IME this is particularly useful if you get your bitterness dialed in with your boil additions. Below 180F really lets you concentrate on aroma and flavor contribution.
If you’ve got a plate chiller, just circulate the hot wort through until the kettle is <180F, then cut the cooling , add hops, and start the whirlpool. Let stand 20-30 min or as long as it takes you to get the fermenter ready, then cool-in as usual.
This process mirrors a professional brewery. I only use the “Hop Stand” because I use an immersion chiller and have to whirlpool after cooling.
I’ve gone away from the typical knockout addition and use that portion of the charge in the Hop Stand.
I have a counterflow chiller set up where the wort drains (gravity, no pumps) from the kettle, to the CFC, then straight into the fermenter. Either way, the kettle I use is pretty wide (18-20" diameter), so I should get at least some heat loss if I decide that the IC is too much of a pain in my new apartment.
I can’t wait to try this. A question that occurs to me: is 180* sufficient to kill airborne spoilers? I’m assuming a lid should be on the kettle during the stand at 180*, but more to the point, at what temperature does the wort transition to ‘the cold side’ and become vulnerable?
As one poster put it, you’ll want to keep the lid on nonetheless because if you can smell the goodness on brewday, it won’t be in the beer on drinking day.