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Relationship between irish moss and carbonation?

keithshead

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Can irish moss interfere with priming? i.e; all the yeast settles out and there is not enough left for carbonation
 
One uses irish moss (i.e., kettle finings=moss, whirlflock, SuperMoss, etc.) in the boil kettle in the last 10-15 minutes.  It helps coagulate some proteins out of the wort. 

So, the irish moss and all the unwanted proteins attached to it fall to the bottom of the boiler during cooling.  Hopefully, one is leaving it behind or straining it out on the way to the fermenter. 

If any moss made it to the fermenter, I personally have not read that it negatively affects yeast performance.  There are different "finings" used to clarify beers in the final days of conditioning or in the keg.  I believe it is possible to use too much of those finings and inadvertantly drop some of the proteins that boost body/mouthfeel, and also drop so much yeast that bottle priming might be tough.  Those finings include gelatin and PolyClar. 
 
Irish Moss will not interfere with priming. As ML stated it is used in the kettle, which will not affect the last stage of the process. One of my first AG Batches called for 1 teaspoon of Irish Moss and I added the entire container  :eek:  . No ill effects were noticed and the bottles carbonated with no problem.

Cheers
Preston
 
Cheers lads. Big help.  Still  new  to this and  was not  aware i was not  supposed to add finings if i am bottling beer.  reckon i added  a tad  too much  gelatin to  the secondary and my kolsch now seems to be  struggling to carbonate
 
It will carbonate, just give it time. How long has it been since you bottled it?

Cheers
Preston
 
oh, it's just under three weeks now. The recipe was for 5gallons and one and a quarter cups of DME for priming. Low?
 
Amount sounds OK.  DME is tougher to ferment than CS, so if you did drop more yeast than desired, it may take a while.  Set it aside and brew again!
 
Corn sugar is cheaper too and has never let me down.  If I am bottling from a long primary fermentation, I actually let a little yeast go from the carboy to the fermentor.
 
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