Whirlpool Arm - 20 Gallon Kettle

I have completed just my first brew using the Whirlpool Arm. The whirlpool action effectively accumulated the general brewing debris in the center of the kettle. I still used a hop spyder but do expect to go without in an upcoming batch. I know I've seen our friend at "TheApartmentBrewer" go without the spyder.

One word of caution. I whirlpooled during my cooling process recirculating wort back to the kettle after the plate chiller and thru the whirlpool arm.

I generally have not had to supplement oxygen to the wort prior to fermentation. Looking at this new process, I realize that much of my oxygen may have been introduced back to the wort when it splashed back to the kettle during cooling. When whirlpooling, the opportunity for oxygenation at that point is eliminated. My process still 'splashes' the cooled wort into the fermenter, but I had a very active yeast cake on this batch.... and my fermentation is just crawling. The last batch poured on this yeast cake (about 4th gen W34/70), popped and finished an about 48 hours. This one is still pushing bubbles at almost 2 weeks.

I am wondering if my oxygen level at start of fermentation is lower than typical due to use of the whirlpool arm. Not a problem, just potential need for a process adjustment to provide more oxygen.

Overall, it does exactly what is supposed to do,