Recently while beer shopping for a tasting, I noticed that Brooklyn Brewery’s “Big Bottles” are labeled as 100% bottle feremented. when checking their web site, it says they use an old rarely used technique to referment in these bottles, but does not really describe the process or why they use it. Does any one know how this process works or what the goal is here? Just something I have not seen before and it intrigued me. Any info would be most interesting
Maybe krausening?
http://beersmith.com/blog/2010/03/22/krausening-home-brewed-beer/
looks very interesting, if a bit complicated. I think that could be the answer. Thanks for the link.
That was just the first link in a google search for “krausening.” there are loads more.
There is sometimes confusion about krausening. It means to add actively fermenting wort. Besides being used for priming, it also works well to clean up diacetyl. Sometimes it is confused with “priming with gyle” which is using wort for priming that isn’t fermenting. I’ve tried it both ways and didn’t find any benefit to it.
This is referring to bottle conditioning. I assume they mean it is ‘rarely used’ in commercial brewing.
I’ve heard Garrett Oliver describe Brooklyn’s bottle conditioning technique as follows:
They run fermentation/bulk conditioning as normal, then filter out the primary yeast, then dose the filtered beer with priming sugar and bottling yeast immediately before packaging.
They filter the primary yeast first to control the amount of sediment in the bottle (and for clarity).
The beer is described as ‘100% re-fermented in the bottle’ because all carbonation comes from bottle conditioning. The beer is completely flat when it is bottled.
Sierra Nevada and others condition the same way. That is why the pale ale is nearly bright yet there is a small amount of sediment. If this is the case, “rarely” might be a bit of an exaggeration. By volume it could be considered rare, but by amount of breweries practicing this technique is would be common.
As a minimalist brewer who does not have the ability to keg or force carbonate, refermentation has been something I’m considering trying for my lagers. Typically I lager for 3-4 weeks, but I’m wondering if I could lager for longer and add yeast at bottling for carb. My question is would you be able to taste the excess yeast in the final product if you inoculate with the recommended rate? Just curious.
If you have not been force carbonating you have already been refermenting in the bottle. the process of filtering out the primary yeast and adding bottling yeast is useful on a large scale when you want perfect control over the amount of yeast in each bottle but for in your case you can just keep doing what your doing. it’s also worth noting that you can still lager even after bottling, it just means keeping it cold for a bit longer before drinking it.
That’s how I’ve done my lagers in the past. Ferment, D-rest, bottle, let sit warm to carbonate for ~3 weeks, then lager in the bottles. Works quite well, but the important step is to wait for carbonation before lagering.
Thanks to all who responded. i just took another look at one of their bottles and I mis-read it the first time. I could have sworn it said 100% fermented in bottle, but it does read refermented in bottles. Question answered