In my continued quest for knowledge and looking at AHA for some recipes, I have found that most seem to whirlpool at some point in the process. Couple of things have come to mind. Can I do this simply with my big ole spoon? If my kettle, new to me, has both a false bottom and a bazooka screen do I still need to do that? Is simply stirring the chilled wort OK to do? I have been looking at some cool APA beers on the website and most add hops at the whirlpool. Having never done this, I thought I would see what the group thinks about it. Any input or tips on this would be awesome. Thanks. RR
If you have a false bottom and pull your wort out of the kettle at the center, like I do, then you can’t whirlpool since whirlpooling brings all of the hops and trub to the center of the kettle. When I add whirlpool hops, I just put them into a bag and throw them into the kettle and steep them for 10-15 minutes. With your system should also put them in a bag so they won’t clog up the bazooka that you are using. If you use hope cones, just throw them into the kettle and you will be fine. My Amarillo IPA has both cones and pellets and the cones provide an adequate filter to keep a majority of pellet debris out of my plate chiller.
I also have a SS inline screen that captures any wayward pellets pieces before the wort enters the plate chiller.
Awesome. Thanks. Do you have a recipe for the IPA?
I did whirlpool for years, but I no longer do. I found it a hassle and I get the same or better from dry hopping.
This was my experience based on how I was doing it.
Do you use Beer Smith? If so, PM me with your email address and I will send you the file. If not I will have to look it up and can post it here later.
I do a whirlpool to chill so I figure since I am doing it anyway I might as well throw some hops in.
I do a whirlpool with a mash paddle and then chill the wort by recirculating in the same direction that the wort spins. I don’t usually add hops. I do it to compact the trub into the center of the boil kettle because I run off the cooled wort from the side/edge of the kettle.
Understandable. I found it more trouble than it was worth to me to hit and hold a temp for whirlpooling. I went back to simply dry hopping and doing late boil additions and got more of the hop character I wanted with less effort.
Sorry if I am being stupid, so what you are saying is I can take the whirlpool hops and just add them as dry hops instead? Or just add them into the pot boil wort and just steep them? I am thinking of an American Pale and they have both whirlpool hops and dry hops.
I am sorry, I don’t. It’s ok. All good. RR
There have been ‘citizen science’ experiments where people who were blindly served whirlpool hopped beer and dry hopped beer could not tell the difference between the two. Who knows the value of the exbeeriment but it is a data point.
A lot of brewers don’t want to open the fermenter or keg so they whirlpool hop. Some sit at a specific temperature to whirlpool hop. I wait until the wort is at ~140°F add the hops but keep cooling. I like the results I get this way.
When I dry hop, I prefer to dry hop in the fermenter during active fermentation so active yeast can consume any O2 I inadvertently introduce.
Others prefer to dry hop after fermentation is complete and the beer is cold citing better results.
So, if it’s more convenient to dry hop then dry hop. If it’s more convenient to whirlpool hop then whirlpool hop.
See what you like best.
That’s what I’d do. Or split them between 3 min. boil and dry hop. There is no single correct way. Make a choice and see what happens.