Forgot the Irish moss !

[BungBrew]

Well it just dawned on me I forgot to use the Irish moss at the end of my brew yesterday

Luckily it's a dark porter so hopefully my sins will be covered!

 

[Pogierob]

No sorry, you are officially the first brewer to forget the Irish moss and therefore the brew is destroyed.

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

Jay! IMO you're not a true brewer till you forget at least once. . I am honestly yet to see a major difference when I do and don't. I just continue to use it when I remember as it does not harm. But TBH, I feel other factors (hop quantity, grain choice) affect the size of my cone more than how much whirlflock I put in...

 

[Lochem]

just use gelatin. natural, unsweetened. works like a charm. google it if youre not sure how to use it.

PS there's a decent tutorial on the forum somewhere...

 

[Donske]

Jay! IMO you're not a true brewer till you forget at least once. . I am honestly yet to see a major difference when I do and don't. I just continue to use it when I remember as it does not harm. But TBH, I feel other factors (hop quantity, grain choice) affect the size of my cone more than how much whirlflock I put in...

The couple of times I have forgotten the whirlfoc I have had ******* awful haze in the finished product, now as you say, there are probably factors other than the whirlfloc contributing, but I'm convinced it helps more than some people give it credit for.

 

[mr_wibble]

I only put it in pale ales.
I don't worry about it at all normally. Although it does aid in whirlpooling I must admit.

 

[apples2910]

The couple of times I have forgotten the whirlfoc I have had ******* awful haze in the finished product, now as you say, there are probably factors other than the whirlfloc contributing, but I'm convinced it helps more than some people give it credit for.

As far as I know haze has no discernible taste or flavour, does it?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

The entire batch will need to be forwarded to me for QA.

I wont be able yo give you a definate answer untill about the 22nd longneck.

 

[BungBrew]

Well it's nearly fermented out, very murky atm but I'll CC it for a week.

 

[BungBrew]

The entire batch will need to be forwarded to me for QA.

I wont be able yo give you a definate answer untill about the 22nd longneck.

Happy to share a taster if/when you come down to ANHC

 

[Donske]

As far as I know haze has no discernible taste or flavour, does it?

Not that I can detect, it does make the beer seem worse though, pure aesthetics of course but the presentation is still a factor.

 

[Green-Lobster]

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[Lochem]

Not that I can detect, it does make the beer seem worse though, pure aesthetics of course but the presentation is still a factor.

As far as I know haze has no discernible taste or flavour, does it?

From my experience if no fining has been done to the beer I can taste a slightly "thicker" overall mouthfeel. Even if the beer was cold crashed before bottling.

I tasted a big difference in my very dark Porter, which was too dark to see anything at all floating in there. And it had been treated with gelatin. U can just simply taste the difference.

 

[eamonnfoley]

Welcome to the Reinheitsgebot..................only weaklings use irish moss and gelatin!!!

 

[marksy]

You have just reminded me that I have forgot to use it in last few brews. *****. How'd yours turn out?

 

[manticle]

The couple of times I have forgotten the whirlfoc I have had ******* awful haze in the finished product, now as you say, there are probably factors other than the whirlfloc contributing, but I'm convinced it helps more than some people give it credit for.

I was going to suggest that if you can't see a difference, you're probably doing something wrong.

I use it every brew but when I have missed it, the wort contains more floaties and the trub is much less compact and fluffs up at the slightest disturbance.
This is after 20 minute settling period, whirlpool and another 20 mins. Whirlfloc does what it is supposed to in my experience.
@Lochem - gelatine affects yeast, not break material. Separate process aids.

 

[manticle]

As far as I know haze has no discernible taste or flavour, does it?

Depends on the cause. Yeast haze? Yes, it tastes like yeast. Protein haze from hot break? Depends who you talk to but it can contribute astringency and accelerate staling. Protein haze from cold break (chill haze)? Not really in my experience.
There are other hazes like starch haze (rare in modern malt brews unless using heaps of unmalted cereal or not mashing properly). Not all hazes are necessarily bad but they are seldom good.

 

[Lochem]

I was going to suggest that if you can't see a difference, you're probably doing something wrong.

I use it every brew but when I have missed it, the wort contains more floaties and the trub is much less compact and fluffs up at the slightest disturbance.
This is after 20 minute settling period, whirlpool and another 20 mins. Whirlfloc does what it is supposed to in my experience.
@Lochem - gelatine affects yeast, not break material. Separate process aids.

Obviously I've got more to learn

 

[DUANNE]

if all youre processes are down pat you should not notice a big difference. i have left it out deliberatly in the past in a wheat beer hoping to encorouge a bit of haze and ended up with one of the clearest beers ive ever made.if you get a good hot break and leave the beer to cc long enough it shouldnt matter, all it really does is help to accelerate the settling of break material that will settle over time anyway.

 

[Donske]

if all youre processes are down pat you should not notice a big difference. i have left it out deliberatly in the past in a wheat beer hoping to encorouge a bit of haze and ended up with one of the clearest beers ive ever made.if you get a good hot break and leave the beer to cc long enough it shouldnt matter, all it really does is help to accelerate the settling of break material that will settle over time anyway.

Don't kettle finings also bind haze forming proteins to hot break and leave at least some of them behind in the trub?

I may have been misadvised though.
I hate to sound lazy but can someone actually give me a run down on what whirlfloc actually does? Apart from assist with hot break clumping.