Irish Moss and clarifiers

My english blonde is REALLY cloudy. I also forgot to add Irish moss during the boil for this one and the only beers I’ve forgotten on before were dark enough to not be noticeable. Does Irish moss clarify the beer a lot, or is it really just minor tweaking? Does it clear out protein haze or is that unavoidable outside of a protein rest during mashing?

Jacob

Irish moss helps, but is totally unnecessary to clarify. I just brewed a kolsch that had no irish moss. I cold conditioned it for 4 weeks and by the end of that time it was clear as anything you’d want. If you have the fridge to do it, cold condition the brew and it will clarify.

If not, try isinglass (sp?). I’ve added this to a secondary a few times and I think it had pretty good results.----------

Originally posted by Inveigler
Irish moss helps, but is totally unnecessary to clarify. I just brewed a kolsch that had no irish moss. I cold conditioned it for 4 weeks and by the end of that time it was clear as anything you’d want. If you have the fridge to do it, cold condition the brew and it will clarify.

If not, try isinglass (sp?). I’ve added this to a secondary a few times and I think it had pretty good results.----------

I had the same problem, with the same style of beer. I used a tbsp of geletin, dissolved in hot water and it dropped bright in under 24 hours.

Originally posted by erway

Originally posted by Inveigler
Irish moss helps, but is totally unnecessary to clarify. I just brewed a kolsch that had no irish moss. I cold conditioned it for 4 weeks and by the end of that time it was clear as anything you’d want. If you have the fridge to do it, cold condition the brew and it will clarify.

If not, try isinglass (sp?). I’ve added this to a secondary a few times and I think it had pretty good results.----------

Fish bladders! That’s some pretty nasty stuff which is why almost no pro-brewers use it any longer. And if you are going to crash the beer then isinglass would be redundant. I disagree that Irish Moss is "totally unnecessary". While you can get a clear beer without it, as Rogue claims to do, it is a hell of a lot easier with Irish Moss. I use it in every beer except ones that I intend on being cloudy. Cold conditioning will drop out hop haze and yeast but will not clear the beer of all protein haze. If you used wheat, 6-row, or Continental Pils malt then doing a protein rest would have helped but if you used a regular well-modified malt then it wouldn’t have done much if anything. On that note I’d say that crashing it out is the best option. Give it two weeks and see if it’s cleared. If it has, great. If not...so you’ve got a cloudy beer. Worst things have happened. All beer until about 1820 was cloudy. They seemed to like it enough to make it that way for a few thousand years. Best of luck.

Originally posted by erway
Give it two weeks and see if it’s cleared. If it has, great. If not...so you’ve got a cloudy beer. Worst things have happened. All beer until about 1820 was cloudy. They seemed to like it enough to make it that way for a few thousand years. Best of luck.

I tried some clarifiers on some beer, I didn’t like the results it affected the flavor I think. But it wasn’t a scientific study by any means, but I won’t ever do it again. I used PPV , but not gelatin. I have talked to a guy the uses gelatin a lot, but I see no need for it, after kegging and in the refer, it clears out nicely in time, and if not, it still tastes great.

Originally posted by erway
Fish bladders! That’s some pretty nasty stuff which is why almost no pro-brewers use it any longer.

I find that witfloc tablets work much better than Irish moss at making the break coagulate. Just a suggestion for the future...

Really, any beer will clear if you give it enough time whether you want it to or not.

I’ve found most hop-induced hazes don’t drop out with just cold-conditioning. If it does, you aren’t using enough hops. Order a Pliny at RR and you’ll see what I mean. People ask what’s wrong if the beer looks too clear.

Good hot and cold breaks go a long way toward preventing hazing issues.

Originally posted by SaveTheAles
I’ve found most hop-induced hazes don’t drop out with just cold-conditioning.