Can't believe I never used an Auto-siphon before today!

I brewed batch # 3, a robust porter, after an 8+ year brewing hiatus. Fortunately, I had fewer goofs than during the previous batch. One problem I've always had is racking from the kettle without problems. This time around, I bought an Auto-siphon from the brewshop. This thing is great! However, my attempt at whirlpooling didn't go too smoothly. I chilled down below 80 degrees, then whirlpooled the spoon in a counterclockwise motion. I let it sit for perhaps 15-20 minutes then began with the Auto-siphon. Eventually, I tilted the kettle forward with a large book underneath. Next thing I know, I see a mess of hops in the bottom of the kettle and I kept trying to restart the siphon. I wound up with more liquid in the kettle than I would have liked (ie, wanted more in the fermenter). Am I not supposed to tilt the kettle when using the whirlpool method?

That said, here is my recipe:
8 # British 2-row
1.2 # Maris Otter (leftover)
1 # Crystal 60L
.75 # Chocolate malt
.25 # Black patent malt

I used leftover Target and Challenger pellets for bittering (38 IBU)
leftover Goldings plugs for flavor & aroma

Wyeast 1272 American Ale II (started with Goya Malta beverage!)

QBrew calculated the OG at 1.056 and I hit about 1.054.
I'm hoping this turns into a tasty porter. I brewed outside and it was a windy, leafy New England day...I may have wound up with some unexpected ingredients..lol

I ran into the same problem using my auto siphon. After I let the trub settle on the bottom I slowly tilt the kettle slightly so as not to disturb the trub too much. I start the siphon in the wort and slowly move it toward the bottom/side of the kettle until I see some trub coming through the hose. At this point I know the end of the siphon is somewhat in the trub. I push it just a tad further and leave it. After a few seconds the hose clears and just wort is flowing again. As the trub flows into the hose it creates a small void around the bottom of the siphon where the wort can go. When you get to the end you'll see that the wort sort of sinks into this void allowing you to extract more wort and leave more trub. Toward the end I end up taking some more trub though becuase the stuff right at the top is mostly wort anyway. This method requies you to be a little more proactive because the siphon can shift and disturb the trub if you are not holding it. Works for me though. It took me several batches to figure this out. I was leaving so much good wort in the kettle.

It looks bad in the fermentor at first but after an hour or so you'll see the level of trub is pretty small. The yeast ends up holding most of the trub hostage in the end anyway. I always use a secondary so the end result is vitrually trub free.

Hope this helps. Cheers.

I know my kettle loss will be 0.6 gallons so I just deal with it by planning for 5.75 gallons after the boil.

I whirlpool and tilt the kettle. There's no way around getting no trub in there so no worries really. If you have a lot of whole hops in the kettle the auto-siphon can get clogged so I have another one standing by sanitized just in case. Its better than trying to fish hops out of one.

Thanks. I need to refine my technique a bit.

A SS scrubby attached to the end of the autosiphon may also help cut down on the amount of trub you get in your fermenter. You could also let the trub settle in your primary and then rack off that into a freshly sanatized primary.

How do you keep the post-whirlpool cone from falling apart into the remaining wort in the kettle?