Here’s another addition to the glossary of terms. This time around, it is the definition of Krausen.
Krausen is a term that describes two things: one is a noun and one is a verb.
Krausen (the noun) is the foam that the yeast produce on top of the wort during fermentation. I see it all the time when I make yeast starters. You’ll see the term “high krausen” a lot in different text. This is the point during fermentation where that foam is at its peak.
Krausen (the verb) is a term for carbonating beer by introducing wort to newly finished fermenting beer. It’s a German tradition where they add it to a conditioning tank. I guess homebrewer could do the same thing if they had some dry malt extract to prime with instead of corn sugar.
Ed
Krausen the verb is actually adding part of an actively fermenting beer to a finished beer for bottle conditioning. This not only carbonates the beer, but it is also believed that it helps clean up any by productions left by the original fermentation. This is why German brewers would use it for bottle conditioning their lagers (to get a super clean fermentation).
Glass Bottles
Now I have my word of the day! Let’s see how many times I can work this into non relevant conversation!
Chris
This is my preferred method of conditioning. I have never used Corn Sugar. On the rare occasion when I don’t have an actively fermenting batch to Krausen with, I’ll add DME or preserved wort from a previous batch of similar style.