Hop Whirlpooling - Can Someone Explain?

[ultravista]

Can someone explain the pro/con and process of hop whirlpooling?

A few recipes call for flame-out hop additions, I assume this would benefit from whirlpooling for a few minutes?

[luvs_simcoe]

Whirlpooling is straightforward. Cut the flame, stir the shit out of it, and let it stand for 5 to 30 minutes. One con is that it adds some time to your brew day.

You will get some utilization (bitterness) from it but I also find it extracts some flavor while keeping most of the aroma of flameout hops. I find that on my system, which has a kettle that is taller than it is wide, a 15 minute whirlpool with hop bags imparts about as much bitterness as a 5 minute addition using the Tinseth formula. For a more detailed explanation of the bitterness aspect, search for threads by me.

I've recently started skipping the hop bags for my late hops. None of those beers are ready yet, so I can't comment on hop bag impact there.

[ultravista]

Are there any benefits to a longer rest, say 60 vs. 30?

Will more aroma/flavor impart with a longer rest? I wonder what the point of diminishing return is.

[luvs_simcoe]

I don't think you get "more" aroma from whirlpooling. There's definitely a flavor contribution. I'm sure there'd be a loss of aroma at some point, but I've never gone past 30 minutes. One thing to take into account is the temp. If you let it get too cold, you'll enter the bacteria zone.

[Rictanica]

I dont mean to jack this thread, but does anybody know if there is a soft spot between dms formation temp when using pils malt, and pastuerizing temp for hot whirlpool additions of hops?

[telejunkie]

I dont mean to jack this thread, but does anybody know if there is a soft spot between dms formation temp when using pils malt, and pastuerizing temp for hot whirlpool additions of hops?

If you've done a proper boil, all DMS pre-cursors should have been driven off already.

Study I've seen was conducted by Rock Bottom...they compared short whirlpool vs. long whirlpool vs. just dry hopping alone. Long whirlpool plus dry hopping had the most hop depth, but they were all within close range of one another. You can find it online, I'm pretty sure on the AHA's website in their NHC material...it was a slide show either by Van or Randy Mosher iirc. My personal sweetspot is about 30mins for an IPA/DIPA although I've gone longer for DIPAs. Fwiw, Stone whirlpools for like 100mins...again iirc.

[scotchpine]

Those of you who do this manually and use a regular IC, do you wait till after the whirlpool is done to put the IC in the kettle? I'm thinking about getting a pump and a whirlpool chiller, but just wondered in the mean time. Also, if your dip tube picks up from the side, would you still need a screen on it if you are whirlpooling and can you then freeball your hop additions in when doing this?

[mthhurley]

Those of you who do this manually and use a regular IC, do you wait till after the whirlpool is done to put the IC in the kettle? I'm thinking about getting a pump and a whirlpool chiller, but just wondered in the mean time. Also, if your dip tube picks up from the side, would you still need a screen on it if you are whirlpooling and can you then freeball your hop additions in when doing this?

I put my IC in as normal towards the end of the boil to sterilize it. I use a sterilized pump and tubing stuck between the chiller coils to whirlpool. About 20 minutes into the whirlpool, I turn the water on to chill and leave the pump going. I chilled my 5 gallon batch with this ghetto Jamil chiller in around 5 to 10 minutes.