Making the step to AG and have some questions

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dfess1

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I've been a partial mash brewer for the past 8 years, and am finally making the step to AG. I'm in the process of designing and building a single tier system, run by 3 BG-14's and two Little Giant pumps.

In terms of brewing hardware, I currently own a Blinkmann 15 gallon pot, and have ordered two Penrose kettles along with the Blinkmann false bottom. The Blinkmann will be used as my MLT, and the Penrose kettles for the HLT and BK. I also plan to pick up a couple of cheap lids form restaurant depot.

Here are where the questions come in. I've picked up some fittings from bargianfittings.com. A bunch of ss cam lock disconnects, and a couple of these. I plan to use two of them for the pick ups in the two penrose kettles. The third I am planning to use for a whirpool in the BK. My first question is where is the best place to mount it for the best whirlpool effect?

The second question, I plan to mount a quick disconnect in the top of at least one of the lids. This will allow me to fill the HLT, and transfer from the MLT to the BK. Is there anything wrong with this setup?

Is there anything else I'm missing, or should also be considering in terms of connections?
 
I did my whirlpool return through the top and down the side before turning so that I could adjust the height. I'm still playing with the best location and angle, so no answer for you there.

As for doing a return in a lid, it works great. I put a T fitting on top of the lid rather than an elbow. The bottom goes into the vessel (through a short length of silicone tubing), the side has the camlock for the incoming fluid, and the top has a thermowell so I can monitor the incoming temp. I find this set-up really usefull, and since I can put it on any vessel I was able to reduce the number of thermowells I initially planned for in my system.
 
Ok, great.

Here's another question, that I didn't think about before. I'm going to be using a Therminator for my chiller, in conjunction with my Hoprocket right before it. Will a whirlpool even matter at this point? I was told by someone at my LHBS last night, when asking a different question, that a whirlpool is only if you are chilling in the pot. Is this correct? Should I not bother putting in another hole in the BK?
 
I guess it depends on how you are filtering out the hops. Are you planning on having the Hoprocket filter out any hop debris? If you are keeping the hops in bags or are filtering them out through the Hoprocket, you probably don't need to do a whirlpool.

I don't think it would be correct to say that you would only use a whirlpool if you are chilling in the pot, I use a Blichmann pot with a hop blocker through a plate chiller and I whirlpool when the boil ends to get the hops in a cone in the center of the pot then run the wort through my plate chiller and it has worked great.
 
I'm planning to have the hoprocket filter out hop debris, either using hops or ripped up coffee filters. Perhaps I'll just try it out first without a whirlpool. See how that goes. I ahve the fittings, so I can always add it later.
 
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