Whirlpool question

After boiling my last batch, I cooled with immersion chiller to 78-ish, then took the chiller out and got a real good whirlpool going. Thirty minutes later I opened the spigot and the wort in the tube came out clear...real clear. But about halfway through, all of a sudden, as if somebody threw a switch, it became very cloudy. By the time the full five gallons had drained, nearly all of the crud was in the fermenter. What do you suppose happened? Maybe the trub cone collapsed or something?

It's an American amber...hopefully it won't impact flavor.

 

it wont impact the flavor. ive whirlpool'd and not whirlpool'd...same beer. id even go as far as saying that i had better results on some clarity issues with beers that i didnt whirlpool or filter. not sure what your set up looks like and where your pickup tube is, but if you are draining all of your wort, you will drain all of the trub as well. regardless of a whirlpool.

 

Perhaps draining too fast?

 

The pickup is at the edge of the kettle, just off of the bottom.

The cloudiness in the line started started with half the wort still in the kettle.

 

could be that you're dumping to fast or that you are brewing a wheat beer.... what ya makin?

 

Get a Trüb trapper. It works great.

 

I don't bother with whirlpooling anymore. It all goes into the fermenter. Zero impact on clarity. There is even some evidence that that "crud" contains various substances that contribute to a healthier fermentation and better beer. You're going to have trub is your fermenter anyhow so who cares how much. Cold crash and fining will clear it up perfectly well.