Glossary
Whirlpool
Spinning the wort after the boil so that trub collects in a cone at the centre of the vessel — and, increasingly, a late hop addition made at that stage for aroma.
Also called whirlpool hopping, hop stand, steep.
The original purpose is mechanical: a rotating liquid deposits its solids centrally rather than around the edge, which lets clear wort be drawn from the side.
The modern purpose is aromatic. Hops added below boiling — typically 75–85 °C — extract aroma compounds without isomerising much alpha acid, so they add hop character with little bitterness. This is now one of the defining techniques of modern hop-forward brewing.
Related
- Trub — What the whirlpool separates out.
- Dry hopping — The other main aroma technique.
More vocabulary
Arrested fermentation · Barrel ageing · Batch sparging · Biotransformation · Blending · Bottle conditioning · Bottom fermentation · Burtonisation · Cask conditioning · Centrifugation
See every term on the glossary index.
Last reviewed 2026-08-16.