Beer Forum

just relistened to the calico amber show and am wondering about brewers referring to whirlpool hop additions. i don't know all the ins and outs of a professional whirlpool, but with the jamil style whirlpool chilla, we homebrewers can do one, so it'd be nice to know the details - are they whirlpooling (and adding these hops) before the flame is out; at flameout; are they leaving the wort whirlpooling hot with no flame for some period of time or chilling right away? is 'in the whirlpool' a standard process or does it vary by brewer and system?

i've been doing 0 minute additions at flameout with the whirlpool already going and starting my cooling water immediately. since the jamil style chiller cools so fast, i wonder if i'm missing out late-hop-wise on what another brewer might be getting with the wort staying hotter longer.

i supposed if jamil and tasty keep getting 'cloned' results it dosen't really matter. i'm just a beer nerd and need to know these things...

Good question. I do what you do, but I wonder how it differs from the pros.

When I say I add hops at flameout, I mean I'm throwing in the hops and reaching to turn off the gas in the same motion. I'll then stir vigorously for 30 seconds and let the kettle sit for 10 minutes (BTW, I always boil 90 minutes) before starting my counterflow chiller (Therminator). It takes me about 15-20 minutes to cool 11.5 gallons of wort to 68-75F (time and temp based on the temperature of my ground water...I never use ice but often pitch the next morning, especially this time of year).

I recently brewed at Russian River and I added the hops at flameout ("steam off" for them. They laughed when I used the term flameout.) They always whirpool for 10 and rest for 10 so I went with that program in case they ever re-brew the beer or one like it

Sometimes if my post-boil gravity is going to be a little higher than anticipated, I'll add the flameout hops at 1 minute.

Jamil cools differently.

Tasty

thanks tasty - nice to hear from the heavyweights

so with the 90 minute boil, it's not a huge deal DMSwise to let the wort sit for 10 minutes at basically boiling temp, after the flame is off.

i'd be interested to hear how jamil or other whirlpoolers deal with time between flameout and starting the chiller.

0 minute hop additions for me include throwing in the hops, kicking off the flame, and immediately starting the hosewater for chilling. I don't wait 10 minutes like Tasty does. After reading JZ's writeup on SMM -> DMS I really want to get my wort below 140 as fast as I can after the I turn the flame off.


Mylo

Mylo wrote:0 minute hop additions for me include throwing in the hops, kicking off the flame, and immediately starting the hosewater for chilling. I don't wait 10 minutes like Tasty does. After reading JZ's writeup on SMM -> DMS I really want to get my wort below 140 as fast as I can after the I turn the flame off.


Mylo

I'm a late hop addition enthusiast so until I have a DMS issue, I'm sticking with the 90 minute boil, 10 minute "mega-flavor-extraction-rest", and room temperature 20 minutes or less later.

Tasty

Pitch the next day.... Hmm. So throw it in the ferment fridge (or temp controlled conical) and get it below target pitching temp, then toss in the yeast.

I can not immersion cool wort much below 75 with my tap water year round (unless I rig up an ice bath pre-chiller at the end of cool down) and thought I was risking it by waiting maybe an hour or two to pitch, but will try the morning after if that makes for happier ferments and my sanitation is under control.

Just read in the recent "The New Brewer" that one midwest brewpub (Granite City Brewing) boils their wort in a central location, then trucks it to one of it's 26 restaurant in 11 different states and ferments it on location - trucking sugar water is much simpler for them in a regulatory sense than fermented beer to their restaurant chain. Never heard of them before, so not sure how the beer is, but it sounds like I can get over my fear of immediate contanimation and allow the wort to cool some more before pitching.

Since the beginning of summer, I do it the same as Tasty.....after cooling the wort to ground water temps, place my carboys, tops covered with foil, in my ferment fridge til the morning, this usually gets the temps down the final 5-10 degrees I need to pitch, sometimes morning, sometimes afternoon, but very rarely the same day......at least until winter gets here.