Irish Moss and Transfer of the Break to Primary

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cleone
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Irish Moss and Transfer of the Break to Primary

Post by cleone »

Have been all-grain brewing for a while now and trying to improve the lesser aspects of the brew--such as chill haze. I routinely add 1 tbsp of Irish Moss to the last 15 minutes of boil. I have been transferring the entire contents of the wort and break material to the primary.

I keep thinking about whirlpooling and avoiding transfer of the break to my primary, but I am not sure if this will negate the fining of the Irish Moss.

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?
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brewmeisterintng
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I might be wrong

Post by brewmeisterintng »

But I thought that Irish Moss did it's job in that last 15 minutes of the boil dragging all the stuff that would result in chill haze with it to the bottom of the pot. When I transfer to the primary, I leave all the crud in the bottom of the brew pot. I am no expert and really don't get overly excited over a little chill haze especially if the beer tastes great.

Regards,

James
cleone
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Post by cleone »

James,

The one thing I notice when I do not add Irish Moss (e.g. weizen) is that the trub does not floc together at the bottom of the primary. Irish Moss provides a very noticeable floc of the trub when I transfer to the secondary (kinda like dingle berries :wink: ). So, I must assume that in addition to whatever benefits it provides in the brew kettle, it is also helping fin during fermentation.

I just brewed a new batch today and made sure to avoid transferring the break (and irish moss) to the primary. Will see if the same floccing action occurs during fermentation and update this thread in a few weeks with the results. My guess is that all the Irish Moss goodness has been extracted into the wort and will still fin the primary.

Thanks for the reply,

Chris
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brewmeisterintng
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I'm betting you are right

Post by brewmeisterintng »

I have been brewing following those steps for years. I have read quite a few books that describe leaving the break material behind. During fermentation quite a bunch of junk and yeast settles to the bottom of the carboy which I attempt to leave when I transfer to the secondary. I now use Whirlfloc tablets instead of Irish moss. Not sure it there is a big difference but it is more convenient to just toss one tablet in during the last 15 minutes of the boil.

James
cleone
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Leave as much break behind as you can

Post by cleone »

To update this thread:

Just transferred my latest batch from primary to secondary. This was a test batch where I made a point to avoid transferring the irish moss material and as much break as possible.

The batch still flocced all the trub as usual, so sounds like all the essence of the irish moss (carrageenan) is extracted during the boil and transfer of the irish moss is not needed.

Sounds like the common belief about leaving as much break behind in the brewpot rings true . . .
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