Is It Pointless To Setup Whirlpooling With Center Diptube

[hafmpty]

I have a Sabco keggle with a diptube that comes out of the side and drops down to the center of the keggle. Here's a picture of what it looks like:

I also have an inlet at the top of the keggle that I'm going to use for whirlpooling to chill my wort faster. I'll pull wort out through the drain spigot, through the pump and then back in through the top inlet. Here's an image of my kettle. You can see the two spigots:

It'll be setup to work like the Jamil/Mr. Malty chiller, but rather than having a chiller with the recirculation tube attached, the keggle will have the recirculation tube attached to it.

As I mentioned before, my main reason for recirculating will be to get the wort cooled faster. However, the centrifugal force of the whirlpool will allow me to let the hot break, cold break, and hop sludge settle to the bottom in a nice cone. The only problem is that my diptube is right there in the center of the sludge.

Am I stuck? Is there anything I can do so I can have my cake and eat it to? Recirculate and whirlpool to cool the wort faster AND whirlpool to keep all the sludge from primary? Are there people who whirlpool and remove the sludge FIRST rather than LAST?

 

[day_trippr]

Didn't notice the FB sitting there. You could rework it so you could use a side pickup dip tube...

Cheers!

 

[brewmasterorr]

Do you use whole hops? I would think the false bottem with whole hope would filter everything while you are whirlpooling. If you don't want to use whole hops then you would have to do a side pickup but then you would end up leaving some wort behind. I had mine on the side but I now try to use whole hops exclusively with a center pick up.

 

[hafmpty]

I use whole when I can get them, but most often pellets are what's available. Seems that a lot of the manufacturers are going to that form on a lot of their products. To answer your question though, yes...when I use whole hops the the false bottom catches everything. I use a hop bag most of the time so in reality it is the hot and cold break I'm trying to catch. Is it possible?

 

[tektonjp]

I guess maybe two dipsticks? Whole hops: false bottom, center dipstick, whirlpool for chilling. Pellets: no FB, side dip stick, whirlpool for chill and gunk. Other than this, I can't see what else. I don't think you can have it all. But I know plenty of guys who make fine beer without putting absolutely pure wort into the fermenter. It all settles out.

 

[hafmpty]

That's not a bad idea tektonjp. Since the dipstick is triclamp, I could get a second dipstick. Never thought of that. And that ladies and gentlemen is why I love HBT. Other ideas welcome, but I'm definitely going to consider that.