Hi all,
I've been brewing for a long time, and one thing that has confused me for that time (apparently not enough to ask, say, years ago) is the timing of my final hop addition. I manually whirlpool at flameout with a spoon and let it settle for about 20 minutes before chilling. I have traditionally tossed in my 0 minute hop additions before I do this. However, I know that in order to get the most out of these final hop additions I should be chilling as quickly as possible. My beers tend to have lower hop aroma than I would like, and I'm pretty sure that having the final addition sitting in a pot of near-boiling wort is the culprit.
Would I get a better result from tossing the hops in AFTER the 20 minutes that I allow the wort to settle out? It's obviously still pretty hot, and I would basically start the chilling process immediately. However, I'm not sure whether the temperature drop during the 20 minutes would counteract what I'm trying to accomplish.
Also, if anyone has a better way to whirlpool, I'd love suggestions. I have built whirlpool arms and such and have never been happy with the results.
Cheers!