What is the big deal about a Whirlpool?

[houseofcole]

Like most people getting into all grain, I am reading a lot of forums, books etc to get that perfect brew.

A lot of these sites tend to be US centric and everyone over there talks about "Whirlpools". On UK forum's no one ever mentions it.

I understand why people do it, but I have found so far that my bazooka type filter does a fine job in stopping the trub leaving my kettle, especially as I use a lot of Hops that helps to filter out the finer material.

Am I missing something... What is the big deal about a Whirlpool?

 

[drakey182]

I'm on my 4th AG brew and after a free brew day I was told whirlpooling was to have all the trub ends up more central and no filter is needed but tbh I added a filter and works 100 times better. I don't whirlpool since my poor first AG.

 

[Covrich]

Not everyone will have a tap and strainer on..and a lot of people still cook on their hob with a large pot.

The idea is to create a vigurous whirlpool at the start of the cool down (preferably cooling down with a chiller) this creates a cone of trub in the pot allowing you to siphon from the wall of the pot leaving a cone shape trub in the pot.

Whether there is any benefit from doing this with a ball vavle and bazooka I don't know.. I was planning on trying on my next brew which is hopefully this weekend

 

[Mickeywheelspin]

Whether there is any benefit from doing this with a ball vavle and bazooka I don't know.. I was planning on trying on my next brew which is hopefully this weekend

I don't think it'll work - the bazooka will disturb the vortex and you wont get a cone of debris.

As others have said, its just a technique to gather all the debris in the centre and make syphoning off easier. I don't bother as I have a bazooka.

 

[Covrich]

I don't think it'll work - the bazooka will disturb the vortex and you wont get a cone of debris.

As others have said, its just a technique to gather all the debris in the centre and make syphoning off easier. I don't bother as I have a bazooka.

Well to be honest I agree I didn't think it woudl work.. I also never bothered with my autosyphon either as that thing sucks a bit scary and I am sure it would have just gulped up the cone

 

[clibit]

Whirlpooling is basically a method for removing trub/hops, one of several options. It is also believed to improve hop oil extraction, and some brewers do it despite having a filter, I believe, for this purpose.

 

[rodabod]

For filtering trub at the wort stage, I'm actually beginning to wonder if it might be better transferring to another vessel via a mesh bag. I've tried this successfully; quick and easy.

The only disadvantage is potential oxidisation, but I'm not convinced that this actually happens noticeably.

I use a plate chiller, so want as little solids as possible passing through the chiller.

 

[McMullan]

It's something done by a lot of commercial breweries. I just let my cooled wort settle for a couple of hours. Like rodabod, I'd be concerned about oxidation of the wort at this vulnerable stage of the process. Might explain why my ales taste better than most commercial offerings :lol:

 

[ProjectBeer]

I wouldn't have thought that oxidisation is an issue before pitching the yeast - surely that's a good thing to help aerate the wort before pitching?

Whirlpooling does seem to help if you're siphoning off the wort into the FV, but I still find myself losing a bit of wort volume to the trub towards the end anyway which I guess is unavoidable.

 

[Covrich]

I wouldn't have thought that oxidisation is an issue before pitching the yeast - surely that's a good thing to help aerate the wort before pitching?

Whirlpooling does seem to help if you're siphoning off the wort into the FV, but I still find myself losing a bit of wort volume to the trub towards the end anyway which I guess is unavoidable.

It is one of those things which gets bought up.. Aeration and Oxidising are actually different.

It is said that splashing hot wort can oxidise but many on here will tell you they just transfer and rack off the hot wort into FV for no chill without any issue.

 

[rodabod]

You can avoid introducing oxygen by pouring against the side of the vessel rather than splashing against the bottom.

 

[houseofcole]

Thanks for the discussions - I have been wondering for weeks about this!

 

[MyQul]

It is said that splashing hot wort can oxidise but many on here will tell you they just transfer and rack off the hot wort into FV for no chill without any issue.

This is called hot sided aeration. I'd never heard of it until clibit mentioned it. So of course I did some googling and it from what I could find it seems to be a bit of a myth.

I'm one of those who rack (more a case of chucking it in with a jug) near boling wort into my FV and no chill without issue

 

[ProjectBeer]

What about splashing already cooled wort? I assumed that's what we were talking about when it comes to creating a whirlpool and then transferring via a strainer or mesh bag to help aerate the wort before pitching?

 

[rodabod]

Splashing cooled wort is a good thing as you want to oxygenated before pitching yeast. It's important to get the yeast in soon though as bacteria like oxygen too.

 

[markm1878]

If you're using an immersion chiller, wouldn't whirlpooling cool quicker too?

If you are able to pump the wort round while the chiller is in, it seems to be quite a hands off approach to more efficient cooling.