Brew Kettle - Whirpool ?'s

[riored4v]

Thanks for that. Just checked it out and from his site:

The important thing is the angle of attack of the return. It should be between 30 and 45 degrees off the kettle side. Play with it and you can get a really fast whirlpool going.

So if i'm understanding that correctly, he not referring to the angle up or down, but the angle the return flow is pointing towards the wort. I would guess with my whirlpool tube I would be fine, but I'll double check the angle.

 

[BargainFittings]

Are both of yours guys whirpool tubes horizontal or are they angled at all?

Mine is definitely going through a bit of resitriction (2 ball valves, a plate chiller and about 4ft of tubing on both the input and output side) in comparison to the above photo, but I'm hoping the new impeller helps that out.

That is quite a bit of restriction and will slow down the return flow.

Test with some water the flow rates with and without your chilller attached to get a handle on what the whirlpool will look like.

I've set up my 1 barrel brew rig with whirlpool returns and they spin the wort fine but I don't flow through a chiller. This is with an 809 march pump.

 

[logdrum]

So you whirlpool then chill? How do you sanitize your chiller?

 

[BargainFittings]

So you whirlpool then chill? How do you sanitize your chiller?

I use immersion chillers.

 

[riored4v]

That is quite a bit of restriction and will slow down the return flow.

Test with some water the flow rates with and without your chilller attached to get a handle on what the whirlpool will look like.

I've set up my 1 barrel brew rig with whirlpool returns and they spin the wort fine but I don't flow through a chiller. This is with an 809 march pump.

Yea, i'm thinking about trying that. Might have to revise my lines to chill first and then whirlpool if the new pump parts dont work.

 

[riored4v]

So you whirlpool then chill? How do you sanitize your chiller?

If you're asking me, I whirlpool while I chill. When its done chilling then I'm done whirlpooling and let it rest.

By pumping the hot wort through the chiller for the last 15 min of the boil, it sanitizes my chiller.

 

[riored4v]

Turns out my 809HF already has the 815 impeller.

 

[Tomtanner]

Is it important to use a filter if any kind when whirlpooling? I will be use a pump with a plate chiller and an curious if a filter is needed on the draw tube.

 

[riored4v]

fwiw.. i chilled my last batch with the chiller while whirlpooling. once it was cooled, i bypassed the plate chiller and it made all the difference in the world. Really spinned nicely after the bypass.

 

[Lennie]

Is it important to use a filter if any kind when whirlpooling? I will be use a pump with a plate chiller and an curious if a filter is needed on the draw tube.

You might try a copper scrubbie for a little flitration. Though I haven't used a plate chiller so I don't know if its necessary.

 

[Tomtanner]

You might try a copper scrubbie for a little flitration. Though I haven't used a plate chiller so I don't know if its necessary.

Not sure I know what that is. Can you elaborate a bit?

 

[TANSTAAFB]

Does anyone have any advice in the ideal height for installing the whirlpool in a keggle? riored used an existing hole at around the top of the wort level in a 5 gal batch and TheOnionKnight looks like it is installed much lower but is also using a flat bottomed kettle. I just ordered a pump and fittings from Bobby and I plan to try building my pick up and whirlpool fittings out of copper tubing attached to kettle valves for right now. If I have major performance issues I will replace them with bulkheads, full port valves, and bargainfittings whirlpool and side pick up, but I still need to know where to drill my whirlpool hole. Thanks for all the info BTW, this was a lot of help in visualizing my set up!

 

[Trenton-BrewPimp]

Here are pics of my HLT and Boil Kettle. The HLT has a high mounted whirlpool fitting. I had the same setup in my Boil kettle but found that there was a lot of aeration of the wort.

I switched to a long tube (to the bottom of the kettle) for whirlpooling in my boil kettle . It works well for 10gal batches and 5 gal batches.

 

[mo_feezy]

This is how I set mine up. I've only used it once for a 12 gallon batch and it worked perfectly. I have a camlock that the silicone runs to so that I can easily swap out different lengths of tubing, or other types of fittings if necessary.

After the first brew I don't have any reason to change anything. I will do a smaller batch next time and will see if the hose solution still gets the whirlpool going.

The port is up pretty high.

 

[TANSTAAFB]

Thanks for the input. Here are my whirlpool and diptube installed. I used Kettlevalves and 1/2" hard copper. There might be a little bit of flow restriction because the valves aren't full port, but I'm pretty happy with it! I'll update when my pump and camlocks come in this week.

 

[paulfg]

I notice that in the pictures of the boil kettles they seem to be gas fired.Does whirlpooling work with an element in the bottom of your kettle.I have only ever tried it with a concealed element kettle but have now built a bigger kettle with a camco element in it .I dont want to cut holes in the pot only to find out it wont work
thanks in advance Paul

 

[tjBrewer]

My setup seems very similar to most. When used with an IC it really knocks the temps down fast. Like others have said, letting it sit for a while gives some pretty clear wort into the primary. I just disconnect the return and pump it right into the carboy.

 

[TANSTAAFB]

Here is the whirlpool hooked up. It worked perfectly!



And connected to the MLT. I think this will work to fill, recirculate, and pump to the kettle as long as the valve is throttled down so I don't compact the grain bed too much.







Ultimately I plan to build a shelf out of unistrut that will replace the bottom shelf on the scaffolding so I can install a burner and permanently mount the pump and switch on the bottom tier. The existing shelf will move up for the HLT and workspace.

 

[TANSTAAFB]

Damn pics won't rotate in my phone....