Kveik: what is the deal and why it is the "thing"

[BlackSands]

Hazy beer seems to be quite a common feature of kveik brews.  Is this to be expected or is it possible to still achieve a clear and bright beer with these yeasts?

[The Captain!!]

The first Kviek beer I did was fairly clear. The next one which will be on tap tonight was hazy as a bowl of chicken soup.

Theres that much hops in there that its a NEIPA.

[Beers Gone Wild]

Definitely going to try this yeast strain, will up production.

Thinking of even try cold crash with it, any ideas?

[Norris!]

2 hours ago, Beers Gone Wild said:

Definitely going to try this yeast strain, will up production.

Thinking of even try cold crash with it, any ideas?

I think a cold crash is always a good idea, especially if you are kegging as it helps absorb the CO2 quicker.

[Marty_G]

Ok brains trust, I am now thinking that I may need to start using Kviek. I few things have changed in my kids life and I am now making, fermenting and kegging for my son and son in-law.  So has anyone had experience with a Kviek yeast in the style of Notts or US05.  I will be brewing mainly 5% American Pale Ales and Stouts and old school Australian Ales in the 3.5- 4% ranges. 

[ben 10]

PERFECT for APA, have not gone the Stout route but they'd be fine, I'm thinking too much yeast flavour for an aussie though..

 

[The Captain!!]

Plus 1 for above. APA/IPA spot on. 

[Marty_G]

I have since done some extra research and I think for the Aussie Ale it should be done it at the lower temp ranges. Looks like the Voss train is a great general purpose yeast with clean lager style finishes at the lower temp range and good ale flavour at the higher end then orange hints at the top end and high end of the ABV.   

[The Captain!!]

You’re probably right there Marty you just won’t get that Aussie pale ester that you do with say coopers yeast but it’ll be a tamer ester profile for sure

[Journeyman]

So I'm puzzled - why the hell would Norwegians invent a yeast that has to ferment at a temp too high for human comfort? The Voss version has optimum at 35° - now I have to buy a fermenting OVEN?

[RDT2]

On 2/16/2020 at 2:29 PM, MartyG1525230263 said:

I, like many others, are on several different social media brewing pages. I have noticed that that brewing with Kveik has become to the "to do" thing.  So can someone enlighten me what this craze of using Kveik is all about.  

Thanks Marty for complicating my home brewing life even further by mentioning kveik yeast ...

I have so many beers to try eg pumpkin ale, ben’s red beer, Munich Dunkel, Stout, Porter then go to the home brew store and they give me a bag of wakatu so now I need to make a beer with that (Pilsner maybe) and now kveik. Think I need to stop reading this forum too many ideas what a terrible problem to have. Not complaining because it has to be done but social isolating is making it hard to share...

Edited April 1, 2020 by RDT2

[Marty_G]

@RDT2 this rabbit hole run deep.  Best tie a rope around your waist because you are going to get deeper and deeper into the abyss.  

[Marty_G]

9 hours ago, Journeyman said:

So I'm puzzled - why the hell would Norwegians invent a yeast that has to ferment at a temp too high for human comfort? The Voss version has optimum at 35° - now I have to buy a fermenting OVEN?

Now I know you are a smart dude and know invent is not the right word. More like why would a yeast evolve in Norway that is so heat tolerant. I can think of one very logical reason: it is a farmhouse yeast that has developed through open fermentation of farmhouse brews in heated farm houses. Over years the yeasts, it is a mix of wild yeasts and bacteria, have adapted to the warmer open environments.   Yes I agree it is strange to think that such a yeast would develop in a Scandinavian country but in many ways it are not dis-similar to Saison yeasts.  The yeasts we use today are strains of lab isolated and cultured yeasts where as the Kveik is not that it is a raw mix of wild yeasts which has been dried and then cultured but generally not isolated. If you get my drift.  Hence this is why it is so versatile. At the lower temp ranges in the  low to mid 20's it gives Lager yeast characteristic and in the up ranges mid 30's to low 40's it give ale characteristics.  The yeasts that dominated the ferment is temperature dependent. It is a perfect example of an microbial ecosystem at work.     

[ben 10]

On 4/1/2020 at 7:29 PM, MartyG1525230263 said:

Aussie Ale it should be done it at the lower temp ranges.

I have some PoR coming and will try it, have been thinking an Aussie Draught/ Ale could be nice to have

[Marty_G]

2 hours ago, Ben 10 said:

I have some PoR coming and will try it, have been thinking an Aussie Draught/ Ale could be nice to have

I have been playing with a few lately. This turned out the best so far not as dark as I was after but very good drinking.   The specialties are a bit of mish-mash as I was using some bits and pieces to get rid of them but gee it turned out well.  Next time will cut the crystal and add that to the Maris Otter or use Golden Promise and add a bit of Carafa Special T to get the colour to 20EBC.  Yeast was Notts. You know the drill just change the OG in the software but keep the %ages for your desired ABV. 

Edited April 2, 2020 by MartyG1525230263

[Journeyman]

4 hours ago, MartyG1525230263 said:

Now I know you are a smart dude and know invent is not the right word. More like why would a yeast evolve in Norway that is so heat tolerant. I can think of one very logical reason: it is a farmhouse yeast that has developed through open fermentation of farmhouse brews in heated farm houses. Over years the yeasts, it is a mix of wild yeasts and bacteria, have adapted to the warmer open environments.   Yes I agree it is strange to think that such a yeast would develop in a Scandinavian country but in many ways it are not dis-similar to Saison yeasts.  The yeasts we use today are strains of lab isolated and cultured yeasts where as the Kveik is not that it is a raw mix of wild yeasts which has been dried and then cultured but generally not isolated. If you get my drift.  Hence this is why it is so versatile. At the lower temp ranges in the  low to mid 20's it gives Lager yeast characteristic and in the up ranges mid 30's to low 40's it give ale characteristics.  The yeasts that dominated the ferment is temperature dependent. It is a perfect example of an microbial ecosystem at work.     

See... I thought maybe they vented their saunas through the brew room.   

Or is that the Swedish?

But the Voss version is optimised for 35°C - that's Australian summer weather, not anything a Scandinavian could tolerate...

Edited April 2, 2020 by Journeyman

[Marty_G]

7 hours ago, Journeyman said:

But the Voss version is optimised for 35°C -

Apparently can handle up to mid 40's.  This is from the specs page for the  Voss I have: The optimal temperature range for LalBrew® Voss yeast when producing traditional
styles is 35-40°C (95-104°F) and these are the ferment times: 2 days at 40°C (104°F) 3-4 days at 30°C (86°F) 5-7 days at 25°C (77°F) .  

[Marty_G]

Well double batch made and pitched with Voss Kveik . Have it sitting at ambient with a heat belt it is still cooling from the boil. I have it set at 30.  Just checked the BoM and I am going to reduce it to 27 as that will be the max here for the next few days. I don't want the heat belt working overtime.  Anyway I think 27 will give me closer to the flavour profile I want for the Kolsch style I have planned. 

[Marty_G]

Righto, just checked the Voss Kveik. An 11g satchel of dry yeast straight onto 42 litres of 1043 SG wort and 7 hour or so later it was going gang busters. 

[The Captain!!]

It’s a beast that stuff. Love it. 

[Marty_G]

7 minutes ago, The Captain!! said:

It’s a beast that stuff. Love it. 

This yeast will open a whole new world of possibilities if I like the results and I am sure I will.  Basically my brew fridge can largely be re-purposed into a CC/lagering fridge for much of the time. 

[Marty_G]

Kveik update. This mornings ambient at 6am was 19^o. Last night I put my insulation blanket, made from a cheap dash heat protector, around the fermenter. The temp has been stable at 30.5^o, which was the reading before I went to bed last night and also at 6am this morning. The heat belt is set to kick in at 28.5⁰ . The brew is still going gangbusters. Took a hydro sample which had to degas and cool before I could get an accurate reading.  

The hydro has spoken and not surprisingly I can confirm we have fermentation. The brew has dropped 25 points since pitching about 18 hours ago.  With the results I have had with pressure fermentation and now Kveik I may never ferment the old school way again.  Next brew Kveik under pressure.  

[Dirtman Dan]

Great yeast when your in a pinch and need beer asap. I'm currently using opshaug from white labs I pitched in a neipa. Made an ipa the next day cooled to 32c and scooped 5 spoons on Krausen off neipa into ipa. Took off in a few hours and now day 3 it's gone from 1.056 down to 1.014. By far my favourite strain was hothead ale by omega yeast. I brewed a hoppy neipa and it threw lovely mango/honey esters which really partied with the mosaic and citra. Heres a pic of the ipa i top cropped about 7hours after inoculation 

 

[Marty_G]

Kveik update: Well ferment looks done and dusted.  The SG is a 1011 which is bang on expected at 75% attenuation and the air lock activity is over.  The ambient temp right now is 18^o . The heat belt/insulation blanket combo has worked a treat with the brew sitting right on the InkBirds set temp of 29.5^o . Most of the fermentation occurred at 30.5^o. The ferment of 30 gravity points finished in less than 42 hours. It will now sit for a couple of days  then transfered to kegs for the cold crash.  Naturally I will harvesting and use the second generation for a pressure ferment of a Porter/Stout which I aim to do at 35^o.    Cheers. 

 

[Naughty Corner Brewing]

That’s one murky looking wort there @MartyG1525230263