Based on the discussion we had here: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=486.0
I made an experiment where I brewed my Altbier with and w/o removal of the bitter Kraeusen gunk. To me the result is clear: I’ll stick to Kraeusen removal for all beers since the one where the Kraeusen fell back has a very unpleasant finish for me.
Here is a write-up: Should the Kraeusen fall back into the beer?
Kai
Thanks Kai. Nice writeup.
Now as this is taken to the next level, the question arises, do all the different yeasts introduce different degrees of harshness from the braun hefe?
Would I be able to spoon off the krausen, each day during heavy fermentation?
I don’t think it needs to be done each day. Removing it after the end of active fermentation should suffice.
I don’t think it has much to do with the particular yeast strains. But I could be wrong.
Kai
In your “convinced that the Kraeusen needs to be skimmed or blown of”, I assume the “blown off” part refers to us carboy types. How much headspace do you think it best to start with to get the correct amount of krausen blown off without blowing off too much other stuff (if that’s possible)? Since I usually do 5.5 gallons into the primary and I just got a six gallon Better Bottle, I think I’m probably good to go.
That seems to depends on the vigor of the fermentation. I have been using 5 gal carboys and would leave about 2 qt head space for lagers and maybe 3 qt for ales. 5.5. gal in a 6 gal better bottle should work. A lot of the gunk is not blown off exactly. It ends up sticking to the sides of the carboy or better bottle which also works in keeping it from falling back into the beer.
Kai
Edit: been fixed
This is how the top of my Maibock looks on the 7th day after pitching:
I’ll remove that brown stuff before I rack the beer to a keg sometime next week. As long as there is CO2 forming the Kraeusen won’t fall back.
Kai
I wonder if this would work to remove the gunk from the kreusen?
http://www.aleiens.com/video/top-cropping-yeast-from-a
I’ll have to try that…
Not unless the Kraeusen is allowed to reach the top and stick to the sides.
Kai
It’s interesting that you mention that several people couldn’t differentiate the samples. I tried this with a split batch of hefeweizen a couple years ago and couldn’t tell the difference at all. I wonder if, whatever the bitter compound is, it’s one of those flavors that’s right around the taste threshold and only detectable by some people.
I appreciate your time and effort to do the experiment, Kai. I’ve gotta say that your results remind me of several experimental results I’ve gotten…kinda inconclusive. I think the bottom line is that if you feel it makes a difference, you should do it.
Very interesting and enlightening experiment Kai.
Nice work! 8)
What is the best way to remove the Kraeusen from a carboy?
allow it to blow off.
Blowing it off is most practical. Another option is to rack the beer before the Kraeusen falls back into it. But then you may create other problems.
I simply stick a long piece of large diameter vinyl tubing into the neck. On the other end it is submerged in a large jar filled with water. Once the active part of fermentation is complete and the beer doesn’t blow-off anymore I replace the tubing with an airlock.
Kai
So Kai . . is this now SOP for all your batches?
It has been even before this test. But now I feel stronger about this practice.
Kai
Have you checked the pH of the final product to see the effects of removal on the final pH of the beer.
After having stirred up interesting discussions of this subject with other home brewers I really had to test how well I can tell these two beers apart. Mostly to make up for the triangle test in which I failed to get all 3 sets correct I took 12 glasses, filled 6 with A and 6 with B. My wife then scrambled them and I took my time and palate cleansers to taste them all.
In the end I got 12 out of 12 correct. To be precise it is 6 out of 6 since I knew that each group had 6 glasses.
Following the discussion out there it almost seems as if I hit on another topic as controversial as decoction mashing. To bad that that didn’t yield such clear taste results for me when I tried it.
Kai