Measuring Irish Moss?

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SteveH

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Morning, how do folks measure Irish moss when added to the boil?

I read 1tsp per 5 gallons, and I'm adding to about half that (12-13l towards the end of the boil, aiming for ~10l in the fermenter) so in my first brew I carefully weighed 2.5g and chucked it in.

This did cause stuff to clump quickly in the boil, but it seemed like too much, it was way more than a teaspoon by volume, and the trub in the fermenter looked weird/floating after 14 days of fermentation (see pic). I did pour the entire kettle into the fermenter including all the break material, which may have contributed to this.

I bottled the beer anyway, and it's already looking super clear after only a few days, but I've no idea if the flavor will be OK yet.

Then my second brew this weekend I used a teaspoon to measure and added about half a teaspoon - I didn't weigh it but it was a lot less than last time, maybe 1g. Didn't seem to do much in the boil but I got a pretty good cold break after cooling so maybe it worked?

Any tips on the best way to use this - am I better looking at one of the refined tablet fining products and perhaps cutting a tablet in half for these smaller batches?
 

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I found a pinch is as much as I need in 23L batches and if I use a tea spoon full it causes the yeast to clump up in bit floating lumps.
 
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Ah. I had the big floaty clumps after using some granulated moss after I ran out of my usual tablet form. It did look wierd but as everything looked ok and smelled and tasted fine on bottling I wasn't bothered.
Incidentally,while on the subject,what difference if any is there between the various types available?
 
I dont use irish moss but protafloc. I ground up all the tablets that I had and put the powder in a centrifuge tube. I use 1/8 of a teaspoon (using some ASDA kitchen measuring spoons) per 5L, so 2x1/8 teaspoon for my normal brewlength of 10L. Doing this has made the 10 protafloc tabs I bought last a loooong time
 
Thanks for the feedback folks, I'll get some Protafloc added to my next ingredients order! :cheers3:
 
I use coarse irish moss as my wife bought it cause she wasn't certain the proto-something name was the right one. I chuck in a kitchen teaspoon of it into every batch mostly regardless of size, I've always done this and I get clear beer so I haven't ever thought about changing it. Just used up the first tub after 2 years of brewing and 21 brews.
 
Thanks for all the feedback - I tried a bottle of this last night (only 10 days in the bottle but I was impatient to find out if it was OK), and it tastes great!

Very relieved that there were no off flavors I could detect as a result of the excess irish moss and weird floating trub :beer1:

Going to try to resist drinking any more for a few weeks and save some for xmas :cheers3:

My second brew doesn't have the floating clumps (checked when dry-hopping yesterday), so it does seem related to how much irish moss I added.
 

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