Help! Forgot to add Irish moss during boil...

I just finished moving a pale ale into the fermenting bucket, and I realized that I forgot to add the Irish moss during the last 15 minutes of the boil. Would it be okay to boil some irish moss in a small amount of water and then add it to primary? Or would it hurt the beer? Would it even work?

I would just leave it alone. I dont always use irish moss just makes the beer clearer.

don't bother. if clarity is important to you, wait until fermentation is finished and use gelatin.

FromZwolle said:

don't bother. if clarity is important to you, wait until fermentation is finished and use gelatin.

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I agree

FromZwolle said:

don't bother. if clarity is important to you, wait until fermentation is finished and use gelatin.

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This.

Or cold crash @ 33-35F for a few days. Or both.

if you cold-crash, it does the same thing as irish moss. i keg, and use irish moss for competition beers

Can I cold crash if I plan on bottling? When do I do it?

after fermentation is complete. that is when you have reached your expected final gravity and it hasn't changed in three days.

So I crash cool before bottling? Will this slow carbonation?

FromZwolle said:

after fermentation is complete. that is when you have reached your expected final gravity and it hasn't changed in three days.

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Ditto.

It won't effect bottling. Even in crystal clear beer (to the human eye) that has not been filtered contains ~100,000 yeast cells per ml, more than plenty for bottling.

Also, be sure to bottle condition at room temps as usual.

If you cold crash it's possible it could take a bit longer to carbonate. However, it will still carbonate eventually.

It is my understanding that Irish Moss must be boiled to be as effective as it can be. I have heard of re-hydrating it ahead of time but never using it after the boil has been completed. Overall I would agree with the comments you have received and not worry about it at this point or go to an alternative for clearification, like a cold crash. I do wonder now if Irish Moss MUST be used in the boil.

throw the beer out, or send it to me for disposal.

midfielder5 said:

throw the beer out, or send it to me for disposal.

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I know you are being sarcastic in some fashion, but it might not be best to say those types of things to young impressionable brewers. ;-)

I haven't used irish moss in over 3 years and haven't noticed any affects on clarity. I don't fine after bottling/kegging and my beers turn out fine.

I used moss for my first few brews.

The cleanest, clearest batch I ever made didn't use moss, so take that for what it's worth. Time in the fridge did the most clearing, from what it seemed like.

RighteousFire said:

I know you are being sarcastic in some fashion, but it might not be best to say those types of things to young impressionable brewers. ;-)

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Ha ha. It comes up, eventually, in these "oh no!1!" threads.. I am just surprised no one had said it first.

avidhomebrewer said:

I haven't used irish moss in over 3 years and haven't noticed any affects on clarity. I don't fine after bottling/kegging and my beers turn out fine.

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Second this. I used irish moss for my first couple of beers, then did a test batch without it to see the results and couldn't tell a difference. Still made a nice clean beer. I don't cold crash, use gelatin, or anything, just make the beer and they are extremely clear 95% of the time.

I've never noticed much difference with Irish moss, and the folks on basic brewing radio tend to agree. They compared beers brewed with irish moss, whirlfloc and no fining agent. All beers were identical otherwise.

The consensus was that Irish moss had very little effect vs unfined. Whirlfloc did make a slightly noticeable difference.

I just used whirlfloc for the first time, and it produced a second hot break, leading me to believe that it is somewhat effective, but only time will tell.