Aeration

jimboh · Joined: 25 Mar 2017 Posts: 69 Location: Halifax NS

em, showing my ignorance what is the whirlpool effect?

Firebrewmedic43 · Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2017 2:06 am Post subject:

when you recirculate the wort in the pot it moves in a circular direction. trub, hop residue, coagulated proteins move to the center of the pot and deposit on the bottom leaving a trub "cone"..aka the "whirlpool effect" This allows you to drain from the edge of the boil pot leaving most of the trub in the center and taking a cleaner wort to the fermenter. At the simplest. you can take a spoon a vigorously stir your wort creating a whirlpool and then let it settle and achieve the same end.

jimboh · Joined: 25 Mar 2017 Posts: 69 Location: Halifax NS

Thanks for the explanation. Do you know if this is recommended when using the hopstopper as in Kal's design? Or is this something you do regardless of design?

Firebrewmedic43 · Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2017 2:18 am Post subject:

from the pictures of the hop stopper in action, I would say you probably don't need to whirlpool but someone who has one may better answer that question. i use a hop spider which also limits hop residue. However I still whirlpool. its something I've done since i was using a spoon to do it and since my pump sets up a whirlpool on the recirculation return, I'm not really out anything by doing it.

Tungsten · Joined: 06 Dec 2014 Posts: 318 Location: Buffalo, NY

McGruber · Joined: 12 Aug 2014 Posts: 237 Location: Idaho

I updated my chiller set up from earlier in this thread, and so far am very pleased with it. It's very compact and fits in the same space it did before under my brewing table. I wanted to make lagers, but especially in summer I have trouble chilling below 70' F using just cold tap water. I opted to do a two-stage chiller using my existing chiller frame (pictured earlier), and revamped the oxygen delivery system. I talked about doing a Venturi with air, but since I have all the stuff I'm going to continue to work with pure oxygen and just monitor the dosing closer.

The two stage chiller works to take wort down to about 70' F with water, and then the glycol (from my cabinet build) takes it down even further based on how fast I flow wort. I wanted to minimize the cleaning and jamming up of the plate filter, so I installed an inline trub filter to catch cold break and hop material from the WP. (I took the HopStopper out of my Boil Kettle and transfer everything to WP). The oxygen stone section is easily removable for cleaning and sterilization if need be.

The flow goes Whirlpool Out --> WP pump --> CFC (Water) --> Trub/ Cold Break filter --> Plate Chiller (Glycol) --> Thermometer --> Oxygen Stone --> Inline Sight Glass --> Fermenter.

For now I'm calling this set up the ED-209. Note: It doesn't do well on stairs.

Fermentation cabinet build (including glycol set up): http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30544
Brewery Build: http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28523

Item's I used: Tri-clamp fittings, oxygen stone (I think it's a 0.5 micron), 0.1 - 1.5 l/min oxygen flow meter, brass garden hose 90's, garden hose quick disconnects (for glycol and water in/out), 3/8" ID braided vinyl tubing, (2) SS T's, a SS 90, two TC 1.5" 90's, threaded NPT thermometer, sight glass, Kal's recommended CFC chiller, Blichmann Therminator, check valve for O2, garden hose to 3/8" nipples, teflon tape, 3" trub filter, worm clamps. Not pictured, I had to add another brass garden hose 90 to where the nipples are in these pictures because of stress on the tubing once it was pushed back on the table - the nipples were then attached to the 90's.