean-up slightly.  The neat thing is how still the krausen remains despite the movement beneath the surface.  Attached is pic of how trub then yeast "layers down" once I stop spinning (much of that is pumpkin).  No issues with moisture or rust.  I think as long as you air it out between uses it's good.  Or some WD-40 as needed. 

 

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I've been spinning my wit thru the primary ferm and remembered our other thread on the internal heat generated by yeast during the active ferm.  Another benefit of the constantly-moving lazy susan would be distribution of that heat throughout the vessel.  If the center of the vessel is possibly 5-10F hotter than the outside edge getting cooled by the freezer, that could affect your fermentation profile.

At least spinning would equalize the internal temp, and give you a better read from those applied thermo strips.  At least you could better adjust your freezer temps to compensate.  Hmmm.........
 
You could use a stirrer instead of a stirplate. Like a mash stirrer.
 
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