Irish moss tablets

[mbeer]

I made my first batch of brown ale last night from grains and I used a tablet of Irish moss during the last five minutes of the boil. It is now in the carboy but there are lots of clumps floating at the top. I was just wondering if this was normal?? Thanks

 

[ImNoExpert]

Sounds like success to me.

Also, I've never heard of Irish moss in tablet form. At my LHBS, we get it in chunky(?) form. We do have whirl-floc in tablet. I just switched over to whirl-floc and noticed a substantial improvement in break and overall clarity from wort up to final product.

 

[woozy]

I was under the impression that Irish moss and whirlfloc were the same thing. I could be wrong though. Those floating chunks are what whirlfloc/irish moss does. They'll eventually sink. Congeling into weird and gross blobs means that they aren't spread out as hazy sediment throughout your beer. so it's actually a good but really gross thing.


Hmm, my last several batches haven't been doing this as much as my first few. I wonder why not.

 

[microbusbrewery]

Just an FYI, assuming you are talking about Whirlfloc, the proper dosage is 1 tablet per 10-15 gallon batch, so if you're doing 5 gallon batches you should use 1/2 tablet. Whirlfloc is made from Irish moss and Kappa carrageenan...kind of like Irish moss on steroids.

 

[woozy]

Just an FYI, assuming you are talking about Whirlfloc, the proper dosage is 1 tablet per 10-15 gallon batch, so if you're doing 5 gallon batches you should use 1/2 tablet. Whirlfloc is made from Irish moss and Kappa carrageenan...kind of like Irish moss on steroids.

Hmmmm... Welllllll....

The Tablets I buy from my LHBS have a label that reads:

Whirlfloc (Irish Moss) 5 Tablets

1 Table per 5 gallons of beer.
Add to the boil for the final 15 minutes.

Tha's what the label says. Which doesn't mean that it's correct but that is what it says.

Although the tablets from Midwest say otherwise (1 tablet per 10 gallons and last 5 minutes)

Could there be more than one type of tablet?

Although Northern Brewer agrees with my LHBS (but geez my LHBS charges a lot more).

Actually it looks like one tablet and two completely contradictory instructions.

 

[mbeer]

I made my first batch of brown ale last night from grains and I used a tablet of Irish moss during the last five minutes of the boil. It is now in the carboy but there are lots of clumps floating at the top. I was just wondering if this was normal?? Thanks

I made a 2 gallon batch and threw in a whole tablet. Will that mess things up??

 

[zacster]

I made a 2 gallon batch and threw in a whole tablet. Will that mess things up??

No, you'll be fine. It's just overkill.

 

[microbusbrewery]

Hmmmm... Welllllll....

The Tablets I buy from my LHBS have a label that reads:

Whirlfloc (Irish Moss) 5 Tablets

1 Table per 5 gallons of beer.
Add to the boil for the final 15 minutes.

Tha's what the label says. Which doesn't mean that it's correct but that is what it says.

Although the tablets from Midwest say otherwise (1 tablet per 10 gallons and last 5 minutes)

Could there be more than one type of tablet?

Although Northern Brewer agrees with my LHBS (but geez my LHBS charges a lot more).

Actually it looks like one tablet and two completely contradictory instructions.

They're made by Quest International out of Ireland. Using more than a half tablet is unnecessary. I've switched to 1/2 tablet at 5 minutes and it clears just as well as a whole tablet. Jamil Z and some of the other guys on The Brewing Network have also talked about it in a few of their shows. Check out post #7 in this thread for more info, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/whirlfloc-37012/#post362539

 

[woozy]

There's also this.

I think Quest International in Ireland was bought out by Kerry. It seems whirlfloc was intended for large quantities with 2 tablets for 12 to 25 gallons *but* if pH is low then dosages as high as 1 tablet for 5 gallons could be used.

Best results were in the last ten minutes. The "denaturing" for longer than 10 minutes *might* refer to the carragen which binds it in a capsule but then it might refer to the postive bonding.

I started a thread on this hoping to clear (!ha! "clear" get it?) things up (fat chance).