What is a "hot wort storage tank"? 




What is a "hot wort storage tank"? This brewing term is exactly what it sounds like, a storage tank that holds hot wort. After the strike as well as jump splitting up, the warm wort is pumped right into a holding container to prepare for the cooling procedure.

The exterior of the hot wort container.

Sometimes called a whirlpool container, the warm wort tank has an additional function beyond that of a holding vessel. The centrifugal activity of the swirling wort triggers healthy protein solids referred to as "trub" (obvious "troob") to focus in the center of the tank base.

Trub is a naturally-occurring product of brewing and needs to be removed in order to clarify the beer. There are procedures to do this downstream, but whirlpooling helps significantly.

Brewing tradition has it that the benefits of whirpooling were uncovered accidently when a pipefitter operating in a restricted area had to install the inlet pipe to the hot wort container at a severe angle. This caused the wort to swirl around the within the tank, producing a whirlpool and also the succeeding trub focus.