16 month old Voss Kveik

[BongoYodeler]

Bought a pack of liquid Voss Kveik back in July 2020, made a starter, and used a small amount in an IPA. I put the rest into small mason jars and stuck them in the fridge. Wondering if it's still viable, I'm currently spinning up a starter with all of it. This is what it looks like after almost 24 hours. Planning on brewing a pale ale tomorrow. Should I use it? If not I have a low alcohol wheat ale in the fermenter now that I'll keg tonight or tomorrow and can use the yeast cake from that.

 

[IslandLizard]

Looks fine to me, it's starting to look milky/creamy and you have krausen.
How much yeast did you use in this starter?
I'd let that spin till tomorrow, then reevaluate. Depending on how thick and creamy it is, decide on whether to brew or not. Chances are it will be ready, if so, let it spin until your wort is ready, then pitch the whole flask content.*

* You could save a little out and make another starter from that. If you do that, save out some wort from your main batch tomorrow, adjust gravity to 1.040, reboil, chill, and add to the flask with the leftover starter.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Looks fine to me, it's starting to look milky/creamy and you have krausen.
How much yeast did you use in this starter?
I'd let that spin till tomorrow, then reevaluate. Depending on how thick and creamy it is, decide on whether to brew or not. Chances are it will be ready, if so, let it spin until your wort is ready, then pitch the whole flask content.*

* You could save a little out and make another starter from that. If you do that, save out some wort from your main batch tomorrow, adjust gravity to 1.040, reboil, chill, and add to the flask with the leftover starter.

I would guess the yeast I put in in the flask totaled about 3-4 TBS. I didn't have any DME so I used two cans of Proper Starter and water. It's been spinning for a little over 24 hours now and looks about the same as the pic above. It took a few hours to show anything at all, but I assume that's due to its age and the fact that our house was around 63° overnight and only about 65° now. At worst this is just an experiment to see if 16 month old Kveik is viable. My fallback plan will be to ferment using the yeast cake from my wheat beer, (also something I've not done before).

 

[IslandLizard]

3-4 TBSP should be fine, but when 1.5 years old, only about a 1/4 (or less) of it maybe healthy and viable.

Perhaps the lighting is a bit deceiving in the picture, and it just needs more time.

I always wait for the change in color, when it turns from dark brown to a much lighter, creamy beige-like color, looking dense, thick. That's the clear sign of much yeast being in suspension, ready to flocc out when you turn off the spinner.
A 1/4-1/2" cake of yeast should then settle out within a few hours, but depends on how flocculant the yeast is.
Kveik also likes warmer temps to propagate. 63 is cold for her.

Hmm, while the Kveik is growing, but slowly, I would prepare for scooping out a 1/2 cup of your wheat beer cake and use that instead.

 

[lumbergh]

The Omega website says the temp range for Voss is 68-95, so I'm thinking the temperature is slowing things down a bit.

 

[BongoYodeler]

The Omega website says the temp range for Voss is 68-95, so I'm thinking the temperature is slowing things down a bit.

The temperatures likely slowed it down for sure, however it's not only alive, it's a beast. Late yesterday afternoon a bunch of the krausen had jumped ship, flowed down the flask and puddled on the counter. By this morning it had receded to around half an inch or less. I seriously think it'll be ok to brew with. When it was fresher I've used as little as one tsp in a 5 gallon batch and it tore through it in less than 36 hours. Still, I think it'll be a game time decision on whether I use it or the yeast cake currently in the fermenter. Coffee first.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Currently....

 

[IslandLizard]

She's got a lot creamier! ^
I'd use it if I were brewing today. Good vitality, like this, is more important than just raw pitch rate/cell count.

Frankly, years ago I stopped filling 2 liter flasks past the 1.6 liter point even with a drop of Fermcap. Depending on the yeast used and her condition, you may get away with 1.8 liter but it's definitely borderline, risking countertop puddles at some point.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Just because I think it's always a good idea to circle back with an update for anyone who may eventually be searching for Older Kveik viability....I brewed my Cascade Pale Ale today and dumped the entire 2000ml starter into the cooled 1.053 wort (at ~80°F) in the fermenter. Within 2 1/2 hours I had definite airlock activity. I will not be heating or cooling during fermentation, just letting it eventually settle into room temperature.

Note: I did not add any yeast nutrient when building the starter, but I did add about 1-2 tsp DAP yeast nutrient with 15 minutes left in the boil though. I also hit it with 30 seconds of oxygen just prior to pitching the yeast.

I'll update further with anything interesting and/or out of the ordinary.

 

[BongoYodeler]

First full pour of this old yeast pale ale. Seems to have fermented just fine. 1.053 down to 1.011 (5.5%), and no off flavors that I can tell. The weather cooled down here during fermentation, and the temperature inside the Speidel dropped to around 65 degrees, so I had to stick a heating mat under the fermenter. That helped bring it back within the recommended range as a bulk of the fermentation was around 75-80 degrees. It went on for several days, just slow and steady.
Proof that 16 month old yeast can still get it up......or down in this case.

 

[deuc224]

I have a year expired imperial Steffon and Gnome im gonna spin up and see if they happen to wake up, should be interesting.