Negatively Charge wort to coagulate proteins

[RedmondUK]

This might be a stupid question. I've read online that Irish moss is used to coagulate proteins because Irish moss has a negative charge and the proteins have a positive charge. This helps the proteins clump together and drop to the bottom of the boiler after the boil. This been the case would it be possible rather than using Irish moss could the wort be negatively charged using a car battery for instance. This might be a bit of a silly question and they may be an obvious answer to why it would not work or why it's a bad idea, I'm just curious to know if this would work as it seems plausible.

Thanks for any replies in advance



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[Doctor_M]

Hopefully someone comes along and has an answer, would be cool if it works but seems like an awful lot of work and the possibility of an electrical shock when whirlfloc/ Irish moss is readily available and cheap. With that being said it is a good question and homebrewing is all about experimentation!

 

[MattGuk]

I would also like to know then answer to this, although as doctor m said, protofloc and irish moss as easily available, it sounds like good question with what would be an interesting answer if it would work.

 

[RedmondUK]

I'm wondering if this method would be more efficient in removing proteins


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[kanzimonson]

Please do not try this. Sixty pounds of electrically charged mess would be very dangerous.

It's been a long time since my last chemistry class, but lemme put it in simple terms. Remember the left and right sides of the periodic table? The elements on the left tend to be positively charged, while on the right they're negative. That's why stuff like sodium chloride, calcium chloride, or dihydrogen monoxide (water) tend to bond together very stably.

You can't just add electrons and stably balance out the positively charged proteins. It's much more effective to provide a molecule that has a negative charge (when it dissociates in water) so that the bond will naturally occur.

Kinda like in chemistry class when you're given a mystery solution and you have to add different stuff to it to see what precipitates out. We're playing off of molecules affinity/likelihood of bonding with other stuff.

Don't kill yourself!

 

[mark7347]

Please do not try this. Sixty pounds of electrically charged mess would be very dangerous.

It's been a long time since my last chemistry class, but lemme put it in simple terms. Remember the left and right sides of the periodic table? The elements on the left tend to be positively charged, while on the right they're negative. That's why stuff like sodium chloride, calcium chloride, or dihydrogen monoxide (water) tend to bond together very stably.

You can't just add electrons and stably balance out the positively charged proteins. It's much more effective to provide a molecule that has a negative charge (when it dissociates in water) so that the bond will naturally occur.

Kinda like in chemistry class when you're given a mystery solution and you have to add different stuff to it to see what precipitates out. We're playing off of molecules affinity/likelihood of bonding with other stuff.

Don't kill yourself!

This. Do not use a car battery or home outlet on anything beer. You will die. The only thing you'll learn about is how to complete a circuit.

On the plus side, you won't have to worry about cloudy beer anymore!

 

[DurtyChemist]

Do it. Please setup a video camera and post the video.

 

[mark7347]

Do it. Please setup a video camera and post the video.

Have a friend post it lol

 

[DrunkleJon]

Just a question, all safety issues of electricuting your wort aside. How would you go about negatively charging your wort with a car battery? Using the negative pole of an electromagnet? Just putting the leads into the wort?

Even if it was simply doable which i doubt could be done cheaply and easily (or safely), think of surface area, etc. Irish moss distributes throughout the wort and collects the proteins then when they load themselves up enough and become larger masses become heavy and fall out of suspension to the bottom. My thoughts would be that applying a negative charge would only collect the proteins from the point of negative charge and the rest could be left untouched. Then there is the consideration of how you would manage the fallout. By grace of the clumping action Irish Moss and other finings make for larger masses which are heavier and stay in the bottom where if you could make it work your way, I would think that the debris would easily be stirred back into suspension unless you could remove it somehow.

Then again this is just my unscientific opinion.

 

[mark7347]

Right. A battery terminal won't do anything.