Hi LA Kings Guy, How's Mike Richards working out for you? May be better now that his drinking buddy High 'N Wide, oops, I mean Jeff Carter - is there with him. Lotsa luck with those two..
I stir for about 2 minutes with a big metal spoon to create as big and smooth a whirlpool as I can and try to cleanly take out the spoon without disturbing the whirlpool.
I normally will let that sit for at least a half hour while I start to clean up some equipment before siphoning to the fermenter.
Currently I chill with an IC built from 3/8 copper coil connected to a faucet and it drops from boil down to 65F in about 35 minutes (at least in winter). I do that before attempting to whirlpool to avoid hot side aeration. It sits for the half hour with the sanitized kettle lid shielding it from the elements.
I have been considering building a Jamil-o-chiller (I already have a March 809 pump but haven't used it yet). From what I read, the point of the whirlpool his device makes is to help chill more efficiently, not separate wort from hops and break material. I would still probably want to create some sort of a stirring whirlpool for that purpose (separation).
I am hesitant to pump anything through a plate chiller that might have particles or chunks of any kind - regardless of my ability to pump hot wort through it prior to cooling I don't want bits of hops or break catching in there that could grow nasty stuff between brew sessions. I brew with a friend who is a sanitation Nazi who whirlpools (while hot) his 28-gallon kettle with a large stainless mash paddle, lets that sit for 1/2 hour during cleanup, then pumps through a therminator to his conical. He gets a nice solid dome (if not cone) of break in the bottom center of his B3 28-gallon kettle. Side port on the kettle into the March pump.
I think he back flushes, but the whole brew day is such a production, volume- and manpower-wise that most of the help can't stay the whole day. Usually I am the grunt force up front milling the grain and mashing in, others show up at whirlpool and stay through final cleanup. Many will judge the effort involved but this man produces some fantastic, award-winning (and in my own experience, panty-dropping) beers. So there you have it.
To answer your last question, I have been using standard Irish moss, but I've been reading about and intend to try out whirlfloc tablets.
Thanks for your helpful and insightful reply!
Todd