Beer Brewing Guide - Step 5: Whirlpool & Cooling

Whirlpool

After boiling, the whirlpool is used to remove solid particles, the so-called hot trub. This consists of proteins and other solid particles that flocculate during the boiling of the wort and settle at the bottom of the brewing kettle.

The whirlpool effect is created using a mash paddle, for example, by stirring the wort into a vortex. Then remove the paddle from the wort and leave it to rest for 10 to 20 minutes. Take care not to stir the wort too much to avoid excessive oxygenation. During this time, the hot trub settles on the bottom of the kettle in a cone shape, the so-called trub cone. As the drain tap of the brewing kettle is located slightly above the bottom of the kettle, the hot trub remains on the bottom.

The effects of the hot trub on the beer are diverse. If the hot trub is not removed, it can leave undesirable flavours and bitterness in the beer. It can also affect the shelf life and produce cloudy beer. Proper removal of hot trub results in a clearer and more flavourful end product and helps to keep the beer fresher for longer. Therefore, carefully draining or filtering the wort to remove the hot trub is an essential step for brewers to produce a high quality beverage.

Cooling

There are various reasons for cooling the wort after boiling.

Firstly, beer wort is not sterile and at temperatures below 65 °C, bacteria and wild yeasts can spread and cause defects in the beer. The wort should therefore be brought to the pitching temperature (the temperature at which yeast is added) as quickly as possible to avoid infections of all kinds.

Cooling also reduces the oxidation time of our wort and, above all, controls post-isomerisation. Post-isomerisation describes the bitterness that is released from the hops after boiling at <80°C.

The wort can be cooled using an immersion wort cooler, or cooling coil, for example. Cold running water is connected to one end of the cooling spiral, which has a long contact time with the wort due to the spiral shape of the cooler and therefore cools it quickly. In a plate wort cooler, the beer flows in the opposite direction to the cold water. The wort cooler has 30-60 very thin plates inside, which separate the beer from the water. Due to the large contact surface of the two liquids, the wort is cooled to the desired brewing temperature very quickly. The more plates the wort cooler has, the faster the cooling capacity. Make sure that the plate wort cooler is cleaned properly after use, as a biofilm can easily form in the plates, posing a considerable risk of infection for your beer! The use of surfactant-free cleaning agents is recommended here. You can find out more about this in our blog entry "Cleaning"!

Cooling the wort is an important step for the reproducibility of recipes and is highly recommended for infection-free and speedy work!

	EasyBrew 30 Wort cooler	Wort cooler compact	Wort cooler 50L Basic	Plate heat exchanger 60 Plates	EasyBrew Counterflow chiller
System	Immersion - Wort cooler	Immersion - Wort cooler	Immersion - Wort cooler	Plate heat exchanger	counterflow
Connection	/ Open line	Thread	/ Open line	Hose nozzle	Thread and Tri-Clamp
Cleaning the system	easy	easy	easy	hard	easy
External system	X	X	X	✓	✓
Price	59,95€	69,95€	89,95€	139,95€	149,95€

Braumarkt Beer Brewing Guide

Step 1: Malt Milling
Step 2: Mashing
Step 3: Lautering
Step 4: Boiling
Step 6: Fermenting
Step 7: Bottling

Measuring
Cleaning
Keg Fermentation

Arsegan EasyBrew 30 wort chiller

€69.95*

Not Available

Details

Wort chiller compact

This double layered chiller coil gives your wort more contact space with cold water. This wil reduce the amount of water needed to cool the wort. Specifications: Material: 304 Stainless steel. Total lenght: 20m Pipe thickness: 1mm Pipe Outer Diameter: 8mm Pipe Inner Diameter: 6mm Height: 20cm Coil Diameter: 15.5cm 20 liters of wort will cool down in 10-25 minutes from 99°C to 29°C. The speed will depend on the temperature and the flow speed of the water.

€69.95*

Available

Wortkoeler dompelmodel 50L Basic

Gewoon aan te sluiten op de kraan, in de wortketel dompelen en wachten. perfect te gebruiken met een brouwketel.Koelt tot 50-70 liter wort af in ongeveer 15-25 min.Wordt geleverd zonder gardena aansluiting of slangen.

€89.95*

Not Available

Details

Wortkoeler RVS 60 platen incl rvs hose barb 1/2"

€139.95*

Available

Easybrew Counterflow Chiller incl. Hosebarbs

Cool like a pro? With this counter flow chiller it's possible. Because this chiller works with a tube in tube system, you can cool your wort quickly and efficiently without using too much water. The cooler is made of stainless steel and equipped with tri-clamp connections on the wort side and thread on the water side. A Gardena hose barb can easily be screwed onto this. To prevent leakage, we recommend that you wrap a piece of Teflon tape around the screw thread. Specifications: Material: Stainless Steel (304) Wort side connection: 2x Tri-clamp Water side connection: Thread suitable for Gardena coupling. Number of revolutions: 12 Cooler comes with 2x tri-clamps and 2x hose nozzles 1/2" (hose size 12x17) We recommend using 12x17 silicone hose on the wort side. A garden hose with Gardena couplings is sufficient on the water side.

€159.95*

Available