whirlpooling with a hand blender?

has anyone tried this? i don't have a pump and am trying to figure out how to get a vortex going. i think i could get spiral going with my hand blender on high.

Only one way to find out! Probably depends a lot on how large of volume you're trying to whirlpool, . I've often considered using a large paint stirrer (sanitized of course) on the end of a drill. I've used it to aerate beer before and it really gets a whirlpool going. The problem is I used this method to aerate, might not be a good idea with hot wort. But then again I do it very aggressively during aeration, could probably get a good whirlpool going at a slower speed with out a lot of aeration.

I'm not recommending this, I've never tried it. But I might.

foaming is my main worry.

and technically speaking shouldn't a whirlpool aerate? swirl plates aerate starter so a small vortex is all you should need to aerate a batch of beer.

RonPopeil said:

foaming is my main worry.

and technically speaking shouldn't a whirlpool aerate? swirl plates aerate starter so a small vortex is all you should need to aerate a batch of beer.

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Foaming would be my worry as well. Seems it would be introducing oxygen when we don't want it.

Technically? Hmm I looked up the various descriptions and: "rapid rotation", "moves very fast in a circle", "water that moves in powerful circular"
etc., does sound more like the discription of a stir plate or using a paint stirrer to aerate. I think in homebrewing it is usually referring to a a genltle circular rotation of wort to help both cool and form a cone of trub on the bottom of a brew kettle.

IDK, I'm just spitballing here.

We need a hydro cyclone , I came across this in the engineering field used for cleaning cutting lubricants on grinding machines, Dyson vacuum cleaners use the same principal I think. the liquid enters a cone in a circular motion, it travels down the cone, at the bottom the heavies drop out (that our particulate) and somehow the now lighter liquid travels back up the inside of the cone clean and without the particulate, easy ! if only I new more about it !!!!!!

Just my 2 cents, but trying to whirlpool without a pump is pretty much useless. Yes, you could get a whirlpool going a whole lot of ways, but it just isn't going to be consistent enough to separate the trub very well. Any tiny bit of turbulence will just knock the trub back up into suspension.

a whirlpool doesn't need to be so fast that you need a motor... although i doubt that a hand-blender will be able to move that much liquid anyways.

sanitize a big stainless spoon and mix with that. much more effective. spin the spoon around a few times, put on lid, and let rest.

Are you guys talking about creating a whirlpool on the hot side in the kettle? It really isn't that hard, I use my regular brewing spoon, unsanitized (no reason to, it's in 210F wort!), for about 20 seconds, and I let the whirlpool settle for 5 minutes. Nice big cone of hot break & hops in the center of the kettle.

MC

right now i'm using a metal spoon. i usually spin the wort up to move it around my wort chiller and cool it faster. it's difficult to spin the wort around with the chiller in because of the amount of space between the chiller and the kettle wall.

also, if i'm trying to add hops in a 30 minute whirlpool then doing it by hand is gonna suck.

A pump might be better, but I get good results with a long spoon or stainless racking cane.

Start on the outside getting the wort spinning. Get it moving faster and faster. Bring the spoon in toward the center and spin in very quick small circles. Let it rest a bit. You'll have a nice pile of hop and break sludge in the center.
The only time I suck it up is when I tilt to get the last few ounces.

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Whats all this about creating a vortex? You just need to get the mass of liquid moving in a circle. recirculation with a pump or a large spoon works just fine. The most important thing is after you get a good spin going. leave it alone for several minutes