Brewers pump the boiled wort into a cylindrical vessel at an angle, creating a strong vortex. Centripetal force causes the coagulated proteins, hop pellets, and other debris to gather in a tight pile in the middle of the flat or slightly sloped bottom. Once the liquid settles, the clear wort is drained from the outer edge, leaving the solid waste behind before the liquid goes to the heat exchanger.
Give it a good twenty minutes of resting time after whirlpooling so the cone sets up tight.
Pumping the liquid too fast can cause splashing and hot side aeration, while pumping too slow will fail to form a tight trub cone.
Related terms
Trub
The layer of sediment that settles at the bottom of a brewing vessel after boiling or fermentation.
Wort
The sweet, unfermented liquid extracted from mashed grains that serves as the basis for beer or whisky.
Hopback
A sealed vessel placed between the brew kettle and the chiller to extract volatile hop aromatics.