Irish moss usage

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EckersKlein
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Irish moss usage

Post by EckersKlein »

Ariel and I are brewing a rye ale, and we're thinking about giving some clarifying agents a go. We've tried gelatin in the past, and while it generally works, if you get any of the solids from the bottom of the bottle in your glass, we found it pretty much wrecks the taste. Irish moss was used to good effect by our old flatmate, so we'd like to try that. The problem of course is that fermentation has already begun, and we haven't gotten off our butts to get the IM yet.

Given that the finings don't really need to do their job until secondary fermentation at the earliest, would there be anything wrong with boiling the irish moss in a small amount of water, then cooling and adding the water to the fermentor? I figure it comes down to whether the boiling step is just a method of extracting the active ingredient from the IM, or whether the wort needs to be present too.

-Eric and Ariel
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I_used_to_brew
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Re: Irish moss usage

Post by I_used_to_brew »

Irish moss is a kettle fining. I didn't think it would be effective in the FV.
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Jeltz69
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Re: Irish moss usage

Post by Jeltz69 »

Yeah what Roger said, its used in the last 10 minutes of the boil its not for use in the FV. As said its a kettle fining where as you need gelatin (as you know) or isinglass.

FWIW finings will strip flavour from your beer.
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steve crawshaw
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Re: Irish moss usage

Post by steve crawshaw »

be patient and it will clear in time. better than mucking about with a fining used in the wrong context.
For kettle finings I tend to use protofloc nowadays. It seems a bit better than raw irish moss. I have found a very cheap source of irish moss in the local afro carribean store. They sell it in big packets for about £3, also they sell dried isinglass - which i've never used yet...
I like to keep a bottle of stimulant handy in case I see a snake, which I also keep handy.
PMowdes
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Re: Irish moss usage

Post by PMowdes »

Fridge it for a few days before
60 percent of the time it works every time.
PMowdes
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Re: Irish moss usage

Post by PMowdes »

PMowdes wrote:Fridge it for a few days before
....you rack to secondary, it should drop most of the suspended solids
60 percent of the time it works every time.
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EckersKlein
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Re: Irish moss usage

Post by EckersKlein »

Thanks dudes, much appreciated. I came across this write-up on trub and its effects, have a look: http://brulosophy.com/2014/06/02/the-gr ... ts-are-in/
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steve crawshaw
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Re: Irish moss usage

Post by steve crawshaw »

interesting experiment. In summary, don't worry about break material in the fermenter, it may actually improve the beer!
I like to keep a bottle of stimulant handy in case I see a snake, which I also keep handy.
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EckersKlein
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Re: Irish moss usage

Post by EckersKlein »

Yeah, that makes me feel a bit better about all the crud I end up siphoning into the carboy from the boiling pot. He's also just published a study on the effects of yeast hydration on dry yeast. I recall we were having a good chat about that a month back, the conclusion seems to be that rehydration doesn't make too much of a difference, at least for relatively clean yeasts used in medium-gravity beers.
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