Lallemand voss kviek - culture from starter

[xozzx]

I have used a few different liquid kviek yeasts for IPAs and fancied trying lallemands Voss kviek for a Scottish Ale.

I normally massively underpitch with kviek (<5mL liquid yeast / 20L batch) but most of what Ive read says to use the full 11g packet of Lallemand for 20L. Im tempted to use half the packet and make a starter (100g DME and 1L water) with the other half, divide the yeast into about 10 small sample jars and use these for future brews.

Anyone with experience of this yeast any comments?

 

[MyQul]

I dont have experience with this yeast but make starters from dried yeast all the time. Half a packet of yeast in a 1L starter will be waaay too much. I normally put 1g of yeast (other yeasts, not kviek) into 600ml of starter for my 10L brews and this is plenty as the fermentation is usually vigorous. If your going to make a starter from kviek I'd just put 1g in 1L and it should be enough seeing as you normally need less kviek than normal yeast

 

[DavidHatton]

I used 5g from the lallemand voss into a 1.055 wort, and it's finished after 2.5 days down to 1.012 today. I guess what would be your SG? I didn't make a starter just sprinkled. at 35c for 2 days it reached 1.014.

 

[xozzx]

My OG is 1.046, I plan to sprinkle half the pack on the wort at 35C and keep at this for 3-4 days then cold crash for 2 days. I was planning the starter so I dont have to keep buying more yeast, if I can make a 1L starter and split into 10 vials then this would last me a long time and cost a lot less.

 

[xozzx]

If your going to make a starter from kviek I'd just put 1g in 1L and it should be enough seeing as you normally need less kviek than normal yeast

Thanks, Ill try with just 1g, unless anyone else comes along with a good reason not to!

 

[Drunkula]

Anyone with experience of this yeast any comments?

I cultured up a litre from 0.5g and if the pitching rate of 1/2 a teaspoon of yeast I hear quoted is right I had enough for 8 batches easily.

 

[DavidHatton]

My OG is 1.046, I plan to sprinkle half the pack on the wort at 35C and keep at this for 3-4 days then cold crash for 2 days. I was planning the starter so I dont have to keep buying more yeast, if I can make a 1L starter and split into 10 vials then this would last me a long time and cost a lot less.

just branching into that side of home brew, I top cropped and got a good amount for the next ipa/pale, will make a starter soon, just waitng for the last bit of my stir plate. A starter seams like the best way forward..

 

[MyQul]

My OG is 1.046, I plan to sprinkle half the pack on the wort at 35C and keep at this for 3-4 days then cold crash for 2 days. I was planning the starter so I dont have to keep buying more yeast, if I can make a 1L starter and split into 10 vials then this would last me a long time and cost a lot less.

If you want to save money/not buy more yeast. Here's what I've done in the past.

So make a starter like we discussed and make your beer. After you've brewed, rack the beer of the yeast cake and pour the cake (all of it or some of it, depends on the size of the jar of course) into jar and put it into the fridge.
Now every time you want to brew, 3 days before, pull the jar out of the fridge and put about 1-2 tspn (for 'normal' yeast it would be dessert spoons) of the cake from the jar into a starter and put the jar back into the fridge until next time. In this way the jar of cake will last many, many brews.
When you get to the end of the jar you can either pull the original pack of yeast out of the fridge and use another 1g to make a new starter or just harvest the yeast cake from the brew from the last tspn of the jar and then fill the jar back up with this new yeast cake.
In this way you could potentially make 1 packet of yeast last years

Edit. Drunkula who has used this yeast states above that 0.5tsp per 1L starter should be plenty (so that jar f yeast cake is going to last a looooong time)

 

[xozzx]

@MyQul - think Ill give that a try, especially since this brew is a low OG and no dry hops so the yeast cake should be fairly healthy. I guess its best to make a fairly small starter from the yeast cake with this yeast, especially if Im wanting an underpitch to get those orange flavours in an IPA etc. Im thinking maybe 300ml starter just to be sure the yeast is still active and get it going again.

My Scottish ale is fermenting away furiously now from 5g of the dried yeast. This is a beer Ive made a few times and is one of my favourites, I normally make it with WLP028 Edinburgh ale yeast but if I get good results with the voss kviek and have it kegged in less than a week then Ill continue making it with the kviek. I still have a little left in a keg so I can do a side by side comparison with the WLP028 and voss kviek in a few weeks.

 

[MyQul]

@MyQul - think Ill give that a try, especially since this brew is a low OG and no dry hops so the yeast cake should be fairly healthy. I guess its best to make a fairly small starter from the yeast cake with this yeast, especially if Im wanting an underpitch to get those orange flavours in an IPA etc. Im thinking maybe 300ml starter just to be sure the yeast is still active and get it going again.

My Scottish ale is fermenting away furiously now from 5g of the dried yeast. This is a beer Ive made a few times and is one of my favourites, I normally make it with WLP028 Edinburgh ale yeast but if I get good results with the voss kviek and have it kegged in less than a week then Ill continue making it with the kviek. I still have a little left in a keg so I can do a side by side comparison with the WLP028 and voss kviek in a few weeks.

Yeah, I think from what everyone says, a small starter would be best (remember to use some yeast nutrient. If you dont have any just chuck some of the cake in the boil)

 

[Mikul]

I dont have experience with this yeast but make starters from dried yeast all the time. Half a packet of yeast in a 1L starter will be waaay too much. I normally put 1g of yeast (other yeasts, not kviek) into 600ml of starter for my 10L brews and this is plenty as the fermentation is usually vigorous. If your going to make a starter from kviek I'd just put 1g in 1L and it should be enough seeing as you normally need less kviek than normal yeast

How soon before a brew do you make your starter from dried yeast?

I've made starters from liquid yeasts and I normally give them a couple of days before pitching.

The dry yeast I will be using is Lallemand American East Coast Ale Yeast. The reason I am making a starter is so I can collect some of the starter to refridgerate and then use it in a future brew. The packet is near its expiry date.