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Brewno · 09-06-2006, 03:36 PM

C. Papazian says there is an advantage to removing the krausen from your fermenter, which he says contains the bitter brown resinous scum that adheres to the sides of the fermenter. He mentions that it is beneficial to remove these resins before the krausen falls to the bottom by removing the krausen itself.
He goes on to say that he doesn't really recommend this in open (plastic) fermenters unless you can be really sure of sanitation and not contaminating your beer. However he does mention that with a carboy this process is facilitated by the blow off tube in the initial stags of fermentation.

He doesn't really go into detail and I was wondering if anyone could expand on this.
Is there a process to accomplish this or is it something that happens naturally with a blow off tube.
I would think it doesn't happen naturally because isn't it true that you don't always have blow off?

Tommy

Evan! · 09-06-2006, 05:31 PM

Where exactly does Papazian say this? In the Complete Joy of Homebrewing, he explains, many times, that the krausen falls naturally within 3-6 days of pitching.

I've never heard of this dekrausening before, and I wouldn't recommend it. A blowoff tube is merely a precaution; most beers you make won't have a blowoff. I've mad 10 batches, and the closest I got was a barleywine that had the krausen get into the neck of the airlock.

The krausen won't hurt your beer. Don't worry.

God Emporer BillyBrew · 09-06-2006, 05:52 PM

He definitely says it in The Complete Joy. It was pretty weird to me, as well. Personally, I don't think you should worry about it. Most of that stuff clings to the sides anyway.

Brewno · 09-06-2006, 05:54 PM

I'm not worried about it hurting the beer and he mentions that it's more or less only to remove fusel oils which are responsible for beer headaches and some of the bitter "bite." He gets into it in "The New Complete Joy Of Home Brewing" beginning on the last paragraph on page 135 and continuing on page 136.

I'm not concerned about problems arising from not removing it, just always looking for tips on making my brews better. Every little bit helps.

I've only done two brews and they came out fine. But I never knew about separating the wort from the remnants of the hot and cold break before pouring into the fermenter. Now it seems the more I read peoples descriptions here about their process, people are doing that.

Every little bit helps

Tommy

**olllllo** · 09-06-2006, 06:38 PM

This seems to be his Relax-have-a-home-brew-glass-is-half-full-philosophy:

Add a blowoff and lose wort volume - half empty
The blowoff of krausen contains headachy material so no big loss- half full (relax)

Not really a tactic, but an attitude.

DAAB · 09-07-2006, 07:22 AM

When he refers to removing the krausen, i'd imagine he's refering to just removing the crud that the yeast head throws up (leaving the yeast head as much as possible intact). This (crud) can cause off flavours and if youre using a traditional open fermenter it also prevents infection, not only that but it prevents it ending up in the slurry at the bottom so you can safely reuse the yeast.
I use bucket fermenters and do this all the time. I cannot understand the fascination with glass carbouys which are awkward to handle, clean, rack from and offer no protection to a beer from being light struck/skunked.

**Denny's Evil Concoctions** · 09-07-2006, 08:10 AM

Yeah, its the dark stuff on top of the yeast/beer foam he's talking about in CJHB. I've never raked it ooff, though some do, and I gave up on wasting beer with a blowoff tube years ago. Never really noticed a difference. Most of it does cling to the sides of the carboy, thus the ring when the krausen drops, and he metions that also in CJHB.

I only use a blowoff when I've filled the carboy to high with wort. Though with the last hefe I made I had to use one! 6 gallon bucket holding 5 gallons of wort nearly ble the damn lid off, beer all over the floor only 4 hours post pitch. (Ran out of carboys so resorted to a bucket again for a primary, must have 20 of those around here).