Whirlpooling best practices

[stephelton]

I'm doing a whirpool through a counterflow chiller at the end of a boil. Chilling time was great. But now that I've left the pump running for about an hour (water has been shut off I'm seeing a large foam form at top. There's a pretty strong whirlpool, but about 95% of the surface of my wort is covered in a foam.

So I'd like a good introduction to the world of whirlpooling.

Thanks!

 

[Yesfan]

How long did you whirlpool? I did a batch at my cousin's last week, and experienced the same thing. Mine may have been too long of a whirlpool as I got distracted by the neighbors. I've read here 10-15 minutes, but I easily doubled that.

 

[DubBrew]

I drop my 0 minute hops in a whirlpool for 30+ minutes all the time followed by the chill time of roughly 10 minutes. No foam on top but I don't have a really fast whirlpool.

 

[Yesfan]

Another thing I remembered from that last brew session.....I had the ball valve all the way open when I was whirlpooling. Maybe choking back on the valve will reduce the foaming?

 

[stephelton]

I left the boil sitting for many hours after posting this... some friends came over and I was distracted One of the nice things about whirlpooling is that the wort is covered the entire time, so I can [probably] get away with this. Not that I should...

Anyway, by the time I got back to the wort, the foam had settled and there was a fairly thick layer of crap on top. Perhaps that was the cold break that I was hoping to see.

This being my second attempt at whirlpooling, I'm inclined to say that the 15-30 minutes I did the first time was very inadequate.

I think the idea is to continue pumping/stirring until any changes in the wort (namely the cold break) have taken place. Anyone have any idea how long this typically takes? This last batch (5 gal) I cooled to 65 in 8 minutes...

 

[stephelton]

I drop my 0 minute hops in a whirlpool for 30+ minutes all the time followed by the chill time of roughly 10 minutes. No foam on top but I don't have a really fast whirlpool.

This sounds like you turn the flame out, whirlpool for 30 minutes (with your aroma hops) and then chill. Am I interpreting that correctly?

 

[maida7]

This sounds like you turn the flame out, whirlpool for 30 minutes (with your aroma hops) and then chill. Am I interpreting that correctly?

That's one way to do it...

I turn the flame out, start chilling and whirlpooling immediately. Once it's chilled to the proper temp, I stop the whirlpool and give everything time to settle. Maybe 20 mins to settle then transfer to the fermenter.

 

[babski]

I've never whirl pooled but plan on starting when I do my next batch how are you doing it exactly? Are you stirring by hand? I was going to use a large paint stirrer on a cordless drill.

 

[maida7]

I've never whirl pooled but plan on starting when I do my next batch how are you doing it exactly? Are you stirring by hand? I was going to use a large paint stirrer on a cordless drill.

I use a pump. But why whirlpool? What are you trying to achieve? For me it maximizes the cooling effects of my immersion chiller.

 

[atreid]

All of you guys who whirlpool with a pump:

What do you have at the bottom of your kettle? I have a bazooka screen and it gets fairly clogged pretty fast even though I use mesh bags for hops. Maybe not clogged but enough to mess with pump flow.

I soldered a nice copper whirlpool arm for my next brew and I'm thinking I should remove the screen entirely to maximize flow. Am I right to think I won't clog my Chugger inline pump as long as I keep using mesh bags for hops?

I soldered a 1/2" to 1/4" reduction at the outlet of the whirlpool arm. I'm thinking it will reduce total flow a little bit but will higher fluid speed which I hope will make whirlpooling easier.

 

[maida7]

All of you guys who whirlpool with a pump:

What do you have at the bottom of your kettle? I have a bazooka screen and it gets fairly clogged pretty fast even though I use mesh bags for hops. Maybe not clogged but enough to mess with pump flow.

I soldered a nice copper whirlpool arm for my next brew and I'm thinking I should remove the screen entirely to maximize flow. Am I right to think I won't clog my Chugger inline pump as long as I keep using mesh bags for hops?

I soldered a 1/2" to 1/4" reduction at the outlet of the whirlpool arm. I'm thinking it will reduce total flow a little bit but will higher fluid speed which I hope will make whirlpooling easier.

I don't have anything to filter out hops. I don't use a hop bag. I use all pellet hops in the kettle. I whirlpool with a pump and have never had it clog.

I squeezed the copper end of the whirlpool arm to make it spray harder. That really increased the whirlpool speed. Kinda like a jet nozzle on a hose.

 

[atreid]

I don't have anything to filter out hops. I don't use a hop bag. I use all pellet hops in the kettle. I whirlpool with a pump and have never had it clog.

I squeezed the copper end of the whirlpool arm to make it spray harder. That really increased the whirlpool speed. Kinda like a jet nozzle on a hose.

OK so using hop bags I should definitely NOT have any problems.... Thx.

About your nozzle, what would be the "equivalent diameter" outlet hole at which you squeezed it? just to give me a basic reference. I reduced it at 1/4 but maybe I could have reduced it more... Don't want to reduce too much because it's going to slow down cooling since the flow passes through my plate exchanger then pump then whirlpool arm....

 

[maida7]

OK so using hop bags I should definitely NOT have any problems.... Thx.

About your nozzle, what would be the "equivalent diameter" outlet hole at which you squeezed it? just to give me a basic reference. I reduced it at 1/4 but maybe I could have reduced it more... Don't want to reduce too much because it's going to slow down cooling since the flow passes through my plate exchanger then pump then whirlpool arm....

It's a 3/8" soft copper tube and I just pinched the end with pliers. You may need to do some trial and error to get yours right. If you are using the plate chiller, why do you whirlpool? I don't have any experience with plate chillers. My hops have never gotten clogged in the pump (chugger inline) but I don't know what would happen to the plate chiller.

 

[cadwallion]

It's a 3/8" soft copper tube and I just pinched the end with pliers. You may need to do some trial and error to get yours right. If you are using the plate chiller, why do you whirlpool? I don't have any experience with plate chillers. My hops have never gotten clogged in the pump (chugger inline) but I don't know what would happen to the plate chiller.

I whirlpool with a pump and use a plate chiller. I whirlpool to let the proteins, trub, and residual hop particulates that aren't caught by my hop spider settle in the center so I can siphon as little through my chiller and ultimately into my conicals as possible. If you use whirlfloc or irish moss it's a great way to keep it out of your fermenters once it has done its job. I don't use either, but I use a lot of non-hop boil additions and whirlpooling helps clump it up as well.

 

[riored4v]

I whirlpool with a pump and use a plate chiller. I whirlpool to let the proteins, trub, and residual hop particulates that aren't caught by my hop spider settle in the center so I can siphon as little through my chiller and ultimately into my conicals as possible. If you use whirlfloc or irish moss it's a great way to keep it out of your fermenters once it has done its job. I don't use either, but I use a lot of non-hop boil additions and whirlpooling helps clump it up as well.

Do you use any sort of bags or anything for your hops? I whirlpool and have a plate chiller as well, but haven't been using bags and my chiller get clogged pretty often. Getting ready to pickup the hop spider from Stainless Brewing to hopefully resolve this.

 

[cadwallion]

Do you use any sort of bags or anything for your hops? I whirlpool and have a plate chiller as well, but haven't been using bags and my chiller get clogged pretty often. Getting ready to pickup the hop spider from Stainless Brewing to hopefully resolve this.

I have an SS hop spider from Stainless Brewing and it works very well.

 

[riored4v]

I have an SS hop spider from Stainless Brewing and it works very well.

Awesome to hear:rockin:

 

[atreid]

Do you use any sort of bags or anything for your hops? I whirlpool and have a plate chiller as well, but haven't been using bags and my chiller get clogged pretty often. Getting ready to pickup the hop spider from Stainless Brewing to hopefully resolve this.

Not saying you shouldn't eventually get the SS spider, but in the meantime, definitely get some cheap fine mesh bags. It's so cheap and useful there's no good reason not to. Just don't put too much hops in each bag to prevent hurting hop utilization...

 

[riored4v]

Not saying you shouldn't eventually get the SS spider, but in the meantime, definitely get some cheap fine mesh bags. It's so cheap and useful there's no good reason not to. Just don't put too much hops in each bag to prevent hurting hop utilization...

I initially went the route of whirlpooling to try and eliminate bags, but after so many clogging issues, I've given up on that idea. I'll likely order the SS spider today, but I think my pickup tube might be in the way if I go with the 8" version. Thinking of just trimming down the pick up tube to make it work.