Professional whirlpooling

[Toecutter]

Glad I found this thread. I currently use a 1/2" ring made out of copper tubeing that tee's into my keggle drain. The ring has slits cut in the bottom (like my mash tun manifold) around it's parameter, and rides about 1/2" from the keggle wall as it hugs the bottom. I have had no problems to speak of with the ring clogging, But I also use a hop spider/paint strainer bag to keep much of the pelllet hops out of the keggle. I think I will adapt this whirlpool techique to my process.

Now to get out the drill, and online to Bargain Fittings

 

[pilzner]

Great Post

I see one problem with the set up of having the single inlet 1/3 from the bottom. The cold return from the chiller will be pumped into the bottom of the keg. That will make the cooling efficiency far from optimal. It would be best to have cold wort return to the top and the hot wort leave from the bottom.

My suggestion is to have two inlets to the pot/keggle. One at the top and one a 1/3 from bottom. both are connected from the outside of the keggle with a valve on the top one to control flow.

All you need to do is open or close the valve to allow flow to focus on both inlets or just on the bottom inlet (I would expect when fully open the flow would focus on top inlet).

I believe this should allow for optimal cooling flow and whirlpooling.

What do you guys think?

 

[pcollins]

I understand what you're trying to do but with two inlets being fed from the same pump the flow is going to default to the lower inlet regardless of the setting of the valve on the top inlet. You may have a different result with the valve on the lower inlet but then it might affect the effectiveness of the whirlpool.

 

[pilzner]

I would have thought that the volume of wort in the keg would make the path of least resistance at the top valve.

Damn laws of physics.

That said, if the valve is at the bottom, then why do you say the whirlpool would be affected?

If it is fully open then it would not flow from top right?

 

[pcollins]

I was thinking that if the valve was at the bottom and not fully open you might have flow to both inlets but you may not have enough flow to create a good whirlpool. With the valve at the bottom and fully open and wort flowing only through the lower inlet you would have enough flow to create a good whirlpool.

I'm happy to be proven wrong. LOL

 

[pilzner]

Got ya.

My thought was that I would partially close the valve during the cooling process and then fully open for whirlpool at the end.

I'll keep you posted

 

[oregonparamedic]

I whirlpool 10 gallon batches with a side pick up and whirlpool fittings from bargain fittings and a chugger pump with no problems. Temp changes while chilling through a plate chiller and whirlpooling are less than 2° between the top and bottom. My fittings are both at the bottom and everything (except the dip tubes) are 1/2". I love the setup!

 

[Toecutter]

I whirlpool 10 gallon batches with a side pick up and whirlpool fittings from bargain fittings and a chugger pump with no problems. Temp changes while chilling through a plate chiller and whirlpooling are less than 2° between the top and bottom. My fittings are both at the bottom and everything (except the dip tubes) are 1/2". I love the setup!

Do you ever find that your Chugger pump locks up/stalls at the higher temps ?? Mine seems to do that frequently, and I have to shut it down to cool off.

 

[oregonparamedic]

No problems with the chugger. I get the occasional bubble which is fixed by either squeezing the hose (heehee) or turning the pump off and back on. I have the pump plugged into a wireless remote so it's as hard as locking your car with a key fob.

 

[pilzner]

Oregon, do you think your system cools as fast as having the pump return at a higher point in the keggle, or is the whirlpool dynamic creating a good enough movement throughout the kettle?

There is a good explanation of how a whirlpool moves fluid at:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Whirlpooling

Also, is there any point to whirlpool throughout the entire boil process?
Would it help hop efficiency?

 

[oregonparamedic]

I haven't noticed a difference in chilling with the whirlpool and bottom connections vs chilling with out (out the bottom and back in the top). I've chilled with both methods with 60f tap water and both took around 15 minutes or so. I haven't whirlpooled through the whole boil and I'm not sure it would do much. I get a gentle spin with 10 gallons with a small dip in the center vs a deep vortex on 5 gallon batches. I also use a hop spider so I suppose it might get the wort circulating a little more than just with a rolling boil. I did whirlpool recently during the boil when I added 2 lbs of liquid Belgian candi syrup to help mix it up. Between the recirc and stirring with a spoon I had no scorching at all.

 

[oregonparamedic]

Here's a pic of my tubes for reference.