Hi:
I’ve read that if the Krausen formed during fermentation is reintroduced back into the wort, it will cause a harsh aftertaste. Is this more than just hops bitterness?
There was a significant slug of krausen stuck in the neck of the carboy and when I changed from a blow-off tube to a vapor-lock this and most of the rest fell into the wort.
Is this a problem? Have I ruined the entire batch?
couple things to note-krausen always goes back into wort beer-no issues there. the dark crusty stuff that sticks to the fermenter may be of more concern to you…but i wouldn’t worry.
Once you pitch yeast it is no longer wort. It is beer. Wort refers to unfermented beer. So your terminology here is confusing. Karusen in wort would indeed be bad, because it would imply you had krausen and didn’t pitch yeast! In that case, what the hell infected your beer?
The krausen can have some harsh character to it, called braun-hefe (brown yeast) and most of it sticks to the sides of the fermentor. This is one reason you always need to clean your fermentor after every use (sorry to the "pitch on yeast cake guys). But the krausen is going to fall back into the beer. You wouldn’t want to remove that. Remember - it’s mostly yeast!
On a previous long ago thread, I believe Crispy Frey referred to the braun-hefe as “beer spooge.” Thusly, I have never repitched onto an old cake in an uncleaned carboy ever since.
OK, great, thanks for the input.
Sorry for the wort / beer misnomer. I guess I was referring to beer. Still a newbie here but learning every day!
In any case, when does the braun-hefe (brown yeast) typically form on the fermenter sides? If the fermenter is “jostled” and the bear sloshes up the side will that put too much braun-hefe into the beer?
(BTW, my beer is in a 6.5 gal carboy and it’s full to about the shoulder so there’s not much unexposed glass for the braun-hefe to adhere to)
Maybe I’m worrying too much.
Thanks
You are worrying too much. You can’t skim a kraesun when you use a carboy, so you just have to live with it.
If you had an open fermenter, of a bucket or other wide fermenter, you could skim that off if it really bothered you. But then you’re adding extra risk of infection which is worse in my opinion.
Many great beers have been made without a second thought to the beer spooge.
I always get some of that falling back into the beer as I move the fermentor to the kitchen for racking and bottling. It isn’t an issue. It’s getting back in contact with the beer for minutes at most and it stays behind in the fermentor.
Now if you were scraping it all off the sides and back into the beer during fermentation then I might suggest that is not a best practice.
No apology needed! Just good that we strive to use the same terminology so that we can understand each other best.
On recollection I have heard that there are (or at least used to be) some German breweries that would skim off the braun hefe off the top of the yeast in open fermentation vats because they said it helped keep the flavor “smoother” or whatever. I have never done this and doubt highly if anyone would really be able to tell much difference.