Kraeusen & Stout

[buggslife]

Just after people's views on whether to remove kraeusen ( krausen ) from a porter?

Advantages? Disadvantages?

Just got an all grain batch on the go last night and time to decide whether to act our leave it.

Guessing when it sinks back in it will increase the bitterness? Not a bad thing for a stout - even a sweet stout to some extent.

Open to opinions but need to act by tomorrow night. Cheers.

 

[user 84304]

People tend to over-complicate their involvement in fermentation imho. I've never had krausen cause flavor issues in my beer. I personally think it's a bit of a farce.

I just leave it alone and monitor its progress. Just my two cents.

Cheers!

 

[ETCS]

Advantages - None that I can think of!
Disadvantages - Stopping something that is part of the natural process of brewing!!!

 

[buggslife]

Sounds good to me - think I'll leave it then as I have done in previous brews.

Still interested to hear other opinions on the subject though.

Does anyone usually leave it alone but will remove it for a certain beer style or vice versa?

 

[Pommy]

nope ive never removed the krausen from any of my beers. I dont really see any reason why you would unless you were skimming to make a starter for another batch. It will all drop out given enough time and its part of a healthy fermentation.