Forgot Irish Moss--any options?

I made a mistake today I've never made before--I forgot to add irish moss during my boil.

It's not a terribly big deal, but is there any other way to get the benefit of irish moss other than adding it during the boil? Could I boil it in a small amount of water and add it to the secondary when I rack?

I don't think that will make a difference. If you're kegging, polyclar will help with chill haze.

Irish moss only works during the boil. You will have to wait until you have the ale in the clearing tank, then add some finings. There are several types available, isenglass, polyclar, silica, etc. If it's a dark ale, why bother?

Sparkoloid works for me. Boil a tsp or so up and dump it into into your carboy. The next day you'll be amazed at how clear things are.

david_42 said:

Irish moss only works during the boil. You will have to wait until you have the ale in the clearing tank, then add some finings. There are several types available, isenglass, polyclar, silica, etc. If it's a dark ale, why bother?

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thats what I like to hear... brew it so black that there coiuld be worms floating in there and no one would be wiser :rockin:

You needn't worry. When my dad started brewing, he didn't even know about Irish Moss, and all his beers tasted good. The only difference I can see when you use or don't use irish moss is the look in the glass...I can't notice any effect on the flavour. To quote Charlie P. "Relax. Don't worry. Have a homebrew!"

Cheers!
-Rick

Primary: Honey Amber Ale
Secondary #1: Oatmeal Stout
Secondary #2: empty
Bottled/Aging: Octane IPA
Bottled/Drinking: American Amber Ale

I 'll second joker. Just don't worry about it. I forget to throw it in every other batch, and most batches you can hardly tell the difference.

irish moss is over-rated.

glibbidy said:

irish moss is over-rated.

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I tend to agree--and the beer in question is dark enough that I especially am not worried about it.

I do notice a difference in clarity, though, between using it and not using (in lighter colored beers, anyway). I really couldn't care less, but I think people who aren't homebrewers are kind of "spooked" by any cloudiness in a lighter colored beer.

Well it helps coagulate cold break and that leads to a more stable beer also reducing tannin/protein linkages which form chill haze. though if you chill your wort wort quickly this will occur anyway.

More important for AG since extract has been preboiled and the cold break usually has already been removed.

I just got "Super-Kleer" from my LHBS for the brew I have in secondary.
The guy (For any Dallas dwellers who go to Homebrew Headquarters, it's the blond guy with tattoos. I can never remember his name.) told me that the wine makers that shop there swear by it, but he hasn't tried it in beer yet even though the package clearly says it's for beer and wine.

Anyway... It comes in a clear packet divided in half. You pour side 1 (the smaller side of the packet) into the secondary and stir (slowly... no aeration). Then mix side 2 with 1 oz. of warm water and add it stirring carefully again.

12 - 48 hours later... Well, we'll see. I just put it in my secondary today.

Super-Kleer


The beer before adding Super-Kleer, but after 1.5 weeks in Secondary


I'll post the after shot either tomorrow (if it's clarified by then) or Monday since I'll be gone all weekend.

I put some irish moss in the saison I brewed. It is still bottle conditioning but whenever I taste it..still looks pretty cloudy to me. I honestly dont care. This was my third batch ever and first batch using irish moss. Cloudy beer doesnt bother me at all. As long as it tastes good.

I personally don't care much either, but some people look at a cloudy beer and think there must be something wrong with it. The beer I used this in is for some people that think Miller Lite is "better than Bud Light" if you get my drift.

Those people probably won't put a cloudy beer to their lips, so I'm trying to clarify it as much as possible.

*rubs hands together*
I will convert them. Yes, it shall be done. muahahaha

KC works best if you wait a few hours before adding the second packet as the are oppositely charged.

Sparkoloid also works very well. I often use it to clear beer. Best if after a few days you add some gelatin to some boiled water and stir till it disolves then add to the beer. The gelatin help compact the the yeast bed and the sparkolid mix.
I usually just go with the sparkolid cause I get lazy at times.


The reason I got to know a fair bit about finings is that when I first started AG'ing I was sparging to hot and and got a lot of tannins form the sparge which linked with protiens to cause serios haze issues. Never tried polyvar or what ever it is called.

OK, I forgot to take a picture of the secondary post-Super Kleer / pre-bottling but it does work.

I don't know if it works better than other options because I haven't used them yet. I picked up Irish Moss today so I would have it on hand for my next beer that I care about clarity.