Whirlpooling Made Easy

I recently tried an experiment in whirlpooling. I have an 8 gal BK from Morebeer that has the 1/2" MPT coupling for the temperature probe positioned about 4" directly above the drain valve coupling. Since it is well below the top level of the boiled wort I thought I might try using it as an inlet for the input to my pump and connect the output from the pump to the drain valve. To do so I needed to attach a second ball valve to the temperature coupling with a 1/2" nipple so as to block any unwanted drainage from there during the boil.



Using parts from Home Depot (1/2" street 90deg, 1/2" street 45deg, 1/2" MPT compression fitting, and a short approx. 4" long copper pipe) I soldered up a collection fitting that rests at the flowline of the inside of the BK where it can be used to drain the completed boiled wort.



By using it to direct the flow from the pump output it therefore creates a nice swirling effect along the inside bottom edge of the BK thus draining the wort from the upper regions and spilling them back into the lower region. I let it pump this way for about 5-10 minutes then shut the pump off and let the rotating trub settle out. It works beautifully as can be seen in the attached picture and I had a minuscule amount of trub going into the fermentor. The soldered fitting also makes for a very efficient BK drain pickup, all for about $25 including the second ball valve.

Good show!
Thank you
-David

Very cool! One question, don't you already use the bottom port for BK drain pickup?

During the whirlpool the upper ball valve is the input going to the pump and the lower the input coming from the pump outlet. After the whirlpool has settled I connect the lower to my counterflow chiller and drain as usual and of course closing the upper valve as it is no longer needed. The design of the inside pickup allows for it to be used both ways.

I use a similiar configuration for my pickup tube in my boil kettle;

I use an immersion chiller and this design allows it to sit flat.
I plan to recirculate from the bottom pickup tube to the top of immersion chiller using Jamil whirlpool chiller design. I wonder if it would be possible to reverse the flow in order to whirlpool better?

Cheers;
BeerCanuck

jroot said:

After the whirlpool has settled I connect the lower to my counterflow chiller and drain as usual and of course closing the upper valve as it is no longer needed. The design of the inside pickup allows for it to be used both ways.

Click to expand...

So you gravity feed thru the CFC? Guess it doesn't matter at that point which u draw from.

The upper ball valve is used only during whirlpooling. Close it and let the trub settle then disconnect that line which goes to the pump input and connect it to the lower ball valve where the pump will then feed into the CFC. You could just gravity to the CFC whatever you like doing best.