Kveik

[AdeDunn]

I stopped cooling when I’d hit 40c and transferred to a fermenter, gave the wort a good whisk then pitched 10ml of the vial then put the remaining back in the fridge for another day.

When I’d put the fermenter in the fridge the inkbird was reading 34c so I know for next time not to cool so much and check the temperature after transferring and aerating to hit the 39c pitch.

Checked on the brew this morning and it’s off mental! Inkbird is set at 41c but reading 39c. Not sure how warm it’ll get but time will tell.

Am I right in thinking that the beer will need cooling once fermentation has more or less finished?

What’s the best method for this, letting the temperature fall naturally or by setting the inkbird and using the fridge?

I've been cooling to about 5 degrees C above the pitching temperature I want, and still finding it's dropped further than I'd like... lol Until you start using these Norwegian yeasts, you wouldn't realise just how difficult it is to pitch that warm eh? It saves an absolute load of water though, I find I'm using a lot less anyway as I'm hitting the temp I want with my immersion chiller in about 1/3rd of the time as that last 11 degrees from 30 down to 19 degrees always took the longest.

Once you're certain it's done, no no need to cool it, just let it drop on it's own. Bottle and off you go. You literally don't have to nurse Voss yeast in the slightest, or the beer that it produces. I don't use temp control at all with it, I just wrap the FV in blankets to insulate, and let the heat from the yeast keep it warm. Got the idea from Lars blog, where he describes how they basically pitch warm then wrap the FVs up nice and warm and leave them to it. They don't use temperature control at all, the yeast produces enough heat to keep it warm whilst active, then when it's done it's done sort of thing.

I'd just bottle it as is. Voss kveik is a really heavy flockulator so much that I've read about brewers struggling to get carbonation in their bottled beer because of the lack of yeast in suspension.

I've had zero problems carbonating beers made with the Yeast Bay Voss. I have however had beer where I can pour the entire bottle and not get yeast in my glass... The only posts I've seen where brewers had trouble was, if I remember correctly, where they had cold crashed before bottling. Big mistake, as that will literally drop the lot out of suspension I should imagine, and just isn't needed.

 

[stz]

I've read about brewers struggling to get carbonation in their bottled beer because of the lack of yeast in suspension.

This is me. Kind of weird seeing as the beer is otherwise a complete murk bomb, but it isn't the yeast.

 

[SmallSpacesBrewing]

This is me. Kind of weird seeing as the beer is otherwise a complete murk bomb, but it isn't the yeast.

Is it tasty? :)

 

[stz]

Is it tasty? :)

It is! It was 25% rye, 25% wheat, 50% pilsner, mashed at 68C. OG 42, 4g/L citra whirlpooled for 30m. 6g/L citra dry hop. Fermented at 38C though the internal FV temperature would have been a few degrees higher. Turned the heating off at the end of day three, dry hopped warm and left it to cool itself off days 4 and 5, FG 9. Cold crashed day 6 and kegged day 7. Primed with 1.5pt of sugar. I'm not too fussed about the keg as I can invert and shake that every now and then and won't be tapping it for a few weeks, I'm sure it'll carb up fine, but one of the few bottles I took off lacked carbonation after 5 days. The rest I inverted, shook to kick the yeast back up off the bottom, placed in the airing cupboard and they are much better after only another day. There is yeast in there, it is just welded to the bottom of the bottles at room temperature. Belgian spicy/phenolic almost on the nose, sweet orange, bread, cake, caramel.

I'm brewing again with it tomorrow. This is another rye beer, but with spelt. I'm going to sour this somewhat prior to pitching kviek, feed it hop tea to slow the lactics and then give it some brett anomalus when it starts to cool off before kegging.

 

[Mrobson]

So, it stopped bubbling some time this afternoon and I’ve just taken a gravity reading, it’s down to 1.011 from 1.049 (I used a hydrometer temperature calculator online) in less than 48 hours! Sample tasted really promising, even if it was at 40c! Crazy!!

I’ve just turned off the heater and have dry hopped with the intension of bottling on Wed or Thurs night after work!

Think I’m of to salvage the yeast cake after choosing not to top crop as a read that the Voss is traditionally harvested from the bottom. Already thinking what to brew next with it!

 

[BeerCat]

Great to hear its working out for you. I now let the wort chill down before dry hopping as at 40c i figured it may as well be a tea.
Top cropping is fine but it normally disappears after 24 hours so you need to be quick

 

[Zephyr259]

I'm glad I kept some of this on ice and another vial in the fridge. You're all making me want to use it again to turn out some quick brews. If I could get the orange and spice to show then it could make a nice brew inspired by tripel karmeliet.

 

[SmallSpacesBrewing]

Great to hear its working out for you. I now let the wort chill down before dry hopping as at 40c i figured it may as well be a tea.
Top cropping is fine but it normally disappears after 24 hours so you need to be quick

I agree. Hops don't like so much heat. I've heard about brews turning real grassy and bitter when dryhopping at kveik temps

 

[entertheflagon]

Great to hear its working out for you. I now let the wort chill down before dry hopping as at 40c i figured it may as well be a tea.
Top cropping is fine but it normally disappears after 24 hours so you need to be quick

Top cropping would be fine only for the isolated ( yeast bay) strain of Voss but the original with 3 strains is supposed to be bottom harvested to retain the correct balance of the Kveik I understand?
As per the Kveik registry.

 

[AdeDunn]

Top cropping would be fine only for the isolated ( yeast bay) strain of Voss but the original with 3 strains is supposed to be bottom harvested to retain the correct balance of the Kveik I understand?
As per the Kveik registry.

The Omega Voss is single strain too going from their website (not actually used it). I have the Yeast Bay strain, and I've done both. The bonus with bottom harvesting is you get more material (couldn't say how much yeast in there without looking at it under a microscope) though.

The Hothead (Stranda) I top cropped only, as went by the Kveik registry, it's a single strain anyway, and it says to top crop. It's a VERY fast krausen rebuilder to be sure though! I got a much better result though on a darker beer than on a golden one, much thicker krausen, and a thicker layer of yeast once it had all settled down.

 

[Mrobson]

Great to hear its working out for you. I now let the wort chill down before dry hopping as at 40c i figured it may as well be a tea.
Top cropping is fine but it normally disappears after 24 hours so you need to be quick

Bugger! I dry hopped last night just after I turned the heater off! I left the fridge door open all night and the temperature had dropped to 26c by first thing this morning so, fingers crossed I’ve no off flavours!

 

[Mrobson]

Does anyone have any experience brewing with the #38 Aurland strain? I’ve ordered a vial but can’t find any information as such anywhere other than on the Farmhouse Yeast Registery page?

 

[entertheflagon]

The Omega Voss is single strain too going from their website (not actually used it). I have the Yeast Bay strain, and I've done both. The bonus with bottom harvesting is you get more material (couldn't say how much yeast in there without looking at it under a microscope) though.

The Hothead (Stranda) I top cropped only, as went by the Kveik registry, it's a single strain anyway, and it says to top crop. It's a VERY fast krausen rebuilder to be sure though! I got a much better result though on a darker beer than on a golden one, much thicker krausen, and a thicker layer of yeast once it had all settled down.

Yes, a mystery why of the other two Voss Kveiks on the registry only Svein Rivenes type they say is top harvested and that contains multiple strains.
Sigmund Gjernes ( the type I'm playing with, kindly passed to me by Geigercntre on here)) and Granvin, both bottom.
Interesting info about the Stranda, I picked some up to try in a darker beer from the facebook group in Norway but it's single strain on the registry ( like the hot head) , I wonder if it's exactly the same stuff?
I could've picked up a pack of hothead cheaper and more quickly if I was sure!
It was recommended for a dark beer so happy to hear of your experience.

 

[entertheflagon]

Does anyone have any experience brewing with the #38 Aurland strain? I’ve ordered a vial but can’t find any information as such anywhere other than on the Farmhouse Yeast Registery page?

It would seem that you will become the font of all knowledge of that strain after your first brew, can't find any info either!

 

[AdeDunn]

Yes, a mystery why of the other two Voss Kveiks on the registry only Svein Rivenes type they say is top harvested and that contains multiple strains.
Sigmund Gjernes ( the type I'm playing with, kindly passed to me by Geigercntre on here)) and Granvin, both bottom.
Interesting info about the Stranda, I picked some up to try in a darker beer from the facebook group in Norway but it's single strain on the registry ( like the hot head) , I wonder if it's exactly the same stuff?
I could've picked up a pack of hothead cheaper and more quickly if I was sure!
It was recommended for a dark beer so happy to hear of your experience.

The registry reckons that the Omega stuff is definitely the real Stranda strain, so I'm confident that it is. It's an isolated strain, but the registry states that Stranda is single strain anyway, with no other strains or bacteria. It worked in my golden ale that I did, and the flavour seems to be coming good (taking longer than Voss does though, so giving it longer before I bottle, more like with a normal yeast), just didn't seem quite as healthy a krausen, maybe a slightly less vigorous fermentation? The porter I under-pitched with some of the yeast harvested from the krausen from the golden, which COULD explain a healthier yeast, except an entire packet went into the golden, only 5mls went into the porter... lol The flavour so far, from early samples, has been amazing, and the smell from the krausen was GORGEOUS! Think a mix of over ripe mango and banana, absolutely had my mouth watering. The porter is a citra one, and the sample had a lovely flavour that was a blend of a sort of mocha with hints of tropical fruit, gorgeous. It's no Voss though, attenuation seems a bit lower, not sure yet though as I'm not certain that I've reached terminal FG with either brew yet, been giving them time to be sure. Oh, and I used nutrient with both, same as I do with Voss.

I noticed earlier that BrewUK stock true, multi strain, Omega Hornindal Kveik too earlier, so that's gone on my list to try too. Need to sort out that Kveik a chap on Facebook offered me first though.

 

[entertheflagon]

Does anyone have any experience brewing with the #38 Aurland strain? I’ve ordered a vial but can’t find any information as such anywhere other than on the Farmhouse Yeast Registery page?

As the #38 is another bottom cropping strain , something I found with the voss I just harvested that you might consider was that when I used a habit I had long ago of ' dropping' the beer to clean it up and add air as it did seem sluggish to wake up from a while in someones fridge, I left the trub behind and harvested a beautifully clean yeast cake.
In future I'd drop the beer as soon as the yeast showed it was on the job and let it do the business in a clean crib, no yeast washing for me hopefully either!

 

[entertheflagon]

The registry reckons that the Omega stuff is definitely the real Stranda strain, so I'm confident that it is. It's an isolated strain, but the registry states that Stranda is single strain anyway, with no other strains or bacteria. It worked in my golden ale that I did, and the flavour seems to be coming good (taking longer than Voss does though, so giving it longer before I bottle, more like with a normal yeast), just didn't seem quite as healthy a krausen, maybe a slightly less vigorous fermentation? The porter I under-pitched with some of the yeast harvested from the krausen from the golden, which COULD explain a healthier yeast, except an entire packet went into the golden, only 5mls went into the porter... lol The flavour so far, from early samples, has been amazing, and the smell from the krausen was GORGEOUS! Think a mix of over ripe mango and banana, absolutely had my mouth watering. The porter is a citra one, and the sample had a lovely flavour that was a blend of a sort of mocha with hints of tropical fruit, gorgeous. It's no Voss though, attenuation seems a bit lower, not sure yet though as I'm not certain that I've reached terminal FG with either brew yet, been giving them time to be sure. Oh, and I used nutrient with both, same as I do with Voss.

I noticed earlier that BrewUK stock true, multi strain, Omega Hornindal Kveik too earlier, so that's gone on my list to try too. Need to sort out that Kveik a chap on Facebook offered me first though.

My limited experience with this Kveik stuff tells me they are used to a good supply of nutrient ( I fed it tromozoymol), a good supply of oxygen to let the underpitched yeast grow ( I gave it a good rousing initially and then dropped it) and attention paid to ferment temps. and, to echo your findings, fresh yeast works best it seems, so from now on I'd try to use the yeast cake of a first brew to hit a second, but I'm just guessing here.
I'm coming back to brewing after a long sojourn and the Kveik thing seems to have bitten me .
Accidentally I found dropping the beer soon gave a very clean yeast to harvest without washing.

 

[entertheflagon]

The registry reckons that the Omega stuff is definitely the real Stranda strain, so I'm confident that it is. It's an isolated strain, but the registry states that Stranda is single strain anyway, with no other strains or bacteria. It worked in my golden ale that I did, and the flavour seems to be coming good (taking longer than Voss does though, so giving it longer before I bottle, more like with a normal yeast), just didn't seem quite as healthy a krausen, maybe a slightly less vigorous fermentation? The porter I under-pitched with some of the yeast harvested from the krausen from the golden, which COULD explain a healthier yeast, except an entire packet went into the golden, only 5mls went into the porter... lol The flavour so far, from early samples, has been amazing, and the smell from the krausen was GORGEOUS! Think a mix of over ripe mango and banana, absolutely had my mouth watering. The porter is a citra one, and the sample had a lovely flavour that was a blend of a sort of mocha with hints of tropical fruit, gorgeous. It's no Voss though, attenuation seems a bit lower, not sure yet though as I'm not certain that I've reached terminal FG with either brew yet, been giving them time to be sure. Oh, and I used nutrient with both, same as I do with Voss.

I noticed earlier that BrewUK stock true, multi strain, Omega Hornindal Kveik too earlier, so that's gone on my list to try too. Need to sort out that Kveik a chap on Facebook offered me first though.

 

[entertheflagon]

Well it's a cheaper option than a vial sent from Norway, I'll give it a go myself.

 

[AdeDunn]

The Yeast Bay Sigmund's Voss was my first foray into liquid yeast, as it's so much more approachable to the newbie than a lot of other liquid yeasts. Gave me the confidence to play with other liquid yeasts, to the point that I'm currently fermenting an old ale with Wyeast 9097-PC and have a pouch of Imperial Pub in the fridge.

On the Hothead topic, the bigger pitch DID make a difference it seems. Terminal FG for my golden ale gives me an attenuation of 79.5%, where the porter that I pitched about 5mls of harvested yeast seems to have finished at about 73.2% attenuation. Can't be entirely certainly of that though, as the porter is still cleaning up, it's delicious but has that slight wateriness you get when it's not quite ready to be bottled yet (the golden ale went through the same phase). Really promising flavour though, still has a nice mocha thing going on, with fruity hints in the background from the Citra. I think the slightly lower attenuation may well prove a boon with it, giving it a nice sweetness to the malt flavours. Both were mashed at 67 degrees C too, so would be very easy to increase attenuation with cooler mashing. Obviously the porter also has quite a lot of dark malt in it, not famous for attenuating as much.... lol

But yeah, I can definitely recommend giving Hothead a go. It's no Voss, but then no yeast is....

Just an afterthought, I did actually photograph the SG samples. It's very obvious from the porter sample that it needs longer in the FV.