Yes, when I ferment in a bucket I skim the kraeusen. when I ferment in a carboy I let it blow off. Others may have different opinions on this, though.
Kai
Is that what you do on all beers? Do you harvest this stuff, or just dump it down the drain? I was thinking about that meringue-like kraeusen posted earlier (http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=14544.0); would you skim all that off?
I think he is more refering to the gunky brown stuff on top which is made up mostly of harsh bitter hop compounds, trub and gross dead yeast. If you were top cropping you would still skim off and discard that portion, letting fresh clean krausen form again for harvest.
So I checked my Hefeweisen to see if there was any brown Krausen. I figure off-flavors would come through a Hefe if any beer. There was only pure white foam with a hint of brown on the sides of the fermenter. Should I consider it clean?
Dave
I am not a skimmer, and I certainly have not done a side-by-side comparison to back up my suspicions, but I must admit that I am a bit skeptical about the potential benefits of krausen-skimming. If the nasty bits that you are removing are going to end up in your finished beer, then it stands to reason that they must be dissolved in the beer. But it looks to me like this gunk is dispersed on top of the krausen and not actually dissolved. If that is the case, then I would expect it to fall out and not make it into the final beer. Especially so in a lager that gets extended cold-conditioning.
Jeez, I hope so. At this rate, though, it’s hard to tell.
For lighter lagers, I will skim as it approaches the boil and then drain the boil kettle more slowly, running the wort through a double colander - the beer clears very well this way and I can easily harvest yeast post-fermentation without the need for further skimming. If I had that much gunk (as pictured), I would be very tempted to skim the “braun hefe”. YMMV, of course
An update:
I checked the beer last night and something seems to be happening at last! The gravity is dropping and it’s starting to smell and taste beery. Patience seems to have been the right decision.
I also decided to go against my own instinct and follow the advice here to skim. I say against my instinct because I prefer not to touch a beer any more than absolutely necessary. I haven’t lost a batch to infection yet and I prefer to keep it that way. RDWHAHB, right?
Absolutely. Your beer will likely be wonderful.