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Brewers that use immersion chillers and also own a pump should know that recirculating the wort back into the kettle to whirlpool the wort makes for much faster cooling and will also make a concentrated pile of trub and hop particles in the center of the kettle bottom.
This is our third version of the industry leading whirpooling hardware. The original SpinCycle and SpinCycle Submerge both require a hole to be drilled into your kettle. Some people drill holes without a second thought but this one is for people who can't or do not want to modify their kettle.
We've built this unit one at a time on a customer request basis for years but we've finally made them a part of our everyday offerings. It starts with a length of 1/2" OD 304 polished SS tubing that bends up and over the kettle wall, then drops straight down through a heavy duty spring clamp. Finally the bottom is bent 90 degrees to kick the output to your sidewall and make the liquid spin.
You have your choice of how the flow gets in to the unit. The cheap way is to select "open tube on the end" and then just clamp your hose over it. The more realistic option is to select "Welded male Camlock" if you use camlock quick disconnects in your system. This is the version shown in the main picture. This item will cause the entire order an extra couple days delay as we build these all to order.
The other choice is what the maximum drop is from the top of the pot to the output tube. To be clear, these are the lengths when the tubing is slid as far down in the clamp as possible. You can easily shorten the depth by taking pressure off the spring clamp and sliding the tubing up.
Note, this unit does NOT work with Sanke keg coverted boil kettles unless you make a slot or hole in the top where the main hole was cut.
Please note that the spring clamp is NOT stainless steel and will rust if you submerge the entire unit in cleaning solutions regularly. If you wish to soak the SS tubing part, slide it out of the clamp, wash it and let it dry, then reinsert.
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WHIRLPOOL BUYER'S GUIDE - Everything you ever wanted to know about it and more.
First, all we're trying to accomplish here is to get the volume of the liquid in the kettle spinning. It's accomplished by drawing off liquid from the drain bulkhead, into a pump and then from the pump into a specific piece of hardware that forces the flow parallel to the kettle wall (more on that later).
WHY? Well, there are a few reasons why a brewer would stir liquid during brew day. CHILLING. If you use a drop in immersion chiller you can either manually stir aggressively or whirlpool stir the wort to decrease chilling time substantially. HERMS SYSTEMS: If you have a 3 vessel system with a HERMS heat exchange coil in your hot liquor tank, you must stir the water in the HLT to ensure consistent heat exchange in the coil. KETTLE TRUB SEPARATION: The stirring motion puts all your hops, hot and cold break (trub) in a neat pile. Why it happens is interesting science and you can learn all about it by searching for the "Tea Leaf Paradox". Here's a demo video: https://youtu.be/dGAFxs63SlE?t=66
If trub separation is your goal, we recommend using a kettle fining agent such as whirlfloc. Shut the pump down after about 3 minutes of stirring and leave the kettle alone for at least 30 minutes, or up to an hour. That lets some of the finer particles settle all the way down to the bottom.. Then slowly draw off the clean wort using a diptube as close to the kettle wall as possible. HOP STANDS A lot of modern recipes call for whirlpool hopping or a "hop stand". Besides trying different temperatures for this process, many people also recommend keeping the wort moving during this hopping phase. Since it's not physically rolling around in the boil, the mechanical movement helps to better extract the oils from the plant material.
A quick word about competitor products. Bobby, the owner of BrewHardware has been an active brewer for over 15 years and he's also an engineer. He doesn't just copy other products and rebrand them but prototypes and tests them for actual real world efficacy in brewing applications. Every one of the whirlpooling products sold here are effective at stirring. You will find quite a few product variations but it's only to deal with different customer situations. Here is a brief summary of the variations. You can click on the links to read more and order that specific version.
SPINCYCLE: This version has a built in bulkhead that requires a hole drilled to 13/16" somewhere in the upper side wall of your kettle. This version has a welded "drop tube" that brings the liquid flow below the liquid level of the kettle. This unit does NOT require an exterior ball valve since the port is above the liquid line at all times.
SPINCYCLE SUBMERGE This version is essentially the original Spincycle product above but without the welded drop tube. It also acts as it's own bulkhead but it will be installed in a drilled 13/16" hole BELOW the liquid level (somewhere between 2" off the bottom and up to 2" below the lowest planned liquid level). This product requires a ball valve on the outside of the pot.
SPINCYCLE SHORTY - This is a modified version that is meant to thread in to a female NPT welded port below the liquid line. It does NOT have a built in weldless bulkheads.
SPINCYCLE OVERBOARD - If you want to add a whirlpool return but you don't want to drill any new holes (or don't have existing ones). This one clamps over the top edge of the kettle.
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Great addition to my garage brewery 
