Irish Moss and getting rid of trub

[shirknsons]

I know that trub is harmless when left at the bottom of the bottle, and cloudy beer is fine. I am just curious, what is Irish moss and how do you use it? Do you add it to the last 15 mins of the boil? Or when the boil is over? Also anyone have any techniques that help get rid of trub? If this was posted before please send a link if you can. I'm new to Irish moss.

 

[JonK331]

"Beer can be clairified using Irish moss, a fining agent. Fining agents all work by making the smaller molecules aggregate into larger particles so they settle out of solution. This can be mathematically described by Stokes Law:

Where v is the rate of sedimentation, r1 is the density of the particle and r2 is the density of the wort, r is the radius of the particle, g is 9.8 m/sec2 (a.k.a. acceleration due to gravity), and h is the viscosity of the medium. In other words, as the density and size of the particle increases it will settle out faster. In addition, a thinner wort will allow settling to occur faster.

Irish moss is Atlantic red seaweed[2] that contains k-carrageenan:
The k-carrageenan is a polymer of β-D-galactose-4-sulphate-3,6-anhydro-a-D-galactose. It is similar to starch or cellulose (i.e. comprised of thousands of carbohydrates). The negatively charged sulfate groups are thought to interact with the proteins in suspension. As the wort cools, more and more proteins interact with the k-carrageenan and the k-carrageenan adopts a more compact structure. The result is the molecular equivalent of marbles in syrup. After the churning of an active fermentation ends (4-5 days) the carrageenan-protein chunks settle out with the yeast.

Homebrewed beer is still often cloudy, but Irish moss does make a noticable difference."

http://homebrewandchemistry.blogspot.com/2009/01/irish-moss-brief-description.html

Basically, you add it at the last 15-20 minutes of the boil and it makes the proteins fall out of the beer giving you a clearer product. Another thing to note is that Irish Moss is the same thing as Whirlfloc which is ground up Irish Moss that comes in little tablets. I personally think Whirlfloc is a little bit more convenient. I have never brewed without using whirlfloc.

As for the trub, the easiest way to get rid of it is just to let it settle out and rack your beer off the top into your bottling bucket or keg. Some people do a whirlpool so that very little trub makes it into the fermenter in the first place but that is a bit trickier.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/dealing-trub-221815/

 

[justtaint]

I've been adding 1 tablespoon during the last 15 minutes of the boil.

Chemisty behind Irish Moss

*looks like Jon beat me to it

 

[ajf]

I've been adding 1 tablespoon during the last 15 minutes of the boil.

Chemisty behind Irish Moss

*looks like Jon beat me to it

For a 5g batch, I think you would do better with a teaspoon or less.

-a.

 

[BlondIrishGuy]

Do you just throw a pinch of it in there, or do you use an infuser or little mesh bag or somthing similar?

I ask, because my brewing buddy at work gave me some and I want to try it on my next batch.

 

[Kjay]

Does Irish moss work with extract brews?

 

[VTBrewer]

1 teaspoon at 15 mins just thrown in works with extract and or ag.

 

[Hockeyhunter99]

There is no such thing as too much (to a point) or too little irish moss. it is pretty cheap and and oz can go a long way with many batches. i usually buy a bottle of it every few months with the rest of my brew material. i don't measure teaspoon or table spoon, just like cooking. exact amounts are not necessary.

i personally love the outcome of the clarity of my beer when i use irish moss.

 

[JLem]

There is no such thing as too much (to a point) or too little irish moss. it is pretty cheap and and oz can go a long way with many batches. i usually buy a bottle of it every few months with the rest of my brew material. i don't measure teaspoon or table spoon, just like cooking. exact amounts are not necessary.

i personally love the outcome of the clarity of my beer when i use irish moss.

Well, it would take a lot to overdo it, but too much Irish moss will add a seaweed flavor and aroma. I rehydrated mine in a little water before using and it smells like the beach (not unpleasant in it's own right, but not a flavor/aroma I want in my beers)

Sent from my iPod touch using HB Talk

 

[Kjay]

The only reason I ask is because in the How to brew book Palmer says that Irish moss is not recomended with an extract based wort.

 

[Hockeyhunter99]

true that an ounce would be a little over board but mostly it is not much different

i only brew with extract, (for now)

 

[Toecutter]

I buy mine in bulk by the Lb. and it comes in shreds. Would it work better by grinding it into a fine powder ?? I have noticed the rehydrated shreds in the bottom of the kettle with the break material after transfering to the fermenter

 

[JonK331]

If you buy whirlfloc all you have to do is throw in a tab, no worry about quantity. Both Irish Moss and Whirlfloc do in fact work for extract and all grain.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I toss in one teaspoon per five gallons. No need to rehydrate or anything like that.

As far as trub goes, there's no way to completely eliminate it. It is just part of the fermentation process. Large particles in the wort drop along with most of the yeast. No way to avoid that part. You can do things like straining and whirlpooling the wort before it goes in the fermenter to get rid of some of the larger stuff like hop pieces and any grain bits that made their way into the kettle. You can cold crash or let the beer bulk age for a long period of time to get more yeast to settle out before bottling or kegging. You can use fining agents in the kettle and in the fermenter. You can also filter before kegging, if you keg, and get rid of most of it. Really beyond filtering you will always end up with some trub in the final product.

 

[shirknsons]

I realize there will always be trub, maybe I asked the question wrong. I seem to get quite a bit in some of my bottles which I realize hurts nothing as long as I pour the beer into a glass. And the beer is still tasty, I was just curious if there were any methods to reduce the trub, or to stop it from getting into my bottles. Thanks all for the advice. When you say whirlpooling, do you mean to just stir the trub before putting into the fermenter? I am fairly new at trying to reduce trub and clarity. No biggie, but sometimes I am a bit of a perfectionist!

 

[Kjay]

You just get used to when to pull back on pourign you can watch the trub travel up the neck of the bottle then stop. And after a while you will just finish that off before you rinse any ways. some brews are better than others some of it holds tight some of it swirls easy. Anyways you will get the hang of it

Keep your stick on the ice,

Kris

HERE WE GO STEELERS!!