Irish Moss

I'd like to know just what exactly Irish Moss is supposed to do. I generaly use it, just following the recipe, but wonder if I may be canceling out its function somehow. I add the flakes, sometimes rehydrated, in the amount of one tsp. during the last 15 minutes of the boil. One question: What is so "magical" about 15 minutes? The other concern is that since I usually just pour my cooled wort directly into the fermenter, I'm not separating out the proteins that the IM was supposed to settle out. Or do the protein particles just go ahead and settle out anyway as fermentation progresses, being largely removed during transfer to secondary? In this case has the IM helped the process, or could I just as well skip using it?

Ok... found a link to an article I printed out years ago:

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In short, Irish Moss "... is useful to brewers because it is a negatively charged polymer that attracts to positively charged protein-tannin complexes (extracted from grain husks and hops) during the boil."

Again, from that document: "Maximum effectiveness of Irish moss is achieved by adding it during the last 20 minutes of the boil, over boiling Irish moss can degrade it and make it ineffective."

I think that the IM connects with the proteins and they settle out in the primary and will be left behind when racking (if you don't separate right after the boil).

I *think* that the IM helps remove the proteins that cause chill haze, so, yes, it does help more than just primary/secondary. The main other way to prevent chill haze is to refridgerate the beer for several weeks (lager/cold condition) to allow it to settle out (however, if/when the beer warms up again, the haze will re-dissolve and re-appear).

Derric