irish moss mess up?

[resq854]

Made my first attempt at anything besides a pure extract kit beer. I attempted Cheesefood's caramel vanilla ale. it involved steeping grain ( I think I did OK, maintained water at 165 the whole time) It alson involved using hop pellets, this went ok, all additions went in on time. Also my first attempt with irish moss(whirlfloc). tossed half a tablet in at the right time. At the end of the boil, I got my pot in the sink, iced it down, and strirred. And stirred. I got the whirlpool going, and saw material, mainly foam gathering at the middle. Everything sooled down fine, got to 75 deg. at about 35 minutes. I was expecting a big blob of "stuff" to be floating in the middle(I thought that was what irish moss was supposed to do) but all I had was some foam, and what appeared to be dissolved hop pellets. I poured into the primary bucket(Plastic 6.5 gallon) and left the foam floating in the pan. After adding my tube of liquid yeast (WL008), I had VERY active bubbling after 8 hours or so. This was all Fri night. Tonight I went into the basement, and still have bubbling, but not anywhere near as active. I pulled a small sample and checked it out. Lots of very fine chunks in the glass, and a strong alcohol nose. Tasting it was not fun. It has a very strong soapy taste. Irish moss still in there? I really don't know what I did wrong! I used the same sanitation strategy I've used on other batches, used the same water (walmart's spring water) So, do I wait it out? I have ordered a 5gal glass carboy to use as a secondary. I was going to transfer Friday night. Strain into it and hope for the best? I relly don't want to dump it, I had high hopes for it! But right now, I think I'd rather drink a hot Heinekin instead of this. Help!
Thanks for any input.

 

[Walker]

When you whirlpool the wort, you are creating a pile of sediment at the BOTTOM of the pot, not floating on the surface. You then have to siphon from the edge of the pot (not pour) to leave the sludge behind.

However, I don't think the whirlfloc (is that actually the same thing as irish moss?) is goin to cause you any problems. I often times just dump everything from my kettle into my fermenter and it doesn't mess up my beer at all.

If you have a soapy taste, Palmer says this:

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Soapy
Soapy flavors can caused by not washing your glass very well, but they can also be produced by the fermentation conditions. If you leave the beer in the primary fermentor for a relatively long period of time after primary fermentation is over ("long" depends on the style and other fermentation factors), soapy flavors can result from the breakdown of fatty acids in the trub. Soap is, by definition, the salt of a fatty acid; so you are literally tasting soap.

[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Honestly, I can't see how you would have soapy tastes unless it was your glass. Your beer has only been in the fermenter for a few days, so I don't think the trub is breaking down on you.

How warm is it where you have your fermenter. It sounds like your batch fermented out in 8 hours, which is pretty damn fast. This could happen in very warm conditions, and could have produced some strange flavors.

-walker
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[Ivan Lendl]

yeah irish moss is just like seaweed or something, nothing that will harm the beer.
i m sure the beer is fine, it always tastes 'weird' for the first few weeks, and this is not a good barometer for what the final product will be.

wait a week and rack it to the carboy, it should be alot clearer, and better tasting too.

on another note:
next time you might want to steep at a lower temp, normally around 155, 165 is damn near mash-out temps (168-170) any higher and you could leech tannins. Stay around 150-155 for steeping.

but then again steeping doesnt require strict temp. control, so if it works it works...

 

[resq854]

Ok. There was my first mistake, I didn't know the sediment was supposed to collect at the bottom. I misunderstood, and thought it was to collect at the top. One thing learned tonight. Temperature is 69 degrees in my basement, although it may vary a few degrees when the dryer is used. Temperature from the thermometer in the bucket says 71. It may have been the glass. I'll wait it out, and strain and hope for the best. Thanks.

 

[Ivan Lendl]

Ok. Temperature is 69 degrees in my basement, although it may vary a few degrees when the dryer is used. Temperature from the thermometer in the bucket says 71. It may have been the glass. I'll wait it out, and strain and hope for the best. Thanks.

thats perfect...fermentation will produce some heat so 71 sounds about right.
one question though: you have a basement? in VA? thats CRAZY!!!

 

[Walker]

Your temps are fine. And (from experience) I can tell you that having irish moss in your fermenter is OK.

I think you are getting a yeasty taste due to the massive amounts of yeast (your chunks) floating around in the fermenter. It'll taste completely different in a couple of weeks.

-walker

 

[resq854]

Yep. Four houses on my street are cape cods with basements. These four were all built in 1940. All of the others (8) are ranchers, built in 1975 or so. I like having a neighbor whose dad bought the first house on the street in 1940. Also, the basement is the only room in the house that's mine. Other than the laundry corner, her storage corner, the middle of it where she has stuff......... oh crap. 1900 square feet, and I can lay claim to about 7.5 square feet.
Seriously though, thanks for the help

 

[Lounge Lizard]

"I'll wait it out, and strain and hope for the best."


When you strain, don't use a strainer. Just rack it over to the secondary with an auto-siphon or racking cane (leaving the trub and gunk in the bottom behind). Straining through a strainer will aerate the wort, which you don't want to do except in the primary before you pitch the yeast. After two weeks in the secondary (I usually do three just for good measure), the particles you are concerned about will have settled to the bottom.

Then rack to the bottling bucket and once again leave the sediment behind.

Some people stick the end of their auto-siphon into a sanitized hop bag when racking. That kind of straining won't hurt.