voss kveik followed by a saison/belgian strain ... looking for your thoughts

[Sipina]

Greetings! Thanks to all of your helpful contributions on this forum.

I would love to get your thoughts/recommendations/critique on this fermentation process I have in mind.
Adding this detail before explaining. --> I am cooling my wort overnight in a kettle where I do my mash. I do that because I don't have a wort chiller. Also I do not have any more fancy fermentation temperature controllers available.

So, I would do my mash and boil, let it cool in the kettle and then pitch to the warm wort the lallemand's voss kveik and do the primary fermentation in the kettle itself for up to 3 days. After primary in the kettle is complete I would rack the beer from the kettle to a carboy, leaving behind as much voss yeast cells as possible.
Next step would be to prepare either a solution of only honey or a combination of honey plus fresh wort and add that to the carboy and pitch either a saison or other more expressive belgian strain.
The basic idea is to achieve more complexity with the combination of yeast and the addition of a chosen honey; also the beer should be relatively dry for the upcoming warmth in the northern hemisphere. Any yeast combination recommendations or other 'tricks' are very much welcome as well. I do have very easy access to dry yeast, so that is the preferred mode of operation.

Have a great day!

 

[VikeMan]

The basic idea is to achieve more complexity with the combination of yeast and the addition of a chosen honey; also the beer should be relatively dry for the upcoming warmth in the northern hemisphere.

I suspect that instead of more "complexity," you'd get less, i.e. something saison-like, but with muted flavors. Saison strains tend to make a lot of phenols and esters, but the less wort you give them to work on, the less they'll make.

Is there some reason that Saison strains haven't worked for you? There's no reason that you couldn't add your honey (at, say, high krausen), if you want a beer that's more dry (i.e. higher % attenuated).

 

[Sipina]

@VikeMan Thanks for your reply. I see your point, yes. It seems I am actually thinking more about my options regarding moving of wort/beer from different kettles/carboys, maybe blending, and the place of fermentation, etc ...

I have tried Lallemand's Belle saison so far and managed to make a lovely Belgian Pale Ale with it . Right now I am trying out a co-pitch of voss kveik and safale be-134, however since I started brewing again after two years I was a bit rusty and thus made a few mistakes a long the process, so the result is not quite what was sought for. I believe voss kveik took the lead in the primary fermentation expressing the orange/citrusy note. I do not find much phenolics from the be-134 at all.

I have mangrove jack's M31 on stock; and plan to add m.j. M29 french saison yeast as well.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I believe voss kveik took the lead in the primary fermentation expressing the orange/citrusy note. I do not find much phenolics from the be-134 at all.

That is what I would expect with just about any yeast co-pitched with a Kveik strain. Kveik strains are so aggressive and fast.

I suspect with the strategy described in the first post (pitching Voss, 3 days later racking while "leaving behind as much voss yeast cells as possible", and pitching honey and a Saison/Belgian strain) the results would be almost identical if you did not pitch the Saison/Belgian strain. The vast majority of yeast character comes from early during active fermentation, and there will still be plenty of Voss to wake up and devour the added honey.

What is your goal here?

 

[thunderaxe]

you've got it backwards, you need to pitch the belgian yeast first, let it produce its signature esters and phenols during the multiplication phase, and then pitch the voss and raise the heat so that the belgian yeasts die off and the voss cleans it up.

 

[Alan Reginato]

Have you ever brewed with Voss Kveik?
I tried and didn't like the outcome. Low attenuation, hazy and a orange peel taste that remembered me why we throw the peel away and eat the inside of it.

BE-134 is my favourite yeast. High attenuation, good flavour profile with hints of clove, cleared all the times, sustain high temperatures and doesn't stall in low. For high expression, ferment at 28 C or even more. A nice combination would be a blend with other Belgian yeast, like Abbaye or even BE-256.


Anyway, don't forget to update us about your experience!