Krausen and layering question

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by HOPTOMIC_BOMB, Apr 30, 2022.

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  1. HOPTOMIC_BOMB

    HOPTOMIC_BOMB Savant (1,044) Feb 18, 2014 California
    Trader

    Hey all, another question.

    when using krausen to carbonate my lagers, do I need lager my beer first before i add the fresh krasuen or can I mix in the krausen with the beer when racked into a keg and let it carbonate and lager in the keg at the same time? Is there any difference?

    *and yes I know I can easily carbonate with co2, or spunding, just wanna try my hand this way.

    cheers!
     
    #1 HOPTOMIC_BOMB, Apr 30, 2022
  2. moodenba

    moodenba Pooh-Bah (2,502) Feb 2, 2015 New York
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Take a look at:
    https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/exploring-the-german-technique-of-krausening/
    There are a few references at the end of the article by well respected authors that will probably tell you more than you want to know. But here's my take. I'd say the traditional method is to add krausen at bottling (or kegging) after the secondary ferment. Commercial US breweries (Oly and Heileman claimed to krausen) would probably krausen after a secondary (atmospheric pressure) aging, injecting the new krausen as the lagered beer was moved to special containers for the CO2 development. They would then filter the beer and, for bottled beer, pasteurize. The krausen can be used to impart a fresher hop flavor. But I was not a fan of (krausened?) Oly in the late 60s and early 70s even though it did have a notable hop flavor compared to the competition. Also didn't really enjoy Heileman's Special Export in the mid-70s.
     
    #2 moodenba, Apr 30, 2022
    pweis909 likes this.
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