Whirlpool in Electric Kettle?

[Tiber_Brew]

Tiber are you using a march pump?

Yes. My rig has two March pumps, which I use for whirlpool for the BK, and CIP (of MLT) during last minutes of boil.

No problems, except sometimes you gotta persuade the pumps to get a good prime if you have some foam in the lines.

TB

 

[KaceMN]

For those of you who whirlpool and chill simultaneously via counterflow chiller and march pump...what is the diameter of the beer line of your CFC? I have a 3/8" OD CFC and am wondering if it will restrict the whirlpool to a point where it is too weak to leave a proper trub pile. I brew 5 gallon batches, primarily. Any thoughts?

 

[Tiber_Brew]

For those of you who whirlpool and chill simultaneously via counterflow chiller and march pump...what is the diameter of the beer line of your CFC? I have a 3/8" OD CFC and am wondering if it will restrict the whirlpool to a point where it is too weak to leave a proper trub pile. I brew 5 gallon batches, primarily. Any thoughts?

I don't chill while recirculating, but I do recirculate through my 3/8 OD CFC during the last few minutes of boil (to sanitize), then turn the heat off and keep the circulation going for a whirlpool. It does restrict the flow a little bit, but there's still enough to get a whirlpool going on an 11 gal batch if your return port is at a tangent. I just run the whirlpool for 10 or so minutes and most of the trub collects in the center.

Hope this helps.
TB

 

[ColdJazz]

I've been thinking about using a Whirlpool which is separated from the outlet to the plate chiller. The Whirlpool will in this way be a "separate" system. This means that I won't re-circulate the wort to the kettle for even more effective chilling – but rather keep the whirlpool going as I drain the wort to the plate chiller.

I think this will create a pile of undisturbed trub in the middle of the kettle – even if I'm using a heating element which might have negative effect on a "normal" Whirlpool (well, at least that's what I hope for). As long as the Whirlpool is on, the sediments should stay in the middle.

The above system is of course more expensive since you need a separate pump.

/Anton

 

[beluedog]

We use a march pump to whirlpool. works great

 

[caligula455]

It sounds like you are planning to be actively whirlpool ing the whole time you are draining to your plate chiller which I think would defeat the purpose.

I'm sure someone with more experience will chime in, but my understanding was that the real effect of whirlpooling for separating trub really only happened as you let it settle afterwords.

Active whirlpooling during chilling is more of a strategy for immersion chillers to keep the wort flowing over the coils.

Would be curious to se what happens if you try it.

 

[Tiber_Brew]

my understanding was that the real effect of whirlpooling for separating trub really only happened as you let it settle afterwords

You would be correct. It varies, but for my setup, it takes roughly 10-15 minutes to settle to my satisfaction post whirlpool.

 

[srice]

sub'd

 

[ColdJazz]

I’m aware of the fact that most people let their whirlpool rest for approximately 15 minutes.

But after watching how solid material acted in a tea cup when stirring it I got the idea of using the Whirlpool as an “inverted” centrifuge (not sure what to call it really).

As long as the whirlpool is activated (and keeps a certain speed of course) solid material should be focused to the middle of the kettle (I guess you would have to let it run for a few minutes first). And as long as the solid material is focused to the middle of the kettle – you should be able to drain clear wort to the plate chiller.

/Anton

 

[heckels]

I’m aware of the fact that most people let their whirlpool rest for approximately 15 minutes. But after watching how solid material acted in a tea cup when stirring it I got the idea of using the Whirlpool as an “inverted” centrifuge (not sure what to call it really). As long as the whirlpool is activated (and keeps a certain speed of course) solid material should be focused to the middle of the kettle (I guess you would have to let it run for a few minutes first). And as long as the solid material is focused to the middle of the kettle – you should be able to drain clear wort to the plate chiller. /Anton

Have you whirlpooled before? If so, you'd see that all of the junk you're trying to collect in the center of the kettle is in suspension. That is why the rest is needed.

Without doing a rest, you'll be putting just as much in your fermenter if you hadn't whirlpooled at all. Maybe even a little more since without a whirlpool the proteins and hop bits have a chance to settle a little.

 

[jeffmeh]

have you whirlpooled before? If so, you'd see that all of the junk you're trying to collect in the center of the kettle is in suspension. That is why the rest is needed.

Without doing a rest, you'll be putting just as much in your fermenter if you hadn't whirlpooled at all. Maybe even a little more since without a whirlpool the proteins and hop bits have a chance to settle a little.

+1

 

[ColdJazz]

Have you whirlpooled before? If so, you'd see that all of the junk you're trying to collect in the center of the kettle is in suspension.

I've whirlpooled. But I've never been able to see how the solids behave during the whirlpool, due to the fact that the wort is too dark (even when the wort is pretty light in color it’s hard to see).

I’ve just seen the result after the whirlpool – but that doesn’t give me much information how the solids behave during the whirlpool.

The solids would be in suspension, like you say. But as long as the solids are centrifuged to the middle (like when you stir a tea cup) it should be fine?

Of course you can’t have the whirlpool going until the whole amount of wort has been drained, you would have to stop the whirlpool before the kettle is empty.

I really appreciated all of your inputs! All these thoughts I have are just that - thoughts and ideas.

/Anton