I have a carboy and corny cleaner with detachable cleaning pads. I looked at the pics of mix stirs and they seem to operate on exactly the same principle. So, can I fabricate my own? Any ideas on how it should be designed?
I would think it shouldn’t be too difficult. It’s a pretty simple concept.
If you can get 5/16" or 3/8" stainless steel rod, and you have a drill press available to you, you could cut the rod to the length you want and then cut two pieces of rod to 1.5 or 2" long. Drill a hole through each piece so you can slip a SS bolt through the three. Make sure the bolt is long enough to accept a self-locking nut and still allow the pieces to move freely but not so long it doesn’t fit down the neck of a carboy.
Sanitize it and chuck it into your drill.
Paul
If you go that route be sure to test it with your carboy before final assembly. With the bolt & hardware it may not fit through the neck of the carboy. Don’t ask me how I know this… ;) Cheers!!!
Hrm, so just the two rods to stir, and not some sort of paddle-shaped thing? Although I guess the idea is to make this basically like a stirplate in reverse…
Phil, is this because you want to build one or because you don’t want to pay for shipping from the US?
If the latter, you might be able to find a drill mountable paint stirrer at the hardware store. They’re pretty cheap here, not sure about there. It won’t fit through the neck of a carboy, but aren’t you moving to larger fermenters soon anyway?
Pretty much. I was basically laying out how to make the mix-stir thingies I’ve seen on online sites lately. I think what you lose in surface area is made up a bit by the speed the drill runs at.
As Tom said you can get a brand new paint mixer at the HW stores here for a few bucks that work in a container with a larger opening than a carboy has.
Paul