I've read a few questions lately about whirlpool and wort clarity. First, in homebrew when someone asks CAN YOU, the real answer is YES. You can do whatever you want. SHOULD you, is a different matter. Anyway, for those new to whirlpooling (like me) , here's what I do.
I whirlpool through my whole boil. One point of boiling is to circulate the wort to drive off DMS right? Why not help it. Sanitize your system at the same time, right? Assist flow across your hops too, right? I think so.
At flame out I turn the cooling water on to my IC. When I hit bottom, or my pitching temp which ever comes first, I kill the whirlpool. Then I take a gravity sample. I use the gravity sample as my timer for when I SHOULD start running it to my fermentor.
This is tonight's batch. Typical 5 gallon brew with an ounce of EKG pellets in a one gallon paint strainer bag. Twist tied and thrown in the middle of my IC at the right time.
Here's my timer...
5 minutes
10 minutes
15 minutes
20 minutes
You can see that the break does most of its settling in about 15 minutes. The trick is to not disturb it, and run off gently. You should endure up with most of your gunk in the center of the BK.
Hope this helps