Which to use Irish Moss or Whirlfloc?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Irish moss and whirlfloc are the same thing, it's just that whirlfloc is pressed into a convenient tablet form. There are "kettle finings"- that is you put them in the boil to coagulate proteins.

There are other types of finings that are used in beer (I never use them in beer, though) that you can use after fermentation. Some people use gelatin, and some have used isinglass. I've used finings in wine, when I have a wine that just won't clear. If you do a search on "gelatin", you'll find lots of good advice on how to use it in secondary to clear your beer.
 
Sherpa FE said:
So if Irish Moss and whirlfloc are the same, whirlfloc would be better due to price??
I'd say the opposite, irish moss is cheaper. Both are pretty cheap though.

I have and use both, but prefer the convenience of whirfloc. No measuring or rehydrating, I just chuck a tablet in the boil right when I put my chiller in. (10 minutes left.)
 
I agree- Irish Moss seems to be cheaper- you get an ounce or so for about $1.15, I think. Then you rehydrate 1 tsp in some water, and put it in your boil with about 10-15 minutes left. So, you get alot of uses from one package. Whirlfloc is $1.29 for six, at austinhomebrew.com. Still cheap, but about twice the price of Irish moss.
 
BlindLemonLars said:
I'd say the opposite, Irish moss is cheaper. Both are pretty cheap though.

I have and use both, but prefer the convenience of Whirfloc. No measuring or rehydrating, I just chuck a tablet in the boil right when I put my chiller in. (10 minutes left.)
+1

Also, Whirlfloc is supposedly slightly more effective since it's a concentrated, easily dissolved form of carrageenan.
 
Whirlfloc is actually (from the Beer, Beer, & More website):

" blend of Irish Moss and purified Kappa carrageenan that encourages the precipitation of haze causing materials such as proteins and Beta glucans. Prepared in a quick dissolving, highly soluble tablet form. Add 1 tablet per 5 gallons with 5-10 minutes left in boil. Everyone who has tried them won't go back to irish moss."

Not just Irish Moss
 
My irish moss comes in tablets but I always crush them and hydrate with water. The one time I didn't I found a bit of tablet on the bottom of the kettle after I drained it. Whirlfloc sounds interesting, I know none of my LHBS carries it, if I ever do another order from the US I may include it to try.
 
bradsul said:
The one time I didn't I found a bit of tablet on the bottom of the kettle after I drained it.
Not an issue with whirfloc...the tablet aggressively dissolves and dances around in the boil, like an alka-seltzer!
 
YooperBrew said:
Then you rehydrate 1 tsp in some water, and put it in your boil with about 10-15 minutes left.
I have never heard this. I just throw it into the boil. Maybe that's why I haven't been getting a good cold break. I'll have to try it.
 
I've brewed probably 40 batches and had never heard anything about rehydrating the irish moss first. Anyone have a logical explanation for doing that?
 
YooperBrew said:
I agree- Irish Moss seems to be cheaper- you get an ounce or so for about $1.15, I think. Then you rehydrate 1 tsp in some water, and put it in your boil with about 10-15 minutes left. So, you get alot of uses from one package. Whirlfloc is $1.29 for six, at austinhomebrew.com. Still cheap, but about twice the price of Irish moss.


I think I heard in a Jamil show episode and also read somewhere that a whirlfloc tablet is good for up to 10 gallons, so if you put a half tablet in 5 gallons the price becomes roughly equal.
 
Bromley said:
I've brewed probably 40 batches and had never heard anything about rehydrating the irish moss first. Anyone have a logical explanation for doing that?
Same here (though replace "40" with "3" :D ). I've not rehydrated before, but still seem to get a good amount of cold break - though if rehydrating would help, I'd like to give it a go.
 
I use Irish Moss for no reason other than I have a bunch of it. I've never used whirfloc.

I had never heard of anyone rehydrating Irish Moss until this thread. I don't rehydrate it I just toss it in dry and I'm happy with my results.
 
I just rehydrated Irish moss for the first time last weekend. My LHBS had a label on it that said to rehydrate 1 tsp in warm water and add to kettle with 10 min. left. First time I had ever heard of rehydrating it too. It definitely smells like seaweed once it's rehydrated so that might keep you from doing it right there.
 
I've always rehydrated mine because the container said to do so. Even if I didn't rehydrate I would still crush the tablet for the reason I mentioned before. I have no idea if it actually makes a difference though.
 
I had been using the wirflock tablets but switched to the Super Irish Moss & I think it does a better job.
7225.jpg
 
Do you add irish moss straight to the wert or should i use a mesh bag?
 
Bob, the owner of my LHBS, told me that Whirfloc contains a small amount of gelatin. This for me is the biggest difference because there are several people I want to share homebrew with who are vegan.
 
verbal said:
Do you add irish moss straight to the wert or should i use a mesh bag?

Don't use a bag. You're supposed to rehydrate it in warm water before adding it, but several people here just throw it in dry, and say they get good results.
 
Anyone ever heard that you shouldn't use whirlfloc in extract based beers?

I think I may have read this in Palmer's book in one of his charts.
 
Mayday99 said:
Anyone ever heard that you shouldn't use whirlfloc in extract based beers?

I think I may have read this in Palmer's book in one of his charts.
This thread covers the subject pretty well I think. It addresses irish moss specifically but I think it applies to any kettle fining agent.
 
Hey guys,
Okay, I'm asking because I'm a new guy. I've been doind canned wort extracts with hopped LME. I have only started to hear about this, but here's my question:

What the heck is whirlflock? A clarifying agent? I don't get it. I thought the beer I made was pretty clear and tasted great and I never added this to it. Can someone explain this please? I get it, it binds to proteins but what does it do to the final product?

So confused!!

thanks!
 
I've been using irish moss for about 50 brews. I never get chill-haze anymore (the reason i started using it), and i usually have good clarity, although i'm sure i could improve it with filters. Rehydrating? Why? You put it in 5 gallons of boiling water, what do you think is going to happen? I just pitch it in the kettle, no bag. The only reason i would switch to whirlfloc is because I brew outside. Two times in my last 50 brews the wind flipped my plastic measuring teaspoon and scattered my moss. So i had to get another scoop of the stuff. Paying 2x as much doesn't justify 2 scoops (not like they both aren't super cheap). If anyone has done a serious comparison, and brewed the same batch 2x (one with whirlfloc, one with straight irish moss), we'd all love to hear if there were any noticeable differences.
 
Hi,
regarding "necro posts" --> If you use "Google custom search" field in the upper right corner of this side, it usually returns quite old posts at the first places.

But regarding irish moss --> I tried it first time today. I did a ~6.6 gal (25L) batch of extract irish extra stout. I just threw it into last 18 minutes of the boil. Here are my findings:
  1. It smells like a fish tank :) Unfortunately I was able to smell it during the boil. So I started to worry about the idea of using it. I hope this is normal and the smell will not be present in the beer after fermentation. The smell was disappearing with the boil, but I could smell it slightly even at flame out.
  2. It looks it cleared the beer pretty nice. But when I compared this batch to the previous ones without irish moss, I noticed there was no nice heap of the hops in the center of the kettle (after whirlpool). Is this normal when using irish moss?
 
I tasted the beer I made using the irish moss. The beer is great. No "fish tank" smell or taste :) So I will continue using the irish moss.
 
Back
Top