help understanding whirlpool technique

[awtesta]

i don't think that i correctly understand the procedure for whirlpooling, hopefully everyone here can help me out.

my understanding is that the point of whirlpooling is to get the wort moving around the kettle in a circle so that all the hop material + hot break moves to the center.

Here is my equipment:
blichmann boil kettle
march pump
plate chiller

so here are my questions:
- do i whirlpool at flameout?
- how long should I whirlpool?
- how long should i wait to drain my kettle after whirlpooling?
- when draining my kettle after whirlpooling, won't the material in the middle just get sucked up? should I reduce the flow on my pump output to prevent the material from getting sucked up?
- should I go from kettle -> pump -> chiller -> kettle while whirlpooling so that I'm whirlpooling + chilling?

 

[jekeane]

Whirlpooling is beneficial for a few reasons. One is that you can create a debris cone in the middle of the kettle to reduce sending debris to the kettle. The benefit of that is likely only that you have less fermenter loss if all the true doesn't settle well for some reason. For many people whirl pooling aids in the chilling process in groundwater temps are too high or if they are using an immersion chiller. Another benefit is doing hop stands at various temperatures for various times post boil. This being said:

Whirpooling can begin before flameout to aide in sanitizing pumps etc. But the benefits of WP wouldn't be see until the boil is over.

Time is a matter of what you are trying to do. In order to just get a true cone 10-15 minutes WP followed by a 15-30m rest is probably more than sufficient. If you are doing a hop stand you are usually doing a WP in the 150° range for 30 minutes.

reducing flow can help keep the cone intact. Kettle size matters a lot in my experience. There is no benefit of a WP in my 10g Blichmann I will always wind up sucking up trub. Im my 20g spike kettle a WP cone is left behind.

As for your wort direction what you have listed is what many do. I use an Immersion chiller still and my reason for whirl pooling is for the added chilling power and hop stands. i generally use a hop sock / spider and see no reason to keep what hot break that makes it into the fermenter out.