• Our Expertise
    • Brewery Laboratory
    • Technical Support
    • Brewery Training
    • Brewery Masterclass
  • Technical Resources
  • Brochures
    • Chemistry & Microbiological Service

    • Wine & Cider

  • About Us
  • Products
Murphy and Son Murphy and Son
Call
  • Our Expertise
    • Brewery LaboratoryHelping you meet your quality and regulatory requirements.
    • Technical Support
    • Brewery TrainingSpecialised short courses designed by brewers, for brewers!
    • Brewery MasterclassOur auditing service to support the most complex queries.
  • Technical Resources
  • Brochures
    • Chemistry & Microbiological Service

    • Wine & Cider

  • About Us
  • Products
Murphy and Son Murphy and Son Phone number 0115 978 5494

Addition of Copper Finings

  • Home
  • Technical Articles
  • Addition of Copper Finings

General Considerations

  • Copper finings are derived from seaweeds and the active ingredients are carrageenans and furcellarans. They are available as dried seaweed, e.g. Irish Moss, or as extracts in the form of either pellets or powders.
  • Copper finings can be added directly to the copper. Alternatively powders can be slurried with cold liquor prior to addition.
  • The optimum rate of addition of finings should be determined annually when starting the new season’s malt or whenever there is a change in the type or supplier of malt.
  • The rate of addition of finings will affect the clarity of both hot and cooled wort. Incorrect addition of copper finings (both over and under) can give poor fining action in the cooled wort and beer which fines with difficulty.

Range of Values

  • Optimum rates of addition may vary from one malt variety to another, from season to season and from brewhouse to brewhouse. Murphys are happy to offer an annual optimisation service to our customers, either in our labs or on-site.
  • Typical rates of addition are in the order of 1·0 – 5·0 gms per Hectolitre (10 ppm to 50 ppm, 1·63 – 8·15 gms per barrel).• Hot breaks should consist of large flocs in bright wort. Cold breaks should be a heavy fine sediment in bright wort.
  • The haziness of worts from the heat exchanger should be within the range of 2 – 6 E.B.C. haze units. If worts are too bright fermentation problems are sometimes encountered because the release of carbon dioxide and consequent ‘stirring action’ that such a release promotes, are hindered.

Operational Protocols

  • When casting to a hop-back, finings are added during the last 5 to 15 minutes of boiling. If the practice is to recycle worts at the hop-back finings can be added at this point. When using a Whirlpool, finings should be added at casting from the copper.
  • Whatever method of addition is used the copper finings must be evenly dispersed.
  • Rates of addition should be optimised according to results obtained.

Measurement Protocols

  • The formation of hot breaks is assessed visually after sampling from the copper at casting.
  • Cold breaks are assessed visually after sampling from the cold wort mains and allowing to stand for a minimum of 2 hours.
  • Rate of addition of finings; a graph is drawn of casting, gravity against rate of addition of copper finings and breaks are indicated as excellent, good or poor. The rate of addition is altered when poor results are observed.

Post navigation

Previous
Next
Filter by
  • Brewery Supplies Shop
  • Cleaning and Delivery
  • Finings
  • Foam Aids, Filter Aids and Stabilisers
  • Processing Aids
  • Raw Materials
  • Technical Equipment and Services
  • Wine & Cider

Need technical advice?

Talk to the people in the know by calling one of our qualified brewers on 0115 978 5494.

Read our FAQs Get in touch
Support & Services
  • Our Laboratory Services
  • Research & Development
  • Testing Packages
  • Chemistry & Microbiological Tests
  • Product Clarity Optimisations
  • Wet Yeast Service
Resources
  • Datasheets
  • Technical Articles
  • Tips & Guides
  • Blog
  • Laboratory
  • View All Resources
Buy Brewing Supplies
  • Online Shop
  • Liquor Treatments
  • Beer Fining Agents
  • Brewers Malts
  • Hops
  • Beer Yeast
  • Brewing Equipment
About Us
  • Our Story
  • Meet the team
  • News & Events
  • Catomance Technologies
  • Our Global Distribution Partners
  • Offers Terms and Conditions
  • Contact
Facebook icon
Twitter icon
Instagram icon
Linkedin icon
Linkedin icon
Youtube icon
footer logos
Murphy & Son Limited, Alpine Street, Old Basford, Nottingham, NG6 0HQ 0115 978 5494 sales@murphyandson.co.uk
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Legal
© 2025 Murphy and Son Website by Hallam
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT