What is krausening?

[Rob2010SS]

I keep hearing this term and I've looked it up on HBT to see if I could find a clear answer but I can't. I have an idea of what it is, but not sure what the process looks like. What is the process for this? Anyone routinely doing this?

Thanks.

 

[Paul Alfred]

I keep hearing this term and I've looked it up on HBT to see if I could find a clear answer but I can't. I have an idea of what it is, but not sure what the process looks like. What is the process for this? Anyone routinely doing this?

Thanks.

According to beersmith.com, "Krausening is a traditional German method for carbonating beers without using sugars or other adjuncts. Instead actively fermenting malt wort is added to the fermented beer to provide the malted sugars needed for carbonation."
(http://beersmith.com/blog/2010/03/22/krausening-home-brewed-beer/)

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

that foam is the krausen

 

[Kent88]

I think that when one mentions krausening in the context of yeast harvesting, it refers to the collection of the foam (and top layer of liquid) of actively fermenting wort. That foam and the wort towards the top are full of yeast.

One can accomplish this by applying a very clean, sanitized blowoff tube to your fermenter that directs to a collection vessel (bucket, jar, etc) that is also very clean and sanitized and closed off in such a way that that allows air to escape without allowing unwanted stuff in there.

 

[Rob2010SS]

According to beersmith.com, "Krausening is a traditional German method for carbonating beers without using sugars or other adjuncts. Instead actively fermenting malt wort is added to the fermented beer to provide the malted sugars needed for carbonation."
(http://beersmith.com/blog/2010/03/22/krausening-home-brewed-beer/)

This is kind of what I was looking for. I'll read more on this. Thank you.

View attachment 597756
that foam is the krausen

LOL! I know what krausen is. I was asking about the process of "krausening". See post by @Paul Alfred.

I think that when one mentions krausening in the context of yeast harvesting, it refers to the collection of the foam (and top layer of liquid) of actively fermenting wort. That foam and the wort towards the top are full of yeast.

One can accomplish this by applying a very clean, sanitized blowoff tube to your fermenter that directs to a collection vessel (bucket, jar, etc) that is also very clean and sanitized and closed off in such a way that that allows air to escape without allowing unwanted stuff in there.

This is an interesting topic as well. I was referring more to the process of krausening for carbonation purposes but this is interesting as well. Thanks.

 

[passedpawn]

You save some of the original wort. When the beer is done fermenting, it's moved to a sealed tank (or the fermentor is sealed) and the saved wort is added in order to create the carbonation. That's krausening. Brewers that are really in tune with their system can just seal the tank when they are X points from final gravity and achieve the same thing.

There's a little german brewery near me ("Lagerhaus") that does this. I.e., they do NOT use "artificial" CO2 to carbonate the beer before kegging.

 

[Vale71]

Kräusening (yes, that is correct spelling) refers to the process of adding fermenting wort to beer that has been previously transferred to the maturation vessel in a fully attenuated state. Since there are no residual sugars in the transferred beer carbonation cannot occur naturally. As in Germany any other form of forced carbonation is "verboten" mixing the beer with the right amount of fermenting wort will give you a chance to obtain natural carbonation.
Local restrictions aside this practice has the added advantage of adding healthy yeast to the beer which can significantly speed up maturation as the new yeast will absorb and reduce fermentation by-products (such as diacetyl) faster than the old, tired yeast that is already present in the maturing beer.

 

[Vale71]

You save some of the original wort. When the beer is done fermenting, it's moved to a sealed tank (or the fermentor is sealed) and the saved wort is added in order to create the carbonation. That's krausening. Brewers that are really in tune with their system can just seal the tank when they are X points from final gravity and achieve the same thing.

There's a little german brewery near me ("Lagerhaus") that does this. I.e., they do NOT use "artificial" CO2 to carbonate the beer before kegging.

Close, but no cigar.
If you are just adding wort from a later brew (commercial breweries never save up wort as it can spoil and is therefore a health hazard and a liability) without the benefit of fresh yeast then you are just carbonating with "Speise" (literally "food") but not kräusening.

 

[Smellyglove]

You save some of the original wort. When the beer is done fermenting, it's moved to a sealed tank (or the fermentor is sealed) and the saved wort is added in order to create the carbonation. That's krausening. Brewers that are really in tune with their system can just seal the tank when they are X points from final gravity and achieve the same thing.

There's a little german brewery near me ("Lagerhaus") that does this. I.e., they do NOT use "artificial" CO2 to carbonate the beer before kegging.

That's actually "Speise". Unfermented wort is called Speise. When you add active fermenting wort that's Kräusening.

 

[Rob2010SS]

So ideally you'd want to do this in the serving vessel, correct? So if you wanted to do this in a keg, what would that look like?

Transfer finished beer to keg.
Add actively fermenting wort to keg.
Seal and purge keg.

Any advantages to krausening or is it just a unique process that some like to do?
Is there a formula to figure out "X" amount of fermenting wort added to "Y" amount of finished beer for "Z" volumes of carbonation?

 

[Vale71]

Any advantages to krausening or is it just a unique process that some like to do?
Is there a formula to figure out "X" amount of fermenting wort added to "Y" amount of finished beer for "Z" volumes of carbonation?

If I may self-quote:

"Local restrictions aside this practice has the added advantage of adding healthy yeast to the beer which can significantly speed up maturation as the new yeast will absorb and reduce fermentation by-products (such as diacetyl) faster than the old, tired yeast that is already present in the maturing beer."

As for the formula, you need to know your expected real final attenuation and the current (real) attenuation of the fermenting wort, thus you can estimate how much wort you need to add to provide enough fermentables for your beer to fully carbonate. Normally you would add a safety factor, adding at least 20-30% more than strictly needed and then let the spunding valve vent any excess CO2.

 

[passedpawn]

So ideally you'd want to do this in the serving vessel, correct? So if you wanted to do this in a keg, what would that look like?

Transfer finished beer to keg.
Add actively fermenting wort to keg.
Seal and purge keg.

Any advantages to krausening or is it just a unique process that some like to do?
Is there a formula to figure out "X" amount of fermenting wort added to "Y" amount of finished beer for "Z" volumes of carbonation?

Reinheitsgebot.

No idea how to determine amount. There's probably an easy way, but I've never done it.

 

[Rob2010SS]

If I may self-quote:

"Local restrictions aside this practice has the added advantage of adding healthy yeast to the beer which can significantly speed up maturation as the new yeast will absorb and reduce fermentation by-products (such as diacetyl) faster than the old, tired yeast that is already present in the maturing beer."

Sorry, I did remember you said this. I should have stated any OTHER advantages.

 

[passedpawn]

Close, but no cigar.
If you are just adding wort from a later brew (commercial breweries never save up wort as it can spoil and is therefore a health hazard and a liability) without the benefit of fresh yeast then you are just carbonating with "Speise" (literally "food") but not kräusening.

That's actually "Speise". Unfermented wort is called Speise. When you add active fermenting wort that's Kräusening.

Ah... got it, thanks.

 

[Vale71]

Sorry, I did remember you said this. I should have stated any OTHER advantages.

OK, just don't let that happen again...
The only other advantage opposed to adding sugar is that you do not change the character of the beer by adding simple sugars, but of course you get that just by working with Speise as well. Assuming, of course, that you use wort brewed from exactly the same recipe as the first batch, which is really not an issue for commercial operations but might be for a homebrewer.

 

[Vale71]

There's probably an easy way, but I've never done it.

Just add 20% and let the spunding valve do its thing...

 

[ESBrewer]

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Kraeusening

I think that says almost everything. It can be used in keg or whatever tank (a valve releasing excess pressure would be nice, though). To calculate the amount, you need to know the SG of the fermenting kräusening wort at the time of addition plus the FG where it is going to end up (when using certain yeast strain). Then you will be able to calculate how much fermentable sugars there is left in the kräusening wort. Nowadays, there are many programs that can do the calculations for you.

In large breweries, there tends to be fermenting wort available at all times so obtaining the wort is not a big problem. At homebrew scale, you need to make a new batch of beer or save some wort from the same batch and store it in (fridge)/freezer, then warm it up and pitch yeast and start fermentation prior to kräusening/bottling, measure SG, do the calculations and mix. Notice that if you wait too long the SG will drop and there may no more be enough fermentable sugars for carbonation.

It was originally used by German lager breweries to reduce diacetyl and speed up the maturation & carbonation of the beer and they still keep doing it (partly because of legislation, but this is not why the technique was developed).

 

[Smellyglove]

Or, if you can regulate pressure in your FV you can pitch whatever amount and set the pressure to the desired pressure for carbonation, as long as you know you have enough extract to reach or go past the desired pressure.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Thanks for all of the information. I'll read the link posted by @ESBrewer later tonight. Sounds like it's a bit time consuming to pull off on the homebrew scale. Perhaps once I retire from my job, I can start doing this haha.

It may sound stupid but the whole reason I asked are because of the below pics...

This is a guy I follow on Instagram and the head on his beers always looks like damn soft serve! Someone in one of the comments asked about krausening and if that's what made the head like this. So it got me curious about it...

However, now that I've been investigating new faucets for my kegerator, I saw that Perlick faucets (690s I think) now have a "creamer" option. So I'm wondering if this is how he's getting that kind of head on top...

 

[Smellyglove]

Thanks for all of the information. I'll read the link posted by @ESBrewer later tonight. Sounds like it's a bit time consuming to pull off on the homebrew scale. Perhaps once I retire from my job, I can start doing this haha.

It may sound stupid but the whole reason I asked are because of the below pics...
View attachment 597774
View attachment 597775

This is a guy I follow on Instagram and the head on his beers always looks like damn soft serve! Someone in one of the comments asked about krausening and if that's what made the head like this. So it got me curious about it...

However, now that I've been investigating new faucets for my kegerator, I saw that Perlick faucets (690s I think) now have a "creamer" option. So I'm wondering if this is how he's getting that kind of head on top...

Those pics might be "manipulated" for just looking good for internet-points. Why would you even pour like that if not only for the beauty of it. But it looks spectacular! They look like ice-cream. All I can say is that it's not just due to kräusening the beer. You can employ a protein-rest, which would give you the same type of foam. But foam is just one part of the beer. It's not very hard to pull off that same kind of foam, but the "folding" in the first pic makes it look more spectacular.

It's not very time-consuming on even a homebrewer scale.

For instance (I just do speise most of the time for mye Hefe's). Set a side a given amount of wort after wort cooldown, in the fridge. Get a dosage syringe, cheap stuff on ali/ebay, and just pull off a calculated amount and give each bottle a dose. That's it.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Those pics might be "manipulated" for just looking good for internet-points. Why would you even pour like that if not only for the beauty of it. But it looks spectacular! They look like ice-cream. All I can say is that it's not just due to kräusening the beer. You can employ a protein-rest, which would give you the same type of foam. But foam is just one part of the beer. It's not very hard to pull off that same kind of foam, but the "folding" in the first pic makes it look more spectacular.

It's not very time-consuming on even a homebrewer scale.

For instance (I just do speise most of the time for mye Hefe's). Set a side a given amount of wort after wort cooldown, in the fridge. Get a dosage syringe, cheap stuff on ali/ebay, and just pull off a calculated amount and give each bottle a dose. That's it.

That's my thing, ALL of his pictures of his beers are like that. I asked him how he does it but he never even responded. It's just crazy looking!

I don't have a good way to do step mashes so the protein rest I haven't tried to dabble with just yet. Perhaps one day when I have my electric setup...

That's not a bad idea, dose the bottles, not the keg instead of using priming sugar.... On average, how much are you dosing each bottle?

 

[Smellyglove]

That's my thing, ALL of his pictures of his beers are like that. I asked him how he does it but he never even responded. It's just crazy looking!

I don't have a good way to do step mashes so the protein rest I haven't tried to dabble with just yet. Perhaps one day when I have my electric setup...

That's not a bad idea, dose the bottles, not the keg instead of using priming sugar.... On average, how much are you dosing each bottle?

I only use this method for my hefe's, rest is kegged and counter pressure filled, just fyi. I use about 75ml into each bottle targeting a Co2 level of 7g/l, which equates to about 3.5 vols. But you really need to calculate this on your own for each batch.

I have no problem making a "tower" of dense foam, with my hefes, or lagers from keg. That's why I said it might be "manipulated". From the pics it just looks like he's wasting carbonation into foam, and drinking a somewhat flat-ish beer, if the beer has been carbonated according to style.

 

[SEndorf]

I've never cared for shaving cream in my beer.....

 

[Rob2010SS]

I only use this method for my hefe's, rest is kegged and counter pressure filled, just fyi. I use about 75ml into each bottle targeting a Co2 level of 7g/l, which equates to about 3.5 vols. But you really need to calculate this on your own for each batch.

Yeah definitely, if I go that route I would calculate it out. I was just curious if the syringes I just bought would work (5 mL) but definitely not lol.

 

[Smellyglove]

Yeah definitely, if I go that route I would calculate it out. I was just curious if the syringes I just bought would work (5 mL) but definitely not lol.

Haha, no you need something bigger. I'd just go 30 or 50ml. If you're doing high co2 beers go 100ml. They are dead cheap from china and high quality, but the star san wears out the rubber gasket, so stock up.

 

[ba-brewer]

If that guy with the ice cream foam gets his beer lines and carbonation levels balanced he would be able to pour a proper pint.

Glad I seen this thread, I forgot I had a keg on high pressure to speed up the carbonation. I get big towering head on my beers when I over carb them.

Yeast seems to have something to texture of head too, I have split batches of beer and fermented with different yeasts and one will have a creamy head and leave lots of lace and the other will not. Wyeast California Lager yeast come out creamy for me most times.

 

[Vale71]

However, now that I've been investigating new faucets for my kegerator, I saw that Perlick faucets (690s I think) now have a "creamer" option. So I'm wondering if this is how he's getting that kind of head on top...

If they're anything like European faucets the "creamer" is just a hole that will suck in air when you pull the lever back and mix it with the beer. This not only will turn all the beer going through the faucet into foam, the bubbles will also not be filled with pure CO2 but mostly with air which will make them stay smaller and last longer because of reduced osmotic pressure on the bubble. It's a poor-man's version of a Nitro pour if you will.
The downside is that you have O2 in your foam which is not exactly desirable, but the foam does indeed look cool...
I have the option on my faucets but have only activated it a few times by mistake.

 

[TheMadKing]

According to published literature (wolfgang Kunz and Noonan) Krausening is the practice of adding actively fermenting wort to a beer for various reason. This can be used to kick off fermentation in a new batch of wort, ensure complete attenuation in a secondary, it can be used to clean up diacetyl at the end of a lager fermentation, or it can be used to carbonate.

The concept of a "vitality starter" is exactly the same as krausening.

 

[Vale71]

This can be used to kick off fermentation in a new batch of wort...

That actually sounds like the practice of "Drauflassen" which can be used when you need more than one batch to fill up an FV.

 

[TheMadKing]

That actually sounds like the practice of "Drauflassen" which can be used when you need more than one batch to fill up an FV.

Sorry I should have clarified, from what Noonan described in his book, this is only done when making 2 batches of the same beer back to back. The second batch can be krausened with some of the actively fermenting first beer to kick off fermentation.

 

[Vale71]

That is new to me and I'm quite sure it's not a German practice. For starters, if the two batches are the same size you'd need to either overpitch the first batch or transfer a really large amount of batch 1 to batch 2 to avoid batch 2 being underpitched. Since we're talking about primary fermentation you have to ensure proper pitching rate, as opposed to secondary where you need a lot less yeast to completely ferment and carbonate the beer.
In Drauflassen, assuming batches 1 and 2 are the same size (they usually are), you can either pitch at twice the rate and only oxygenate the first batch or pitch the normal rate and then oxygenate batch 2 prior to mixing, but you'll have to do that within 12hrs of pitching batch 1. In the latter case you will get two distinct log-phases which will ensure proper pitching rate.
I don't want to start a tangent here so I'll just stop...

 

[TheMadKing]

That is new to me and I'm quite sure it's not a German practice. For starters, if the two batches are the same size you'd need to either overpitch the first batch or transfer a really large amount of batch 1 to batch 2 to avoid batch 2 being underpitched. Since we're talking about primary fermentation you have to ensure proper pitching rate, as opposed to secondary where you need a lot less yeast to completely ferment and carbonate the beer.
In Drauflassen, assuming batches 1 and 2 are the same size (they usually are), you can either pitch at twice the rate and only oxygenate the first batch or pitch the normal rate and then oxygenate batch 2 prior to mixing, but you'll have to do that within 12hrs of pitching batch 1. In the latter case you will get two distinct log-phases which will ensure proper pitching rate.
I don't want to start a tangent here so I'll just stop...

Agreed, I don't want to threadjack either, but I was implying that the lag phase of the first beer was complete before krausening the second beer. So The yeast have already multiplied to the same density as would exist in a starter, so you only need to overbuild the volume of your first recipe by the size of the starter you need. For us, that would be about 2L.

 

[So Shay]

Those pics might be "manipulated" for just looking good for internet-points. Why would you even pour like that if not only for the beauty of it. But it looks spectacular! They look like ice-cream. All I can say is that it's not just due to kräusening the beer. You can employ a protein-rest, which would give you the same type of foam. But foam is just one part of the beer. It's not very hard to pull off that same kind of foam, but the "folding" in the first pic makes it look more spectacular.

It's not very time-consuming on even a homebrewer scale.

For instance (I just do speise most of the time for mye Hefe's). Set a side a given amount of wort after wort cooldown, in the fridge. Get a dosage syringe, cheap stuff on ali/ebay, and just pull off a calculated amount and give each bottle a dose. That's it.

It looks as if there are multiple layers of foam to increase the head on this beer. It is not one clean pour.

 

[Smellyglove]

It looks as if there are multiple layers of foam to increase the head on this beer. It is not one clean pour.

The first pic seems like the foam has two different textures to it, the folded part is more denser, than the rest of the foam, even the part which is above the glass. This does not normally happen. Often you get more bubbles in the foam inside the glass, the part which rises above the glass is usually even as the bubbles burst.

 

[Smellyglove]

The third pic burns out the whites, but you can barely see it. Foam on top is the same texture, the foam in the glass clinging to the glass is another texture, there's no different textures within the foam on top.

 

[Rob2010SS]

View attachment 597902 View attachment 597903 View attachment 597904

The third pic burns out the whites, but you can barely see it. Foam on top is the same texture, the foam in the glass clinging to the glass is another texture, there's no different textures within the foam on top.

Alright, so I'm regressing to noob status again. So your second pic there, is that beer just carbonated to a high volume? How did you get even that size head on there? I have never had head like that on a beer. I've been pretty successful with head retention, but it's always only been about a half inch thick head.

 

[Smellyglove]

Alright, so I'm regressing to noob status again. So your second pic there, is that beer just carbonated to a high volume? How did you get even that size head on there? I have never had head like that on a beer. I've been pretty successful with head retention, but it's always only been about a half inch thick head.

It's a Hefeweizen, so yes it's carbed to a higher volume than most other beers. I target 7g/L co2 (about 3.5 vols). The pour was "normal", going slow as you must with a Hefeweizen and let the head rise.

 

[Jayjay1976]

"The Kraeusening" - A dystopic retro-futuristic sci fi film set in Milwaukee in the year 2020, when fully-automated brew machines break free of their outlets and revolt against the human brewers, who are forced to serve their stainless overlords by functioning as walking fermentation vessels. The machines crudely implant spunding valves into the rectums of the human slaves who are continuously fed LME intravenously until FG is reached, upon which time the naturally carbonated humans are taken down and passed around to the tune of a morbidly repetitive dirge.

Fun fact: the original working title was "The Kraeusifixion"

 

[Smellyglove]

"The Krausening" - A dystopic retro-futuristic sci fi film set in Milwaukee in the year 2020, when fully-automated brew machines break free of their outlets and revolt against the human brewers, who are forced to serve their stainless overlords by functioning as walking fermentation vessels. The machines crudely implant spunding valves into the skulls of the human slaves who are continuously fed LME intravenously until FG is reached, upon which time the naturally carbonated humans are taken down and passed around to the tune of a morbidly repetitive dirge.

I know of a more funny place to fit a spunding valve into a human

Edit: Oh, you edited it to the more "funny" place.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I know of a more funny place to fit a spunding valve into a human

Thanks for catching that! You're not going to sue me for royalties, are ya?