I spaced...

I brewed my second batch of beer yesterday. I brewed a milk stout that I will add vinilla beans to the secondary. I forgot to add the irish moss to the boil. How much will it matter to the finished product?

You might not notice anything since it's a stout. Instead of dark and clear and hard to see through, it will likely be dark and murky and hard to see through. Irish moss wouldn't have changed the flavor at all, and as long as you cold crash and let it sit for a decent period of time, you probably won't have junk suspended in the beer. If you do notice floaties, you can do the gelatin trick, which can help grab things out of suspension.

I haven't noticed a big difference between the beers with Irish Moss and without.

On something that dark, I wouldn't even bother.

Uziyahu said:

I haven't noticed a big difference between the beers with Irish Moss and without.

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Same here.

Shouldn't matter a lick in the final product.

I never use Irish Moss and haven't had any clarity issues. Don't sweat it, especially in a stout

Thanks all, I figured since it was so dark it wouldn't make too much difference. Its going to age at least a week in the seconday (maybe 2 or 3) so, hopefully it will clear up some anyway.

If you haven't moved it to secondary yet, don't bother. It will clear up in the primary just as well and the big yeast cake under it seems to have a positive effect on the beer too. You also avoid the chance of oxidation that can happen with poor technique while racking and it's one less vessel to sanitize.

RM-MN said:

If you haven't moved it to secondary yet, don't bother. It will clear up in the primary just as well and the big yeast cake under it seems to have a positive effect on the beer too. You also avoid the chance of oxidation that can happen with poor technique while racking and it's one less vessel to sanitize.

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The original plan was to rack to a secondary with vanilla beans after 2 weeks in the primary.

I never bother with either Irish Moss or gelatin in my dark beers. It's too dark to notice anyway.

ODG34 said:

The original plan was to rack to a secondary with vanilla beans after 2 weeks in the primary.

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I missed that part. In that case, yes you want to rack to secondary. Good sanitation and careful racking and you are golden.

Even if it was and issue.....just let it cold condition longer, and problem solved.

RM-MN said:

Good sanitation and careful racking and you are golden.

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Good sanitation and careful racking and you are dark brown. Nothing about sanitation and racking will turn a stout to golden.

The only time I've believe irish moss has helped when comparing my two 60-Minute IPA's. My first DfH clone (and second brew of anything) was a super cloudy hoppy mess*. I went online, found Homebrewtalk for the first time, and read that irish moss was the probable solution. Eventually I made my 60-minute Tamarindia Ale with irish moss. It's clear.

*Usually I prefer cloudy beers, but the first 60-minute was so bad I had to strain each bottle when pouring into a glass. Yummy though.

I bottled this batch last night. Amazingly, it tastes like an oatmeal stout. I cant wait until it has conditioned.