Help! Forgot Irish moss!

[J311gonzo]

So I racked a pale ale I brewed 7 days ago over to secondary... And realized I never added Irish moss or a whirlfloc tablet to the boil.... Is there anything I can do to not get beer farts!!!

 

[rjwhite41]

Drink BMC... just kidding. You'll be fine, I have my doubts the irish moss really does anything anyway. Sometimes I put it in and sometimes I forget it and I honestly can't tell the difference.

 

[Golddiggie]

Let it sit in bulk a bit longer... Be careful when you move it to where you usually bottle from. Let it sit there a bit longer before racking over to the bottling bucket and you shouldn't have any issues.

Once carbonated, put bottles in the fridge for closer to a week (or longer) before pouring a glass. That extra time will help the particles to settle, and compact, to the bottom of the bottle.

Personally, I wouldn't rack an ale until it's time to bottle. Leave it in primary, on the yeast, for 2-4 weeks and chances are even without Irish Moss or a whirlfloc tablet, it will be nice and clear. Letting it sit longer in the fridge before drinking also helps things settle and compact.

If you get a few extra toots out of this batch, consider it paying the piper... I would try the long primary, no secondary, route for the next batch. At least for something using ale yeast, that won't get additional flavor elements added and needs to age for several weeks, or months...

I have a batch, that I hope to bottle today, that's been on the yeast for 5 weeks... Worried? Not a lick... I'll just prime, bottle, and carbonate as usual...

 

[Sheldon]

you more experienced dudes make it seem so laid back and easy, while us noobies fret over every little bit of missed steps and blunders. Thanks for ur patience and understanding.

Cheers.

 

[Golddiggie]

I was a bit more concerned when I start out brewing/fermenting... Granted that was only about 5 months ago now...

Get some more batches under your belt (or over it) and you'll learn what you don't need to worry about, and what you should worry about.

Once I learned about long primaries for ales (and such) it made things so much easier/more relaxed... Learning to pretty much ignore the airlock, or that it was moving, now it's not after only X days, also helps. I've even gotten to the point where I just let the brew sit on the yeast until it's about time to bottle, then take a SG reading and taste it. Letting it go closer to a month means it's fermented all it can/will, and has had time to get rid of any off flavors. I do the final testing before racking to bottle, so that IF I do need to give it more time, I can.

Granted, I'm talking about brews under 9% ABV for most of this. Bigger brews/beers usually involve more time. But no more worries over them. If I miss my scheduled stage, such as it sits on oak a bit longer, I'm not worried. I do monitor strong flavor elements closer, just because I don't want them to put too much into the brew. But, I have a batch of mead (1 gallon) that has had a vanilla bean in it for over two weeks. Haven't sniffed or tasted it yet... Might just let it go a month total before checking it.

Mead is a different animal than beer. If you decide to dive in there, it's more monitoring up front, until you hit a stage, then it's pretty much hands off. Rack every 4-8 weeks until clear, then let it bulk age until you need to bottle... So easy after the first couple of weeks, it's almost funny...

 

[Revvy]

I forget to add moss more times probably than I've remembered, and never really noticed a difference in clarity. In fact in contests judges tend to make not about how clear my beers seem. So I don't think it's the moss as much as the long primarying I use that contributes to it.

Relax.

 

[Yooper]

Irish moss is a kettle fining. It works by helping to coagulate proteins, causing a clearer beer. It can help prevent chill haze.

Never in my life have I heard someone say it would prevent farting! If someone is telling you that, they are pulling your leg and teasing you.

But if you want clearer beer, the posts above are worth noting. In general, rack only clear beer to the bottling bucket, and don't suck up tons of yeast. If you use a highly flocculant yeast like nottingham, you'll get a compact yeast cake and shouldn't get excess amounts in the bottle. After it's carbonated, putting it the fridge for a couple of days will help the sediment really settle, and then just pour off clear beer into your bottle leaving the last 1/4" of beer in the bottle.

 

[Golddiggie]

I forget to add moss more times probably than I've remembered, and never really noticed a difference in clarity. In fact in contests judges tend to make not about how clear my beers seem. So I don't think it's the moss as much as the long primarying I use that contributes to it.

Relax.

Just out of curiosity, how many batches do you estimate you've brewed? Percentage where you think you used Irish Moss?

I'm seriously thinking about not getting any more Whirlfloc tablets once I've gone through those I have now... I might even "forget" to use them in my EESB that's on the books for brewing on Tuesday evening... That's going to ride on the yeast for probably a month...

 

[Yooper]

Just out of curiosity, how many batches do you estimate you've brewed? Percentage where you think you used Irish Moss?

I'm seriously thinking about not getting any more Whirlfloc tablets once I've gone through those I have now... I might even "forget" to use them in my EESB that's on the books for brewing on Tuesday evening... That's going to ride on the yeast for probably a month...

Well, many people use whirlfloc to coagulate the proteins, both hot break and cold break. It really doesn't have to do with how long in primary the beer is. Whirlfloc is a kettle fining that just helps the proteins coagulate and precipitate out. I get an awesome cold break when I use whirlfloc. That helps prevent chill haze, but not hops haze or yeast haze. A long primary would definitely help with other causes of haze, but I've never gone longer than 2-3 weeks or so so I can't say for sure. A long primary won't change the amount of protein coagulation.

I will say that my beer is crystal clear and I never use gelatin finings to drop yeast or hops haze.

 

[Golddiggie]

Well, many people use whirlfloc to coagulate the proteins, both hot break and cold break. It really doesn't have to do with how long in primary the beer is. Whirlfloc is a kettle fining that just helps the proteins coagulate and precipitate out. I get an awesome cold break when I use whirlfloc. That helps prevent chill haze, but not hops haze or yeast haze. A long primary would definitely help with other causes of haze, but I've never gone longer than 2-3 weeks or so so I can't say for sure. A long primary won't change the amount of protein coagulation.

I will say that my beer is crystal clear and I never use gelatin finings to drop yeast or hops haze.

Hmmmmmm... Think I'll keep using it then...

Trying to get the right answer for when to toss the Whirlfloc tablet in... I've seen everything from 5 minutes before the end of the boil, to 30 minutes from the end... Thoughts?

 

[BoxofRain]

Beer farts? I use Irish moss all the time and still get the beer farts.

Anyway, I put out a bunch of cups out prior to brewing and add the appropriate amount of hops to each cup according my recipe schedule. I just add the irish moss to the 15 minute hop addition so I don't forget. Hope this helps in the future...

 

[Yooper]

I found that rehydrating the Irish moss when the boil started, and then adding it with 15 minutes left worked well. I switched to Whirlfloc about 4 years ago, and now only use whirlfloc. I add it at 12 minutes, because I almost always forget at 15 minutes, and say, "Oh, ****!" and add them about three minutes late.

 

[Northcalais40]

i've used knox gelatin at bottling also. No problems, but I prefer the clarity that comes with drinking a few to the clarity that seaweed gives.

 

[Sean]

I found that rehydrating the Irish moss when the boil started, and then adding it with 15 minutes left worked well. I switched to Whirlfloc about 4 years ago, and now only use whirlfloc. I add it at 12 minutes, because I almost always forget at 15 minutes, and say, "Oh, ****!" and add them about three minutes late.

Love it! that thar is funny.

 

[Golddiggie]

I found that rehydrating the Irish moss when the boil started, and then adding it with 15 minutes left worked well. I switched to Whirlfloc about 4 years ago, and now only use whirlfloc. I add it at 12 minutes, because I almost always forget at 15 minutes, and say, "Oh, ****!" and add them about three minutes late.

You mean your whip handle doesn't double as a Whirlfloc tablet dispenser?

BTW, I don't see homebrew "Beer Farts" as being a negative thing... Just means I'm getting my RDA of B-complex... :rockin: If you live with someone, you can also use it to prime up for "Dutch Oven's" during the winter.

 

[Sean]

i've used knox gelatin at bottling also. No problems, but I prefer the clarity that comes with drinking a few to the clarity that seaweed gives.

How do you use gelatin at bottling?

 

[Northcalais40]

Dissolve it in cooled,boiled water and add it with your priming sugar. I think, there are many threads here, thats where I heard of it.

 

[amb1935]

Just used Irish Moss for the first time on my 5th all grain brew with fantastic results. I didn't even rehydrate it, but when bottling the beer it was crystal clear. I was very pleased.

 

[Yooper]

Dissolve it in cooled,boiled water and add it with your priming sugar. I think, there are many threads here, thats where I heard of it.

I wouldn't do that. You'd have JellO blobs in your bottles. You add it to secondary, then rack off of the Jell-O sediment, and into your bottling bucket when it's time to bottle. You don't want JellO beer, I'm pretty sure!

 

[old_tx_kbb]

I made IIPA jello once trying to clear up my IIPA. I had cold crashed my beer that was in secondary and just emptied a pachage of Knox unflavored gelatin into my fermenter.

here's the last part of my old thread on that advdenture:

"I'm all in at this point...try to fix it or dump it....

I decided try to fix this batch of double IPA beer jello. I followed the expert advice of using another packet of Knox that I allowed to bloom for about 10 minutes before heating to just simmering probably about 180 degrees. I allowed it to cool for about 10 minutes and added it gently into my fermenter. I also added a package of liquid isinglass.

After 12 hours I didn't see any change.....so I ordered another keg and a filtration system online hoping that if the beer wouldn't clear with the jello and fish guts that maybe I could filter out the cloudiness and the jello.
After 20 hours, the beer is crystal clear, no more jello and no need to filter it. And ....it tastes great! I'll keg it in a couple of days and carbonate it.

My thanks to everyone for helping me save this 10% all grain IPA. I've learned a valuable lesson."


I also got to add another keg and filtration system to my brewing hardware collection.