[trentm]

Any benefits to using hopped krausen?

Not for carbonation but to contribute a fresh malt/hop smell and perhaps enhance flavor?

In other words does the Speise add spice?

[hopfenundmalz]

Any benefits to using hopped krausen?

Not for carbonation but to contribute a fresh malt/hop smell and perhaps enhance flavor?

In other words does the Speise add spice?

Spiese means food, you are feeding the yeast. Edited to correct auto correct.

What you are proposing would help, but you only add about a liter or so. It would have to be really hoppy to boost the hop character in the whole batch.

[trentm]

Yes, feed the yeast with the food but add spice to the beer!?.... well that's the idea anyway...

I'd probably try 20% of the batch volume (~1g of reserved wort), boil for 30 min with one or two hop additions @ times X and Y and add the krausen before the last couple points of gravity dropped.

Never know till ya try, I guess.

[majorvices]

I don't think you are going to get an enhanced malt/hop flavor from adding krausen. It is a great was to start a fermentation or help finish a stuck fermentation but the best ay to add hop flavor and aroma is simply to dry hop and it is best to do this after a majority of the yeast has dropped out. For one thing, hop resins tend to stick to the yeast so when the yeast drop out they tend to pull much of the aroma down with them.

As far as malt flavor goes I'm not sure why you wold think krausening would add malt flavor to a beer. It's mostly yeast.

[HoosierBrew]

but the best ay to add hop flavor and aroma is simply to dry hop and it is best to do this after a majority of the yeast has dropped out. For one thing, hop resins tend to stick to the yeast so when the yeast drop out they tend to pull much of the aroma down with them.

Agreed.

[trentm]

I don't think you are going to get an enhanced malt/hop flavor from adding krausen. It is a great was to start a fermentation or help finish a stuck fermentation

That is the conventional wisdom (also include carbonation) however, one could also top up a fermenting beer at the last couple points with the hopped krausen (actively fermenting beer (or even the Spiese, unfermented wort).

but the best ay to add hop flavor and aroma is simply to dry hop and it is best to do this after a majority of the yeast has dropped out. For one thing, hop resins tend to stick to the yeast so when the yeast drop out they tend to pull much of the aroma down with them.

That is the conventional wisdom but I guess the purpose is to determine if anyone has tried this and noted a difference in the malt/hop aroma (possibly flavor).

As far as malt flavor goes I'm not sure why you wold think krausening would add malt flavor to a beer. It's mostly yeast.

What is mostly yeast?  A gallon of wort boiled with hops and inoculated with yeast?  I suppose it would depend on how much yeast is added to it.

I'm going to try this myself on a future beer, time permitting...

[denny]

I'll look forward to your results, but I admit I'm skeptical.

[zsmith87]

Last Thursday I took my shot at using this technique for the first time. I brewed on Sunday 3/20/16, so Thursday was 4 days into fermentation. Tonight I'm going to dry hop for a second time, for 4 days then cold crash and keg etc. I'm pretty excited to see how it turns out!

[santoch]

What exactly is the "hopped krausen" technique?  Do you have a link?  I can guess but would rather get the precise definition.
Thanks-

[majorvices]

Yeah, I don't understand this technique at all. When he said "hopped krausen" I guess I just thought he meant krausening from a hoppy beer. I'm still not sure what he is referring to.

[trentm]

I'll look forward to your results, but I admit I'm skeptical.

I'm quite skeptical myself, however, skepticism is the raison d'etre of the experiment.

[trentm]

Last Thursday I took my shot at using this technique for the first time. I brewed on Sunday 3/20/16, so Thursday was 4 days into fermentation. Tonight I'm going to dry hop for a second time, for 4 days then cold crash and keg etc. I'm pretty excited to see how it turns out!

I'm not referring to dry hopping, but good luck with your second dry hop!

[trentm]

What exactly is the "hopped krausen" technique?  Do you have a link?  I can guess but would rather get the precise definition.
Thanks-

I made it up.  It's a product of me.  I added the word "hopped" to krausen and voila a new brewing technique emerged that vanquished all fear and sorrow from the world of beer.  I have no idea if this existed prior to my revelation but I'm sure somebody somewhere has done it.  Hence this post to attract the attention of that lonely soul.

Essentially you reserve 1 gallon of first runnings, boiling it with hops for 20 - 30 minutes, to attain flavor and aroma, then you either inoculate this with yeast or add it directly to the main fermentation at a point when there are only a couple of gravity points left.  Perhaps one could even carbonate their beer with it if the calculations were made correctly.

That's the general gist of it anyway.

[trentm]

Yeah, I don't understand this technique at all. When he said "hopped krausen" I guess I just thought he meant krausening from a hoppy beer. I'm still not sure what he is referring to.

Is the infamous "he" better than the infamous "they"?  Every now and then I'm summoned to the offices of the infamous "they".  It never turns out in their favor.

[Stevie]

What exactly is the "hopped krausen" technique?  Do you have a link?  I can guess but would rather get the precise definition.
Thanks-

I made it up.  It's a product of me.  I added the word "hopped" to krausen and voila a new brewing technique emerged that vanquished all fear and sorrow from the world of beer.  I have no idea if this existed prior to my revelation but I'm sure somebody somewhere has done it.  Hence this post to attract the attention of that lonely soul.

Essentially you reserve 1 gallon of first runnings, boiling it with hops for 20 - 30 minutes, to attain flavor and aroma, then you either inoculate this with yeast or add it directly to the main fermentation at a point when there are only a couple of gravity points left.  Perhaps one could even carbonate their beer with it if the calculations were made correctly.

That's the general gist of it anyway.

Maybe you should have started your post with "I have this idea." The way your original post reads now, leads us to believe this is a common practice somewhere.

Your basic idea is to create a hop concentrated wort to blend with an existing beer that may be out of balance. The hopped batch could be fermented to completion and blended to taste for more controllable results. For it to work, I think you would need to add a large amount of hops. If not, your just diluting.