First Time Kveik - any tips?

[RoomWithABrew]

@muppix
I've not bothered with top cropping, partly because I don't open the fermenter after pitching the yeast. Also because the dried out yeast from the Fermentasaurus bottle has worked so well.
I'd crank up the pressure now you are a couple of days in let it rise with it's own gas, no need to get the cylinder plugged in.

I'm pretty sure that the whole ferment is well mixed so I wouldn't worry that the sample taken off the top isn't the same via the floating dip tube. Probably an issue if you had a 5 bbl fermenter but not on our scale.

When you say small harvest, how much? a level teaspoon would be plenty to start a kveik ferment of about 30 litres without any starter.

On all my brews with Kveik I've turned the pressure up after the krausen has fallen and with it hot that pressure has been say 35 psi at 30 celsius.

 

[muppix]

I've not bothered with top cropping, partly because I don't open the fermenter after pitching the yeast. Also because the dried out yeast from the Fermentasaurus bottle has worked so well.

I hear you. Opening the FV isn't something I like doing either, no matter how often I tell myself I cleaned and sterilised everything, but David Heath reckons that top-cropped yeast is better than that from the jar on account of it being fresh. I can sort of see the logic there, but I'm early on in my career as yeast connoisseur so I can't speak from experience just yet. My Fermzilla's removable jar has delivered the goods once before though, so you could just as well say it it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I'd crank up the pressure now you are a couple of days in let it rise with it's own gas, no need to get the cylinder plugged in.

Yes, will do. Today I used the output of my spunding valve (still at 5 PSI) to purge my 19 litre keg of sanitiser, ready for bottling next week. I also whipped off the top in order to grab some more yeast because it was just sitting there, looking at me. On refitting the lid it got back up to 5 PSI in a matter of minutes, and I've increased that to 10 now. I still plan to move 5 or 6 litres to a non-pressurised SS keg tomorrow so I don't want to go much higher just yet.

I'm pretty sure that the whole ferment is well mixed so I wouldn't worry that the sample taken off the top isn't the same via the floating dip tube.

Well, there's certainly still a fair bit of activity going on! (video below is a couple of days old, but it looks the same now) I'll probably reduce it to zero PSI gradually tomorrow before racking some off to the mini bucket, just to prevent a total foam party. Since I'm down to ambient pressure I may transplant some foam as well, just because it feels 'right' to be transplanting all aspects of the home environment.

When you say small harvest, how much? a level teaspoon would be plenty to start a kveik ferment of about 30 litres without any starter.

Miniscule. I almost filled a glass jar which in its former life housed tartare sauce, and once the foam had died down and the layers separated in the fridge I was looking at the kind of yeast pile that you might find in a 500 ml bottle-conditioned beer. The word 'forensic' springs to mind - hence me slightly risking contamination a second time tonight in order to grab more.

On all my brews with Kveik I've turned the pressure up after the krausen has fallen and with it hot that pressure has been say 35 psi at 30 celsius.

Wow - that's some serious pressure! I can't remember what my Fermzilla is rated at, but I wouldn't feel comfortable subjecting my Tilt Pro to that kind of pressure without running a controlled test first. Good to know Kveik can just shrug it off, that's one less thing to worry about.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

@muppix

You'll need the pressure in there to push the beer up the dip tube and out, you can up the pressure until you are about to transfer, then gas to gas on your already purged keg ( it will take the gas ) then you should be lower and can transfer some out or let it down more and transfer out. The vessel it's going to is bigger than 5-6 litres I'd assume so it doesn't matter if loads of foam goes in it will drop down and in a way reduces the amount of air in that vessel before it finishes fermenting a bit like capping on foam.
I tend to take the first lot of yeast out of my collection bottle and throw it away as there's trub etc in it. Only 500ml vessel though.
Then the next lot that falls is nice creamy consistent colour. I leave that and then once ferment done and transfer complete I take that yeast and dry it.

You could top crop by just taking some of the active ferment via the dip tube and let that settle, but it does waste beer.

My ispindel has coped with all my ferments except one recently where it sank at 4 psi but I'm not sure it was done up tight. Thankfully it recovered after a good clean, dry out and working fine. Miracle.

I stick the temp probe on the side with a big lump of blu tack and then the foam insulation with bungee as you do. Seems kinder to the pet than tape and gives a good air and thermal seal.

 

[muppix]

That's a valid point about needing pressure to push it out of the dip-tube. I was about to counter and say that I can use one of the two posts on the side of the collection jar at the bottom of the fermenter, but as this brew wasn't going to be dry-hopped I hadn't bothered to fit carbonation caps there on this occasion. I may de-pressurise gently and then use some of my bottled CO2 to push 5 or 6 litres into my 10 litre mini bucket, which I'll fill with CO2 first. Guess it's a balance between using a bit of tank gas but not rustling up too much foam during transfer.

Unfortunately (fortunately?) my floating dip tube always sits half an inch below the surface until the FV is almost empty, so I never get any foam that way. Hoping that if I'm careful with the hygiene a third round of harvesting shouldn't be a problem...

Thanks again for the input BTW, I really appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

@muppix

No problem at all, lots of this stuff is learnt the hard way or gleaned from many places. I feel much more confident with the kveik now and less stressed that it doesn't seem to be working instantly, fermented in 48 hours and being drunk in under a week. I've realised that's not the truth or the norm and the beer is good even if it is weird having the ferment at near blood temperature and with as much pressure on it as my car tires.
I am wondering what to do with that WLP 001 in the fridge as I reckon with the kveik I'm getting the same profile when fermented under pressure in half the time and not using my ferment fridge.

 

[muppix]

I am wondering what to do with that WLP 001 in the fridge as I reckon with the kveik I'm getting the same profile when fermented under pressure in half the time and not using my ferment fridge

Easy: brew another ale and stick it in the fridge.

Not needing my ferment fridge when using Kveik is an unexpected bonus since the fridge has been a bottleneck around which everything revolves - there's hardly a day when I'm not fermenting or chilling something. Now I can have one brew at room temperature in the Fermzilla and another one under control in the SS bucket in the fridge, and all I have to worry about is cold-crashing. I really like where this is taking me ...