Black MAXX Stir Plate
The only low cost stir plate designed to contunuosly spin a 5 gallon batch.
Over 4 months of design and research went into this model. Our goal was to design a stir plate that would easily spin a 5 gallon high gravity beer, MEAD or starter and still cost under $200. We went though many false starts and literally dozens of motor & magnet combinations before we got this one right. The magnets are massive - so strong that if we accidentally stick two together we can't pull or slide them apart. But they have to be strong enough for the stir bar to self center in the bottom of your 5 gallon carboy. The 2 included stir bars one measuring a full 2" long and the other 1-5/8" long. Everything in this stir plate is geared towards LARGE.
Note: Because of the torque required to spin anything from 2 liters to 6 gallons (or more if you dare) this stir plate will not be able to spin at over 40% max power setting for most 5 gallon carboys. But even at 40% you get plenty of vortex. A votrex of 3" is typical for 5 - 6 gallons.
Although obviously overkill the following YouTube video shows just how powerful this stir plate is.
Click here for a YouTube Video
And, yes, the picture to the left is one of these stir plates spinning a 5 gallon batch of beer. Notice the vortex on top?
Note: Due to the way BetterBottle carboys are designed, with a very high center bottom, the Black MAXX Stir Plate will not work with BetterBottle carboys. The stir plate works great with glass carboys, plastic carboys (water bottles) with relatively flat bottoms and plastic bucket type fermenters as long as the small nipple that's in the bottom of many plastic buckets is shaved off.
Same Platform as our Stir Plate 3000 model - The top measures 8” wide by 7” front to back, more than large enough to safely support a 5 gallon starter. Unlike out Stir Plate 3000 model this stir plate does not do small starters well. About the minimum size starter you can spin on this stir plate is 2 liters.
Improved Electronics but still PWM Technology - Built with our new Rev B electronics for better control. Our new design runs even more efficiently than our original controller with less losses through the entire circuit. PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) technology is a better solution than a regulator based controller - PWM allows better motor speed control with less wasted energy. This means no heat from the stir plate box that could raise your yeast culture temperature higher than expected. Our latest design makes no noticeable noise, even without a flask in place but you will still get some stir bar rattle. You will get some stir bar rattle with all stir plates.
Low Power Consumption - PWM also means less power consumption. Regulator based stir plates waste a lot of energy - if the speed control set to half, 1/2 the energy is used to drive the motor while 1/2 the energy is turned into waste heat. And if the speed control set to one quarter, 1/4 the energy is used to drive the motor while 3/4 the energy is turned into waste heat. With a PWM system, power is fed to the stir plate motor in varying widths of full-on - full-off pulses. For 1/2 speed, the pulses are 1/2 on & 1/2 off. For quarter speed, the pulses are 1/4 on & 3/4 off. And because power is always all the way on or all the way off with PWM, there is no waste heat.
Low Profile, Compact Design - Measuring just over 2.5" high and just over 8" width and 7" depth, our low profile case has a wide firm footing. This plus the 4 skid resistant rubber feet makes knocking your stir plate off the counter much less likely than other "cheap stir plates".
Larger, higher torque PWM amp motor - The motor used in this stir plate can easily spin a 5 gallon starter. It might even spin a larger batch but we did not try.
External 12VDC Power Supply Included - By using an external plug-in 12V DC power supply, we moved one more potential source of heat away from the stir plate. This also makes the power supply user replaceable in the unlikely case that it should fail.
Professionally Designed - All of our controller cards are professionally designed using state of the art PCB design and layout software.
Professionally Manufactured - Built on commercial quality double sided 0.062" FR4 PCB's with 1 ounce copper and full solder mask on both sides. The same quality construction you will find in any high-end electronics equipment.
Tough, High Strength Polystyrene Housing - No cheap Radio Shack project box or disposable food container here. We designed our stir plate to fit inside a commercial quality polystyrene plastic housing with heavy aluminum end plates that are strong enough to support any flask that will sit on the box.
100% Tested Product with 24 hour run-in - 100% of our stir plates are tested and 10% of our stir plates are run with 2000 ML Borosilicate Glass Erlenmeyer Flasks of water for 24 hours before shipping.
16X Larger Neodymium Rare Earth Magnets than our original - To ensure coupling between the drive magnets and stir bar, even with a 5 gallon carboy which almost always has a convex bottom, we designed this stir plate around rare earth magnets that are 16X stronger than the ones used in our original stir plate.
Includes two Stir Bars - One 2" long and the other 1-5/8" long. These stir bars are needed for larger starters. Smaller stir bars just don't have enough surface area to spin a 5 gallon starter.
Brighter, larger power indicator - Our original stir plate uses a 5 mm power indicator light. We used the same light on the prototype but it looked funny. So we spent a little extra on a larger 12 mm power indicator light and it's definitely bright enough to see from across the room.
Linear speed Control & Control Range that you can Use - We designed the speed control in such a way that the entire adjustment range is useable. Some other controllers are set-up so that the top 3/4ths to 2/3rds of the adjustment range is too fast. With these other stir plates, only the bottom 1/3rd to 1/4th of the adjustment range is useable, making speed adjustment too sensitive. Our stir plate is designed to give the user full adjustment range. Note: Even with our adjustment range, some settings will be too fast or too slow for some flasks.
To order, please select the correct power supply for your stir plate then press "Add to Cart".
Black MAXX Stir Plate
