I forgot to add Irish miss in my last brew (an ipa) and its having some clearing issues. Could I “dry” Irish moss it? I don’t really have enough room in my fridge to cold crash it. Should I boil the moss in a small amount of water just to be sure of sanitation? I need to tack it off the dry hops anyways
nope. it needs to be boiled. IM helps to drop out hot break, mostly. It works in the kettle but won’t work on finished beer. If you have a yeast haze you can add some fining agents like gelatin or Biofine clear, which works well. Not sure of any way to drop out a protein haze post fermentation, though.
FWIW I like my American IPAs to have a bit of haze. Not a hefeweizen haze, but a slight haze from the hop resins. In fact, if an IPA gets too clear it usually loses much hop aroma and flavor as fining agents can cause the yeast to pull out the hop resins. If it is cloudy but tastes good you may want to just leave it alone.
Assuming that the problem is protein haze, you might be stuck. If it is the yeast, you might just need to wait it out or bottle a little cloudy. My IPA wasn’t clear at bottling so I just had a little extra lees in the bottle, but the beer poured to perfectly clear into the glass.
I never worry about clarity. The desire for bright beer is a by-product of modern commercial beer which is often filtered prior to packaging. IMO it has much to do with actual vs perceived “quality” other than what was previously stated by the good major.
Or, you could do what I do and call it a choppy wheat. ;D
I’ve been meaning to try this actually. Not with the irish moss from the LBHS but with agar powder or flakes. I DID try it once but I also cold crashed too much and the beer froze a little. I have no idea if it would have worked though and I have not tried again. If you try it let me know. If you use irish moss for brewing I think you would have to puree it in the blender or food processor so it was totally liquid for it to work. shootin in the dark here though so don’t take my word for it.
In my experience, gelatin also works on protein hazes.
Kai
Well I racked the beer yesterday because it needed to happen so I attempted it. It seems like it won’t work from your guy’s responses so if it doesnt then I’ll go get some gelatin. I ended up just sprinkling some at the bottom of my fermentor(my sanitation habits need to improve). As for the yeast I used wyeast American ale and it was bubbling nicely but after about 5 days it totally stopped, so it may be a yeast issue now that you’ve brought that up.
Hi Andrew,
I did this once with a mead. I boiled the Irish moss in a cup of water, cooled it and put it in the bottom of the secondary. Then I racked the mead on top and swirled it gently to get the mixture integrated. It worked like a charm for me. Good luck.
Cheers,
Janis
That’s awesome Janis!
I have been wanting to find a good post ferment vegetarian friendly fining agent. I will try this on my next brew.
I wonder if Whirlfloc boiled in a small amount of water would be a better option if you’re going to try this. Seems like it’s already pretty fine and is designed to disperse easily.
Despite Janis’ apparent success, I’m stumped. If it works without being boiled, it contradicts everything I know about the science of Irish moss.
I’m not too well versed in Irish moss, but maybe it just needs to boiled somewhere in the process and not necessarily in the wort? It seems like the active ingredient is similar to gelatin.
I would assume it would have to be boiled both for sanitation and for hydration. and I still think that the powdered agar would be even better than the flaked irish mosh so the whirlfloc might be good.
I am planning a 10 gallon kolche soon, perhaps there is an experiment in the offing?
were I to do that does it seem like we would get more info from;
a) no irish moss in the boil, one fermenter dosed post fermentation one not
OR
b) irish moss in the boil, one fermenter also dosed post fermentation one not.
Denny,
It seems that none of these descriptions require boil or a hot environment when IM and proteins interact.
Kai
That’s what I was thinking. It seems like the Irish moss needs to be boiled to extract the k-carrageenan from the plant material, but the interact between it and proteins maybe doesn’t have to occur in a hot enviroment?
I like the experiment idea (a, maybe?) provided that you can somehow ensure a less-than-clear beer.
Hmm, guess I didn’t read it that way. It would be nice to know that it worked without boiling. I’ve always understood that it needed the physical action to help coagulate the proteins.
The Tubercle doesn’t worry about haze.
But if it really bothers you the ultimate solution is a red solo cup
I only read it that way after I was told that it also works cold.
This may mean that gelatin may also work in the kettle.
Kai