Ooops pitched my Kveik at 45C - will it be ok

[The Baron]

I brewed last night and left my wort to cool overnight but this morning it was still at 45C so I pitched some Kveik Voss slurry in at that temp.
Has anybody had any experience with pitching Kveik this high at what may be the consequences?

 

[Rodcx500z]

42 for me, turned out great

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

I’ve purposely done mine at 40 degrees ish using Voss and they’ve come out really good. I have always used a yeast nutrient when using Voss at that temperature though.

 

[The Baron]

All sounding good upto now, I bet its done in 24 hours as I wrapped it to retain the heat

 

[Rodcx500z]

Let us know how it goes

 

[Alan_Reginato]

Let us know how it goes

Yeah! Recipe and tasting notes, if you don't mind. It's always nice to see what others homebrewers are doing.

 

[obscure]

I think the highest I have pitched at was about 43°C but I have routinely fermented with Voss at 40°C and it has always turned out well. I do find at higher temps you can get a slight orangey note although this does tend to fade after a couple of weeks. Also your beer may well be done fermenting by this time tomorrow at those kind of temps.

 

[The Baron]

I will let you know if any thing goes wrong I too generally pitch around 38c-40c with no problems just wondered if I had pushed it too far?

 

[GerritT]

Hm I wonder if at those temperatures it should be required/worthwile to re-oxygenate the wort? Go through it with a blender perhaps? Because hot wort can hold less oxygen than cold wort.

 

[fgoulding]

I’ve also pitched Voss slurry at 45C (because I was under pressure to get my brew day completed) with no issues at all. Fermented at 37C and done within 48 hours.

I can’t say if the final fruity flavours were a result of the yeast or if it was more to do with my juicy pale ale recipe but it was a great beer.

When using Kveik, I now transfer my wort to the fermenter at 42C to save water whilst chilling.

 

[The Baron]

Hm I wonder if at those temperatures it should be required/worthwile to re-oxygenate the wort? Go through it with a blender perhaps? Because hot wort can hold less oxygen than cold wort.

You are right to raise that point as warmer liquid will hold less oxygen to quote the Covid bosses "The science says so" but it has had no problems chewing through wort pitched at 40C in all my Kveik brew upto now and they have all finished where they should.
It be a Monster!!!

 

[johncrobinson]

You are right Baron ,I dont think brewers of old kept temperature records.The yeast have adapted.

BTW your not a fan of Frankenstien are you.

 

[The Baron]

Its a long story John but the basis is I was christened it over 25 years ago when I was a manager at main car dealers and it stuck, so I use it as my pseudo name on many internet/computers where a alter ego is needed

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I brewed last night and left my wort to cool overnight but this morning it was still at 45C so I pitched some Kveik Voss slurry in at that temp.
Has anybody had any experience with pitching Kveik this high at what may be the consequences?

Just in general, typical ale yeast grow fastest at around 30°C but they also produce more off-flavours at that ideal-for-growth temperature, which is why we typically ferment ales at 18-20°C. And typically lager yeast die above 37°C and ale yeast above 42°C but it varies a lot from strain to strain.

I'm sure Escarpment had a recent blog about this, but all I can find is Table 6 of their 2018 paper, which suggests their Voss isolates grow dramatically worse just going from 40°C to 42°C, and DKB suggest Lallemand Voss grows fastest at 37°C.

So 45°C is probably at the "getting away with it" level, but was probably a significant underpitch due to cell death.

 

[The Baron]

Phew I normally pitch at 38c to 40c but was a little impatient as I was taking the grandkids out that morning so I made a calculated risk but I will not do it again.
Ps it went off like a rocket so think the main ferment will be done in 3 days or less but will leave a little longer