I have one of those telescopic mechanics magnets. $2 at any cheap tool place. Sanatize and fish out the stir bar. Easy peasy
I just use a magnet taped to a piece of paper (so I don’t lose it). Then when I go to pour the yeast, I put the magnet on the bottom of the flask to keep the stir bar in the flask and pour away.
I do the same with a magnet on the bottom. If I needed to get the stir bar out without decanting, I would use the magnet to pull the stir bar up the side and out.
Same here - I have some rare earth magnets from an old hard drive laying around. Stick 'em to the kegerator when not in use.
I always have some magnets around when pitching. A strong rare earth keeper magnet comes with the stir starter.
The same here.
I do the magnet thing on the bottom of the flask also. Learned my lesson when I dumped out a starter into the toilet. I have a stir bar attached to the cast iron pipe somewhere inside the waste line. Not fishing that one out.
Huh? Why not?
I feel like the only one without a stir plate…maybe that’ll be the next upgrade.
nah, I don’t have one either. I don’t have flasks either. I use 1 qt mason jars or .5 gallon ones if I need a big starter
I just grab a magnet off the refrigerator and use it to pull the stir bar up the side of my gal. jug from the outside. It’s kinda like a stunt on a game show…
+1. Same thing I use.
Same here 
I use a 3.5L cookie jar from the Wal-Mart. Cost me $4.88 as opposed to the $25-$30 Pyrex flasks I kept breaking. That this has lasted me nearly a year now!
I also have a strong magnet tie wrapped to my PVC drain trap on my sink. If I forget and dump down the sink it has caught the stir bar everytime.
For lagers it’s usually a 1 gallon jug for me. Otherwise it’s one of my fermenters with about 2.5-3 gallons of “starter”. Those are much tastier without a stir bar ;D
I think a lot of good beer has been made without a stir plate. That being said, I value mine pretty high. I think it’s number three behind sanitation and fermentor temp control
If I were handy, I could make a stir plate. I bought one at www.stirstarters.com. It was only $45, including shipping. Lifetime guarantee. I had a starter overflow and yeast got into the unit. It was fixed, no charge, even though it was clearly my fault. Can’t say enough about the customer service.
Commercial beer, for example.
Do you mean the ones that use the 500 gram bricks? Or that buy pitchable quantities for big $$$. Some just harvest and repitch after they get a yeast going. Some go a long time with a culture, hundreds of pitches.
Many of the larger ones have yeast propagators, which aerate and mix the yeast. Can’t do those on a stir plate. 