uh oh...forgot the whirlfloc

I've been brewing beer for 3 years now and I have never forgot to add whirlfloc...until today. The first difference I noticed was after I transfered to a carboy. Normally when I add whirlfloc in the boil, I can start to see it settling out in the carboy, big chunks of stuff, like egg drop soup. It would take a few hours for it to completely settle down. Without whirlfloc, there where not big chunks of stuff, it was more like sand, and it settled out in like an hour. So my question is, is whirlfloc/irish moss really needed and will it even be noticable that I didnt use it?

I pretty much guarantee that in your case, you'll end up with beer.


You'll be fine. Just be careful not to stir up the trub when you siphon, and I'd highly suggest using a secondary to settle out some of the finer gobs. You can even use a sanitized hop strainer over the end of your racking cane as a filter.

if you keg, there'll be more sediment; bottling, same result. i use irish moss, and i've missed using it a few times. no worries. cold-crashing does the same thing.

It will for sure be beer, and likely great beer at that. I've forgotten whirlfloc few times will no terrible results.

Using it gives you a much greater chance of achieving brilliantly clear beer without filtering, but thats about it. Wont really affect flavor.

I've never once either irish moss or whirlfloc... I still get beer in the end.

Not that big a deal. Your beer may or may not be a little cloudier than usual. You can use gelatin to aid clearing post-fermentation.