Boil Kettle w/o whirlpool??

[larsmudrak]

We got a free steam jacketed kettle and would like to expand our brew system and use it as a boil kettle. The problem is that there is a outlet at the very bottom and center of the kettle, making a whirlpool impractical. Does anyone have any advice on how to drain the kettle? A hop screen in the bottom of the kettle? In-line filter? Or pumping out of the side of the kettle via a separate pump? Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks

-Lars

[Scott M]

How big a kettle are you speaking of? If it is small enough for you to whirlpool it with a paddle, caution hot side aeration; you could pump off the trub from the center drain until you are running relatively clear wort.

You will have losses either way. I assume the bottom is dished, so you could pump from over the side, through the chiller to the FV just as easily.

Lots of help, huh.

Cheers!

[schmogger]

If you have a side port and the space to put a racking arm that would be one idea the other would be using a stand pipe in the center outlet. Good luck with the task at hand and post how you decided to move forward.

[rudge75]

You'd be further off to stir it by hand for a whirlpool, then use a length of stainless tubing attached to a transfer hose to siphon wort out of your kettle.

It's an OHS nighmare just waiting to happen, and your losses are gonna be so high you're not going to be making money.

If you can, why not set it up as your HLT and so you have hot water all the time?

[monkeybrewer]

Side port

Is there a side port on the kettle to run a whirlpool even though it pulls off the bottom? I ask because the first place I brewed at had a setup like that and in order to knock out we first quickly "dumped" the plug of trub creating a hole in it where the wort will pull through. As you knock out at a rate much slower than the "dump", the trub pile will remain undisturbed until the very end of knock out, where it finally collapses. Wouldn't believe it works unless I had done it repeatedly myself. As far as I remember we never had any troubles with trub in the heat exchanger. Just make sure your dump "t setup" is before the heat exchanger
If you don't have a side port then this wasn't much help. Good Luck!
Cheers

[beejay]

Is there a side port on the kettle to run a whirlpool even though it pulls off the bottom? I ask because the first place I brewed at had a setup like that and in order to knock out we first quickly "dumped" the plug of trub creating a hole in it where the wort will pull through. As you knock out at a rate much slower than the "dump", the trub pile will remain undisturbed until the very end of knock out, where it finally collapses. Wouldn't believe it works unless I had done it repeatedly myself. As far as I remember we never had any troubles with trub in the heat exchanger. Just make sure your dump "t setup" is before the heat exchanger
If you don't have a side port then this wasn't much help. Good Luck!
Cheers

even if there is no side port, you could easily get a whirlpool going. With something as simple as a length of stainless pipe, with an el at one end and a TC fitting on the other, inserted into your kettle at the end of the boil, you could recirculate your wort to get a whirlpool going. Then just dump as monkey suggested.