Whirlpooling and Proteins

[Heycock]

I've been getting A LOT of proteins in my AG batches. I've been using 2 row, American and English Pale.

My first question is quick, will a protein rest help with this, even in highly modified grains?

Second... Is whirlpooling worth it? Do you notice a difference in taste? I'm guessing there might be one in clarity??? Is there anything you have to do differently between using a siphon and a pot with a valve?

Right now I just filter through a strainer, using a hop bed to filter out anything smaller after cooling.

[brewmonkey]

A rest might help but I would suggest looking at either adding or changing your kettle finings and yes a whirlpool is worth doing.

[DreamWeaver]

Like Brewmonkey said...

1. About the protein rest for highly modified 2 row base malt, I've seen other info on this and it does'nt seem to help much but doesn't hurt either.

2. I boil in a converted keg so whirlpooling seems to help keep the trub out of the fermenter when draining, by leaving it in the bottom dip of the kettle. I have a ball valve for draining but a siphon would work too.

3. Just before the wort comes to a boil you will notice some foamy looking protein stuff on top. I skim that off and it seems to help. Don't forget, a good hot break and then fast cooling, with the addition of Irish Moss will knock the protein down also.


Good Luck!

[BucksBrew]

What are you guys talking about?

What is whirlpooling?

I bring my wort to a boil, but prior to an active boil I skim the foam off unti I get a controlled boil.

Someone said somewhere that when you boil a chicken for soup, you get all that funky foam on top. You should skim that off with the same mindset as in brewing.

I usually siphon everything into my fermenter and try to get it into a secondary as soon as possible.

I do add Irish Moss in the last 15 mins. of my boil.

I also cool my wort asap, usually 20 minutes or less.

[DreamWeaver]

Basically whirlpooling is a fancy schmancy brewing term for gently stirring the wort in one direction during or after cooling so that all or most of the trub will settle in a neat little pile in the middle of the brewpot so you can drain or siphon the wort and leave most of the trub behind and not in the fermenter.

[fretlessman71]

This sounds like something I would really get into except for the fact that I would sit there and try to change the direction of the whirlpool to see if the myth is true about water swirling down the drain in a clockwise motion above the equator but it would probably switch back to the original not long after I got it to change just like the water in my tub did when I was little so I would waste hot water by refilling the tub with the drain plug pulled just so I could keep doing this experiment and I would go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on just like my sentence.

;)

[I'mRocketMan]

^^^a run-on sentance??? :D

[fretlessman71]

Just run on, Rocket Man, or I'll sentance you to 30 deys of por speling. ;)

[denver brewhoo]

in my old set up with a Bazooka T, I found that whirlpooloing did an excellent job of concentrating all the trub and impenetrable pellet hop residue in a nice neat cone right on top of my bazooka T.

LOL! Just kidding! Actually about an inch and a half of my bazooka-T, on each side, was not covered by the hop/trub pile. And I guess it's not really impenetrable, 'cause I never had trouble draining the kettle. But still, it always seemed kind of stupid to do something that LOOKED like it was blocking the exit line from the kettle...... Now that I have a Wort-Hog it seems to make more sense.