Yeast & Gravity -and- too much Irish Moss? Help!

[Legitikick]

Okay, so I'm brewing right now and realized that this Wyeast 1968 London ESB yeast package says "The Activator is designed to inoculate 5 gallons of wort (up to 1.060 SG) . . ." Okay, well this honey brew I have going should come out to 1.067. Should I be afraid that this yeast won't start fermentation? Is there anything I should do to aid it, higher heat or something? This is not the yeast that this recipe calls for.

And . . . I'm halving a recipe and kinda forgot to halve the irish moss, so I have 2/3 teaspoon in a 5g batch, is this going to screw it up?

 

[VermVerm]

The irish moss shouldn't cause any issues at that level from my experiences. It will just be a really clear beer. Are you using real honey or Honey Malt? If your yeast is already active, either a starter or a Wyeast package then it should start fine. Get some Yeast nutrient to help it out a little. If it takes a little bit to show some action don't be afraid the shake the hell out of it. My prediction is it will turn out beer in some fashion and you will respond by drinking said beer for you enjoyment.

 

[Funkenjaeger]

It is always wiser to make a starter with liquid yeast. The only time I'd feel okay about pitching a packet directly was if it was pretty fresh, and the batch was very low-gravity (1.040 or below). 1.067 is a little on the high side of medium-gravity, though certainly not "huge". You will most likely be okay, but do what you can to help the yeast out - aerate as well as you can before pitching, and use some yeast nutrient if you can... And be prepared for a stuck fermentation just in case it happens - do some research, keep some dry yeast on hand, etc.

The above poster is right, the irish moss won't hurt anything. All it does is coagulate and precipitate proteins after the boil, the excess irish moss should settle out just the same.

 

[Chriso]

I thought recommended usage was 1 tsp per 5 gal batch, which would mean you were actually under on irish moss.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I've used 3 tsps of Irish Moss before and didn't notice any problems...

 

[Legitikick]

There's some wheat malt in this brew, so this might be a bit strange being so clear.

Okay, so basically I'll just set the room temp to 75 and shake well. Nothing more I can do right now.

 

[Legitikick]

Thanks a lot for your help guys, I really appreciate it.

 

[ajf]

As the others have said, the Irish Moss addition is fine.
As for the yeast, it will start fermenting just fine, but will probably leave you with a high final gravity in the region of 1.020 - 1.022. (You may get lower if you crank the temperature up to 75. (I've never deliberately gone above 68.)
It is also a very flocculant yeast, and I always give it a rousing after the airlock activity stops. This usually restarts airlock activity for a few more days.

-a.