I tried this technique on my last batch of brew. I made a coffee stout, and wanted to keep the grounds/trub in the center of my BK and from going into the fermenter. It worked fine, but I immediately noticed that the thermometer probe prevented me from getting a good whirlpool action going on. Basically, I couldn’t get my spoon all the way around the pot without snagging the probe which protrudes about 4 inches from the wall to the center of the kettle. Having the immersion chiller in the pot didn’t help matters. I would like to be able to do hop stands in the future, but first need to figure out how to overcome little obstacles such as these. Any input/advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!
That’s one reason I won’t put a thermometer in my boil kettle. The cheapest would be to remove the probe and replace with a plug. In the future I plan to buy a pump and build a whirlpool arm to recirculate. This also will make my immersion chiller more effective.
I am doing this in the mean time.
- remove chiller after boil.
- whirlpool hot and place the lid on to keep heat in.
- once the whirlpool has subsided place the chiller back in. (usually only 5 minutes so it’s still very hot)
I don’t have any problem getting a decent whirlpool going with my brewmometer. You just have to stir and not complete the circle. So basically you are forming a “C” instead of an “O” where you lift the spoon out and place it back in on the other side of the brewmometer. With some practice you can get this going pretty quickly.
Chill the wort with the IC (to form the cold break), remove the IC, then whirlpool and let settle for 15-20 minutes.
Its tough to get good separation when you have cold break in the brew pot. I use a CFC so my cold break ends up in the primary. This is what I am left with for a 22 gallon batch.
Not to hijack thread but Greg it looks like the little elbow you added is a great idea. I brewed 2 batches this weekend and whirlpooled on both but still ended up getting quit a bit of trub in the fermenter.
You don’t need to put the spoon at the outermost area of the kettle to get a good whirlpool going. You can just make small diameter circles near the center. Takes more revolutions to get the wort moving, but it still works fine. Same for just inserting the spoon half-way into the kettle. I’ve got a thermometer probe in place, and it has never stopped me from getting a good whirlpool. I just make sure not to hit it.
Having a IC in the kettle would cause problems. You could either whirlpool either before or after chilling. Getting cold break into the fermentor is no big deal. It isn’t very bulky, and it will all settle out to the bottom without any impact on flavor.
