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I put two baking trays with silicone sheets covered in voss sludge into the greenhouse a few days ago to dry. They had a brew bag over them to keep anything out. Two days later they fully dried and started to crack. Today I took the bag off and let it finished drying.

Aaaanyway, trays were too hot to hold when I went to take them inside, took and IR reading and they were almost at 60c. I've got 70g of dried kviek and it's all 100% dead. over 6 hours in a DME starter and nothing, same in sugar water. I don't really care as it was just a test. I took a tiny bit of the slurry that I'd washed and put it in the dme and got some bubbles after 20 minutes.

I'll either sling the dried stuff or use it as nutrient in the boil.
 
Is this specifically with Ebbegarden or other sour kveik yeasts?
Sour kveik yeasts? In the event of sourness, both the beer and the kveik got ditched and new kveik (yeast) was sourced from neighbours.

Kveik

Not that you can't experiment and make a sour beer, but I think that the "contains bacteria" is warning rather than an indication of flavour profile. Especially considering the fermentation temperatures used with Kveik are perfect for lactobacillus.

It's interesting though to see if the bacteria contributes some sub threshold flavours before it is out competed by the yeast.
 
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The brew is still in the fermenter, so no I haven't yet saved the slurry. I wasn't really planning to either. Both Lida and Hornindal are listed as "top crop". I'm sure saving the slurry would probably work too. Do you think it's worth doing?

I also did the same stout with Lallemand Voss, so will be able to compare with Lida. The Voss Stout has been maturing for about 2 weeks now, so isn't far off being ready for a taste test.
It's possible to do both top and bottom cropping, I think with kveik it was traditionally done by top cropping because the mixed cultures keep the same ratios this way for longer, whereas bottom harvesting will get variations sooner. However, it does seem with kveik being a hardy yeast(s) you can bottom **** many generations and not notice huge changes.

I'm gonna do both. I'll top crop as that's what's suggested, but will also save slurry as a backup in case I ruin the top cropping somehow.
 
Sour kveik yeasts? In the event of sourness, both the beer and the kveik got ditched and new kveik (yeast) was sourced from neighbours.

Kveik

Not that you can't experiment and make a sour beer, but I think that the "contains bacteria" is warning rather than an indication of flavour profile. Especially considering the fermentation temperatures used with Kveik are perfect for lactobacillus.

It's interesting though to see if the bacteria contributes some sub threshold flavours before it is out competed by the yeast.
I've been looking online and there's very little information about Ebbegarden in regards to souring. In other forums those who've used it hop their beers >10 IBU which would prevent the lacto from working. I haven't found anyone yet who wants to favour the bacteria stains. The shop where I got it from does give advice to getting the bacteria flavours to come though though.

I'll definitely post how it comes out and what sort of sourness is present, if any. I'll get round to making it next week hopefully.
 
I bottled my barley wine tonight. 4 months old.Fermented with Juggernaut and port yeast coming in at a hefty 13%. Even better than i expected. Has a lot of depth, spicy, malty, a little oak character. Nice balance and not sickly. A little booziness, cognac and crystal clear.
I think what helps getting a clean high attenuating fermentation is nutrients and oxygen I shake a half full cube until its frothy. I might try a pale version next and spli it with different oak cubes. Hopefully this beer will last for years. I uses ec118 for bottling yeast.
 
I'm running a little low on stock after not being able to brew for a few months, and I'm considering doing something lagery and an APA with some Voss I bought from CML.

My question is, can I do the lagery one at 25C and hope it finishes in a week, and while that's going, brew the APA so it's ready to pitch onto the yeast cake once the first brew is kegged?

First time using Kveik, first time considering reusing a yeast cake, so I'm feeling about in the dark a bit.
 
can I do the lagery one at 25C and hope it finishes in a week
Only got the 1.040 unshaken starter I did to go by at the lower range - at room temp that brewed out with a horrific underpitch in 2 to 3 days. Then I really wouldn't use the entire yeast cake after that.
 
I've been looking online and there's very little information about Ebbegarden in regards to souring. In other forums those who've used it hop their beers >10 IBU which would prevent the lacto from working. I haven't found anyone yet who wants to favour the bacteria stains. The shop where I got it from does give advice to getting the bacteria flavours to come though though.

I'll definitely post how it comes out and what sort of sourness is present, if any. I'll get round to making it next week hopefully.

Just out of interest, how does the shop recommend getting the bacteria flavours to come through?
 
Just out of interest, how does the shop recommend getting the bacteria flavours to come through?
From the shop's Ebay page:

The strains that have bacteria in the mix according to the description, they contain one or more lactobacillus strains. This means that it will make your beer sour while it ferments. This will only happen if you skip the hops from the whole brewing process as most lactobacillus strains are extremely hop intolerant and even 3-5 IBUs will inhibit their growth. If you're thinking of using a strain that has bacteria in the mix but you don't want a sour beer you should fear not if you have boiled at least a small amount of hops as the bacteria won't grow and you'll get the flavour from the yeast regardless, but no funkiness from the bacteria.
Keep in mind, that the higher the fermentation temps, the more sour these beers will get. Maximum sourness can be acheived around 35C with Ebbergarden and Hornindal. If fermented around 30C, the sourness will be more subtle.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kveik-Oi...var=442410220963&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649
I was reading on (it looks like they've changed the page a bit since I last went on), and it says to use dried baking yeast as a form of yeast nutrient 5 mins before the end of the boil, 1/2 tsp per 4.5 litres. That's really interesting, bakers yeast does have a lot of nutrients and any yeasts will be killed in the boil.
 
From the shop's Ebay page:



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kveik-Oi...var=442410220963&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649
I was reading on (it looks like they've changed the page a bit since I last went on), and it says to use dried baking yeast as a form of yeast nutrient 5 mins before the end of the boil, 1/2 tsp per 4.5 litres. That's really interesting, bakers yeast does have a lot of nutrients and any yeasts will be killed in the boil.


At the moment Im capturing/growing some wild yeast to have a go at brewing with. I hopped the sarter/capture wort I captured it in as I read that because hops are anti-bacterial they will suppress the lacto if you only want to capture sacc/brett and not bacteria. The cultures I've got going smell quite fruity at the moment and not sour

With regard to nutrient, someone advised me just to chuck some trub in the boil at 10 mins to act as nutrient for kviek
 
At the moment Im capturing/growing some wild yeast to have a go at brewing with. I hopped the sarter/capture wort I captured it in as I read that because hops are anti-bacterial they will suppress the lacto if you only want to capture sacc/brett and not bacteria. The cultures I've got going smell quite fruity at the moment and not sour

With regard to nutrient, someone advised me just to chuck some trub in the boil at 10 mins to act as nutrient for kviek
I'd really like to experiment with capturing wild yeast. How do you ensure you're capturing a yeast which is good for beer? There have been a few times a wild yeast got into my batch and it tasted horrible.
 
I'd really like to experiment with capturing wild yeast. How do you ensure you're capturing a yeast which is good for beer? There have been a few times a wild yeast got into my batch and it tasted horrible.

Basically trial and error. From a blog I was reading the blogger said he usually got about 50% strike rate of capturing something good. So I made up 4 'capture mediums' two with starter wort and two with sugar water. Two I put flowers in. One I put grapes in and one I put raisins in. The two flower ones seem to be fermenting but the raisin one doesnt seem to be doing anything. The one I put grapes in is doing the best. It smells fruity and has a massive (relatively speaking) Krausen on it.
It's only been two days but after 7 days I'm going to smell and taste them all. The best one(s) I'm going to put in some starter and then pitch into a beer
 
Pitched my Skare into 1.050 wort on Tuesday evening, checked this morning (Friday) it's down to 1.014. That seems like a huge jump in a short amount of time, but I've also never taken a gravity reading of a regular yeast ferment 2.5 days in.
 
My kviek arrived just in time for the weekend 😁

Brew day Monday, I'm going to try a pseudo marzen type thingy with the Oslo first. I've already got two fruity IPAs to bottle on Sunday so I'll save the Stranda for another time.
IMG_20200529_150515.jpg
 
Only got the 1.040 unshaken starter I did to go by at the lower range - at room temp that brewed out with a horrific underpitch in 2 to 3 days. Then I really wouldn't use the entire yeast cake after that.

I pitched a sachet of dried Kveik Voss at 08:30, there were signs of activity within an hour, and now it's gone mental.

This yeast is crazy o_O
 
two with sugar water. Two I put flowers in.
I started a voss vs wild yeast elderflower champagne yesterday, the voss clearly started much faster but now I'm wondering whether to try a beer with what the elderflower leaves behind. I've still got about 13kg of spraymalt so a simple extract beer wouldn't be that much of a waste of time or cashoola. It's on the list. Actually I'll taste the elderflower first as it's at 40c so I don't know if it'll be rank.

The sugar wash with voss that I just put under a black shirt in the greenhouse is now below 1.000 but still going. That's taken a long time, a week maybe, but the temperature cycling is part of the experiment. I wondered if it would wake up after the temperature drop overnight or survive the full heat.
 
I started a voss vs wild yeast elderflower champagne yesterday, the voss clearly started much faster but now I'm wondering whether to try a beer with what the elderflower leaves behind. I've still got about 13kg of spraymalt so a simple extract beer wouldn't be that much of a waste of time or cashoola. It's on the list. Actually I'll taste the elderflower first as it's at 40c so I don't know if it'll be rank.

The sugar wash with voss that I just put under a black shirt in the greenhouse is now below 1.000 but still going. That's taken a long time, a week maybe, but the temperature cycling is part of the experiment. I wondered if it would wake up after the temperature drop overnight or survive the full heat.

Three of my four wild yeast 'capture mediums' have definite fermentation. The raisin one is a dud. The grape one has an absolutely huge krausen which I was surprised about as all the youtube vids I saw talked about ' a small layer of bubbles'
 
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