Whirlpool vs no whirlpool hops timing

Bigbre04 · Thursday at 5:41 PM

if your goal is to get some cascade aroma and flavor to come through, i would shift your hops from 20 mins to 15 mins and adjust the total amount to hit your ibu goal.

if you cool start cooling your whirlpool at flame out down to 180f you will stop most of the hop conversion. I generally cool my whirlpool after i knock out down to around 180 or less, as this helps me knockout faster and put less strain on my chiller. makes a difference with a lager where i am shooting to be knocking out at 54f.

whatever you end up deciding todo be consistent and take good notes on what was done.

this is my golden lager which is similar to a german pils(lower bitterness then a czech pils)
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1427656

I use a spunding valve during fermentation and it very much helps keep ester production down.

this is a kolsch that was recently on tap that honestly would have passed for a pilsner if i didnt tell you it was a kolsch. the advantage to this yeast is that it is much faster as it is an ale yeast. i would bet that if you used a spunding valve you would be able to turn out a very convincing golden lager without the lagering time. if you are trying to do this, you would really want to pay attention to controlling your ester production via spunding and temp control, but this would be very very do able for a 7 day "lager".

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1601538

Mastoras007 · Thursday at 7:04 PM

Bigbre04 said:
I use a spunding valve during fermentation and it very much helps keep ester production down.

I will use spuding valve, i asume you use it after high krausen right?

Bigbre04 · Thursday at 7:44 PM

Mastoras007 said:
I will use spuding valve, i asume you use it after high krausen right?

i set it to 10 once the tank is actively fermenting...roughly 1p drop. then crank it to 15 at 65% attenuation and turn up the temp for the d rest

Mastoras007 · Thursday at 8:44 PM

I through that the early spudin can stress the yeast, Not?

Bigbre04 · Thursday at 9:13 PM

Mastoras007 said:
I through that the early spudin can stress the yeast, Not?

nope 10psi early on is good for keeping the ester production down. It needs time to get up to speed though, hence the 1p drop being needed.

Mastoras007 · 2026-02-27T06:40:33+0000

Bigbre04 said:
nope 10psi early on is good for keeping the ester production down. It needs time to get up to speed though, hence the 1p drop being needed.

Same ale and lager?
BTW your suggestion for 15 minutes boil so suggested because I will chill the wort to 80. Celsius?
I need time to cool the wort to 80C so 15min boil + cooling time will be fine?
I don't want intense flavor and aroma, but I want it to..exist

Bigbre04 · 2026-02-27T16:13:11+0000

Mastoras007 said:
Same ale and lager?
BTW your suggestion for 15 minutes boil so suggested because I will chill the wort to 80. Celsius?
I need time to cool the wort to 80C so 15min boil + cooling time will be fine?
I don't want intense flavor and aroma, but I want it to..exist

the total boil length is 60 mins. hop additions generally occur on a countdown from 60 to 0. i would do a 60 min addition(right when you hit boil) and a 15 min addition(15 mins before the end of the boil). i cool down my wort starting at end of boil while i am pumping the whirlpool. i whirlpool for 20 mins and then rest for 20 mins. the cooling runs until i hit the temp that i am looking for, generally 185 or 180 if i am adding hops or 170 if i am precooling it to knock out cold for a lager.

i would shoot for roughly 20 ibus on a 5% abv lager. personally. if you want a czech pils you will need to be up around 26-28 plus some additional sulphur helps.