[klickitat jim]

So, day before yesterday i used a sanitized paint stir gizmo on a drill to stir my hot wort while my 25' 3/8" IC did its thing. I guess I thought if moving the wort past the coil was a good thing, why not do it with a machine. It worked wicked fast. Like from just below boil to 70 in about ten minutes. But someone reminded me about HSA. So I broke out Palmer HTB. But I also surfed the web on it. Seems there is some jury still out on this for the homebrew scale. To the point of calling it a myth at the 5 gallon level.

Its going to be real interesting to see how this one turns out. I can tell you that it is fermenting really nicely and has some awesome fresh hops odors. I'm not declaring this victory over the dragon yet, but how cool would it be to chill in ten minutes with a $3 paint stir?

[hopfenundmalz]

Find the Charles Bamforth interview on the Brewing Network. He says there are many other things to worry about, and good fermentation a will take care of much of it IIRC. I don't know if he ever thought about what you did, though.

These days I am not too paranoid about a little splashing.

Let us know how it turns out.

[greatplainsbrewer]

I don't think HSA is going to be an issue here- aren't you going to aerate right after chilling anyway?  Haven't run into HSA with a vigorous whirlpool at that stage in seven years of brewing.

[AmandaK]

Sounds like Jamil's whirlpool chiller does just about the same thing.

Like Jeff said, if Charles Bamforth thinks it's nothing to worry about and I haven't seen it in my own brewery, I'm not gonna worry about it!

[klickitat jim]

I've read a bunch on it. Seems that pre boil HSA is more of an issue than post boil.

I know it will be amazing if I can get from boil to pitch in ten minutes without a $150 pump.

I'm very curious if some magic happened from stirring those hops so vigorously because it smells like it has three times the hops I put in.

By the way, my whirlpool was much more aggressive than a jamil ic. We're talking 4" wide vortex almost to the bottom of the pot.

[Jimmy K]

That is a strong vortex, much stronger than most HSA debaters are thinking about.  But then the wort was chilled quickly too. I think the only true answer will be to taste it.

[klickitat jim]

The paint stirrer is odd shaped, wide at bottom narrow at the top, kinda like spiraling fins. Looks a lot like an impeller. My guess is that it's designed to stir paint with minimum froth (aeration).

Oddly I recall there was very little foaming until it got close to pitching temp.

[davidgzach]

Please report back on this.  HSA has always been a hotly contested topic. 

[guido]

Please report back on this.  HSA has always been a hotly contested topic.

I believe it's an old brewers' myth, myself.

[klickitat jim]

I'll definitely share the good bad and ugly on this. I'm optimistic but not going to claim it till the taste.

[davidgzach]

I'll definitely share the good bad and ugly on this. I'm optimistic but not going to claim it till the taste.

I really don't have an opinion either way except to say I try not to splash wort until I'm ready to pitch yeast.  That being said I remember early in my all-grain days whirlpooling a hot wort in an ice bath to get it to cool quicker.  Everything else was done right and the beer had an off-flavor.  I can't remember exactly but it was just off.  Upon research I thought it was due to HSA at the time.  I've never had it again.   

[gymrat]

Palmer himself said it is not a concern on a podcast I heard once.

[klickitat jim]

I think it's one of those things that has science behind it but gets overstated in application.  Time will tell

[The Professor]

...I believe it's an old brewers' myth, myself.

Could be. Or, it cold be a problem only in theory.
All I know is that the late and lamented Vernon Valley Brewery (NJ's first, pioneering Microbrewery in the mid 1980s) made the best authentic German beer this side of the Atlantic.  A friend of mine (the late Jay Misson) was a brewmaster there  and he told me that they cooled their wort by cascading it over a heat exchanger. 
They seemed not to worry about HSA at all, and from what I tasted (draught and bottled), there was zero effect on the beer in the short term or the long term.
Ever since then, I never gave HSA a second thought.

[klickitat jim]

That eases my mind a bunch thanks