Robostir in large starter?

I’ve seen a gadget on tv called robostir that is battery operated and goes into large cook pots to automatically keep things stirred. Would this work in a bucket to keep a large yeast starter stirred up like a stir plate? Only cheaper.

Interesting thought.

From seeing a couple of commercials in the past, I don’t think it would stir the liquid fast enough to introduce oxygen like a stir plate does. I think that is the main reason for the stir plate.

Seems like it would only be useful in +1 gallon starters. When getting in that range, I would make it so it’s a drinkable beer when it’s done. So I would not want to try to introduce oxygen to it.

IMO, the main reason for a stir plate s to keep the yeast in contact with the wort. O2 is a secondary benefit.

You’d never be able to sanitize the thing.

Sounds like a challenge. :twisted:

you could “stir” boiling water to sanitize it. then spray down the parts above the water with star san. you can even stir boiling water in a covered kettle and the steam would sanitize the un-submerged parts.

i don’t see why the robostir wouldn’t work. it would certainly look funny.

apparently on the warning label it says “never leave robostir unattended while in use”.

I don’t see why sanitizing would be a problem. The 4 hour battery life may be the issue.

The even cheaper approach would be just swirl the starter every few hours…

Honestly I think most of the love of stir plates comes from the geek factor. (That’s why I made mine.) Sure, the yeast multiplies faster with a stirrer than with a manual swirler, but it’s a time/effort trade -off. It’s not like there are yeast strains that refuse to multiply without a stir plate.

And getting completely subjective, I find watching the vortex and listening to the gurgle of the stir plate oddly hypnotic and soothing. The robostir just looks creepy, like a mechanical spider or something…