Whirlfloc smells fishy

[captaincleanoff]

I have some fairly old whirlfloc... has quite a strong fishy smell.. so strong the cat and dog went nuts when I pulled the bag out. is this normal?! Cant remember it smelling like that before...

 

[mtb]

I hear occasional rumour of it imparting a "fishy" flavour to beer, so maybe moisture has gotten to it over time and brought out those same aromas in the packet? Given the relative low cost of a new packet, I suggest just chucking it.

 

[manticle]

Not normal

 

[Coodgee]

I think it's made from seaweed. But no, not normal. I wouldn't use it.

 

[kaiserben]

Yeah it's derived from seaweed.

I noticed when I was right at the end of a pack of whirfloc tabs (maybe 30 or 40 brews after I'd first bought and opened them, so they were getting very old), that it smelled a bit fishy once I'd chucked a tab into my boil.

Fresh pack of tabs now and not noticed it since.

EDIT: But definitely not strong enough of a smell to send cats & dogs nuts.

 

[Gigantorus]

Sounds like it has sweated - must have come in contact with some moisture at some point. Yeah core ingredient is seaweed.

 

[Andy_27]

Sniff some Irish Moss. It's seaweed derived and smells all the time, but I've never had an odd flavour in a beer. I believe Whirlfloc is just Irish Moss in tablet form. They probably mask the smell for commercial reasons. ie. exactly what you're doing. It smells funny so you hesitate using it.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

It must have gone Putrid. As for cooking, like home brewing. A stink flavour character will last the whole way through no matter how much you boil it.
Whirfloc tablets has no stink to it at all. So chuck it. Its gone putrid.

 

[Wimmig]

I'd chuck it and get some new tabs.

 

[kocken42]

Get a hold of some Isinglass and watch the pets go bonkers.

 

[jyo]

Mine has always smelled slightly seaweedy/fishy. That flavour has never transfered into the beer, so I'm not throwing it out.

 

[manticle]

When you hold it up to your nose, yes. Not when you just grab a tab out.

 

[jyo]

Yeah, fair call. The cat doesn't chase me around for it either.

 

[manticle]

Yeah mine have never shown any interest either although they do help with brewdays by sniffing my feet and rolling to show their belly at important times.

 

[jyo]

Ha, ours ignore mice and sleep.

 

[bradsbrew]

I have noticed the seaweed smell of late around the samw time the name was changed to deltafloc.

 

[dr K]

I just stuck my nose into almost a kilo of quite recent Whirlfloc T (where T is tablets), made me sneeze but no big fish.....or even little fish. Whirlfloc contains Kappa Carrageenan derived from Rhodophycae (red marine algae) but should have virtually no smell.
K