Filtering Post-Boil Wort and Irish Moss

[cleone]

Howdy,

I keep thinking about adding filtering or whirlpooling to my racking to the primary. If the irish moss pieces are not tranferred to the primary, will the fining still be effective? In other words, is the carrageenan and other fining components already released from the irish moss and distributed in the wort?

Any thoughts?

[brewmeisterintng]

I use to be overly concerned about what made it's way into the primary but now I just try to limit what makes it in. If you get a good hot break during the boil, add your moss during the last 15 minutes, and get a good cold break, most of the junk will fall to the bottom of the brew pot. Syphon the wort into the primary leaving as much of the break material in the pot. I have had as much as two inches of trub/ yeast in the carboy after the fermentation. Transfering to a secondary for two weeks will allow the stuff in suspension to fall out. Chilling at the end of the secondary helps.

[slothrob]

The Irish Moss does it's stuff when you chill the beer, so, yes, it's in the beer during the boil, then brings down the cold break. Don't worry about changing any of your practices to keep it in the primary.

[manplant]

Does Irish Moss impart any flavor on the beer?

[slothrob]

I've never noticed a flavor in beers where I've used Irish Moss that wasn't in beers when I didn't use Irish Moss. That's all I can really say. I was kind of surprised, since it has a pretty strong smell.

[hansolo]

As everyone who has ever used Irish moss knows, the smell it gives off when you open the container is a vile, fishy smell. It is very hard to believe that something that disgusting wouldn't add a nasty flavor to your beer but it doesn't. My friend and I have brewed a recipe twice, once with and once without Irish moss, and have not tasted any difference between the two. As for filtering, I have come to the conclusion that the more you filter out, the more the taste loses out. If you are just starting out, go the extra mile and get another fermenting bucket or carboy for secondary fermentation. It really helps with settling the "debris" in the beer, without sacrificing the taste. Because who wants it to taste like the Big Breweries beers? Yeetch!

[chils]

When I get done w/ my grain bag I will rinse it well and put it in a small bowl full of mixed starsan.Then when I have cooled my wort I will stretch the bag over a strainer and pour the wort thru it into the fermenter.This gets out a ton of hop residue and any other adjuncts you have used in the brewing process along with aereating the wort and speeding up your yeast's process(I have most batches bubbling w/in 1hour).Before I did this I brewed a batch and put all the crud into the fermenter which ended up tasting very crappy and I suffered thru drinking all 50 bottles of it.