Fermentor stirplate

Northern Brewer General
1

Another topic got me thinking. Why don’t we use stir plates under our fermentors?

  1. A lot of us aerate by shaking the carboy. This can really only incorporate air that is in the headspace of the carboy. If you used a stir plate, you are just going to incorporate the O2 from the headspace anyway (air lock would keep any new O2 from getting in). Once fermentation is going the CO2 should push any excess air out. Or maybe flush the headspace with CO2 12 hrs after pitching?

  2. It would keep your whole beer one temperature. It looks like there is a temp gradient in a fermentor from the inside to the outside. Does this really effect the beer in anyway? If it does this would prevent it.

  3. It would keep your yeast up in suspension, which would hopefully increase attenuation. We all know some yeast flock a little to well. We also know that yeast grow much better in a stirred starter than a still one (I think an air lock would prevent oxygen getting in during fermentation).

  4. I don’t know if the stir plate would be strong enough, but maybe it would keep fruit and other secondary additions in suspension. This could help extract all the flavor/color out of them.

What do you think?

2

They even make em

http://towercooler.com/index.php?option ... &Itemid=97
3

I had 2 stir plates that would stir a 6.5 or a 5 gallon carboy one was a 12 x12 and the other a 10 x10 plate size.

Both retailed for over $500 and I bought them at a used lab supply store for $150 can’t remember what I sold them for.

I was at the store last week and they had 2 or 3 of them that were 10 x 10 and they were asking $190 ea.

4

That sounds like a bad idea. Wouldn’t you oxidization your beer?

5

I don’t think the stirring would cause a vacuum. So long as you have an airlock you’d only be reincorporating CO2. I can see this practical in only a few situations though; highly flocculent yeast, and possibly with fruit addition where you want to get better flavor or contact with the yeast. I think a gentle swirl will accomplish this without spending a few benjis.

6

Sounds interesting, I wonder if it would have any benefits.

7

I think it would oxidize your beer. Even with the CO2, there will still be some O2 in there. It also seems like a solution looking for a problem.

8

+1

9

I wonder if something like this might help a secondary brett fermentation move along a bit faster.