How To Make A Stir Plate for about $15 - Part 1

This video shows how you can make a stir plate, include a magnetic stir bar, for less than $15. In this video, we hook-up a 12VDC power supply to a PC fan, both purchased on eBay from Hong Kong suppliers for $3 each. A 1 inch magnetic stir bar can be had on eBay for about $5. So that takes us to $11, then we need a couple of magnets ( < $1...Harbor Freight sells a stack of them) and other odds and ends. Probably will come in under $15!

Part 1 just shows you how I hooked the power supply up to the PC fan with the extra connector that came with the PC fan. Not rocket science, but for some people, not obvious.

Tools used: jeweler's screw driver, razor blade, scissors, soldering iron & solder, pliers.

I won't try to explain the benefits of a stir plate when it's time to make your yeast starter...it's quite amazing to get billions more cell bodies and get your fermentation off to a great start.

EDIT July 2011: The little magnets I use in this kit are sometimes not strong enough to hold the stir bar, and it gets "thrown". This is especially true if you have a lot of thick yeast. If you replace the two little magnets with one big one out of an old hard drive, it can prevent the throwing of the stir bar.