[nvshooter2276]

Can Irish Moss be thrown down my hop spider during the boil? Or do I want the stuff to be swimming around freely throughout the boil? I plan to also use unflavored gelatin come Bottling Day.

My hop spider is four inches in diameter by sixteen inches tall. I had it made so tall so that I could stir the wort with the spider. It's 300 microns. Would using it to stir the wort cause tiny pieces of the hop pellets to escape the spider and find their way into my fermenter?

I have a piece of 110-micron nylon cloth that I plan to secure to my fermenter with bungees, and then pour the cooled wort through the cloth. I'm convincing myself that such procedures will keep the large majority of the hop slop out of my fermenter.

[denny]

It will probably work better directly in the kettle

[CounterPressure]

I always threw it right in the kettle but I also quit using it many years ago. I found that my yeast cake in the fermenter was on the order of three times as large with gigantic chunks of spongy protein and yeast which caused my beer yield to drop so far as to get me to quit using it. Whirlflock or what's the other tablet stuff, works just as well if not better and doesn't leave you with chunks of stuff in the beer. And if any of that stuff ever makes it through into your keg, it's going to plug the dip tube and poppets better than you could do with silicone gasket material.

[chumley]

I agree with CounterPressure. Whirlfloc is an excellent product. I haven't used Irish moss in over a decade.

[neuse]

I always threw it right in the kettle but I also quit using it many years ago. I found that my yeast cake in the fermenter was on the order of three times as large with gigantic chunks of spongy protein and yeast which caused my beer yield to drop so far as to get me to quit using it. Whirlflock or what's the other tablet stuff, works just as well if not better and doesn't leave you with chunks of stuff in the beer. And if any of that stuff ever makes it through into your keg, it's going to plug the dip tube and poppets better than you could do with silicone gasket material.

A few years ago I did an experiment using more Irish Moss because of some problem with chill haze. I went all the way up to 2 tsp in a 5 gallon batch. I got really large curds in the trub, but it had very little effect on the amount of trub loss. But I did find that it pretty much killed the head retention. I went back to 1/2 tsp for a 5 gallon batch.

[denny]

I always threw it right in the kettle but I also quit using it many years ago. I found that my yeast cake in the fermenter was on the order of three times as large with gigantic chunks of spongy protein and yeast which caused my beer yield to drop so far as to get me to quit using it. Whirlflock or what's the other tablet stuff, works just as well if not better and doesn't leave you with chunks of stuff in the beer. And if any of that stuff ever makes it through into your keg, it's going to plug the dip tube and poppets better than you could do with silicone gasket material.

A few years ago I did an experiment using more Irish Moss because of some problem with chill haze. I went all the way up to 2 tsp in a 5 gallon batch. I got really large curds in the trub, but it had very little effect on the amount of trub loss. But I did find that it pretty much killed the head retention. I went back to 1/2 tsp for a 5 gallon batch.

That outcome is well documented.  Unfortunately you aren't the first to encounter it.

[CounterPressure]

That outcome is well documented.  Unfortunately you aren't the first to encounter it.

Well unfortunately nobody told me it was well documented, so I had to figure it out for myself.

[denny]

That outcome is well documented.  Unfortunately you aren't the first to encounter it.

Well unfortunately nobody told me it was well documented, so I had to figure it out for myself.

As with many things, huh?