Kimax has a wide mouth 2 liter. That’s my favorite for making starters. Wide mouth is easier to use, I find. Pyrex may make a wide mouth, too. I don’t know.
Tom, where do you find barbell stir bars?
Any of the big lab supply places will have them.
One of my clubs did a buy from stirbars.com
I’ve seen some stir bars with a center ring. Would that style work in a jar with a slightly concave bottom? 2 inch length?
It works ok, throws less often than a straight bar with flat edges, but more often than a barbell in my experience.
Sounds like I’d better just go with a flat bottom vessel.
I bought my 2000ml flask here:
https://bellsbeer.com/store/categories/Homebrewing-Supplies/Brewing-Equipment-%26-Supplies/Yeast-Starter-Equipment/
It’s a nice flask, and about the best price I could find.
They also have stirplates, but I am not sure how the prices compare as I made mine.
If you have the $$ sure, they are nice for boiling/chilling/making your starters. If you’re not going to take advantage of these features though, I wouldn’t bother spending the money. You can get by fine with a glass jug, no problem. Just boil/chill the starter wort in something else.
Thanks for the link. But, would a 2 liter flask be large enough for a 2 liter starter, i.e., enough head space?
I have done 1 liter starters in my 1 liter flask, and using foam control drops it worked OK.
Until I tried it with Wyeast 1318, that spewed all over the place. That’s when I ordered the 2 liter.
As a general rule of thumb I would say “No” is the answer to this question. You might get away with it here and there if you use foam control but eventually you’ll have a mess on your hands.
You might as well get the 5L flask now. You know you will eventually anyway. 
This is sage advice. I use my 5L flask a lot.
Don’t try to build your own stir starter and expect to save money. If you do it right, they give you the schematic if you need one, you’ll spend more money and only create a headache for yourself.
I built 2 but if I were to do it again I think I would just pay the guy the money and have it shipped to me.
I don’t follow this. I built two from parts I had at home. It didn’t cost me anything other than time and maybe a buck or two for some screws.
I’m not using a 5 liter flask on them, but the magnets I pulled from some old hard drives are strong enough that I’m sure they would spin them. Maybe I’d need a stronger fan, but those are pretty cheap, too.
+1
I’m picking up a second this week. The volume and headspace help reduce steps and messes and I’ve decided I no longer want to try and split my starters for 10 gallon batches that have to ferment in separate carboys.
Midwest supplies has a great stir plate that I use and love! Stir-plate 3000. I stir 5L lager starters in it with no difficulty at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYDCRgClu4s&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Veldy
This is a list of the materials I used. I’m not selling these things, I’m just giving a little helpful advice.
1 Computer fan of the 12 VDC variety 120 mm about $7.00
3 Rare earth magnets 35 lbs per pull, 1 for the keeper and 2 for the fan. Cost $3.35 each
1 Stir bar Cost $5.00
1 Potentiometer, 2,000 ohms Cost $5.00
1 LM317 voltage regulator Cost $3.50
1 resistor, 330 ohms 4 pack Cost $3.00
1 capacitor, 0.1 mf 2 pack Cost $$3.50
1 Project box. Cost $7.00
1 12 volt transformer Cost $3.50
1 plastic dial for the pot $3.50
That’s a total of over $50.00 You can get one made and sent to you for that price.
Without the right resistor, capacitor, voltage regulator, and potentiometer you won’t be able to control the RPMs and you’ll throw the stir bar to the side of your flask.
Now I know that some people have some of this stuff laying around so you might as well put it to good use. Also, these are Radio Shack prices so if you hunt you can probably find it cheaper.
+1
Just received my stirplate from stirstarter.com ($45) Haven’t used it yet for a starter but did play with my 2L flask and it worked well with various amounts of water. It arrived about 3 days after I ordered it (live in CO) and I read some really good reviews about performance and customer service in the forum.