anyone have experience with drying and reusing kviek yeast?

[domdom]

i just brewed an IPA with hornindal kviek yeast. still waiting for it to carbonate in the keg but it's pretty tasty. i've seen people selling dried kviek yeasts and read about the history of it being harvested on knotty wooden rings and dried for future use. i was reading at the website below that you can just harvest and dry the yeast with a food dehydrator. i'm wondering if anyone had tried this and it's worked. seems like it would.

my follow up question is this: is there any reason why kviek yeast can be harvested, dried and reused without issues of infection more so than any other yeast? I feel like everything i hear about reusing yeast needs to be under strict sanitary practices only. why would kviek be so easily reused under less than sanitary practices?

and dont even get me started on why a yeast from a cold, northern climate would produce a yeast that performs well at temps as high as 98F/36C.

http://suigenerisbrewing.com/index.php/2019/02/25/drying-kveik-part-1/

 

[radwizard]

I have dried Kviek. I just spread the yeast cake on parchment paper and placed it in a clean room. I have not used the food dehydrator, but I have heard that is the way to go. I didn't really want to mess around with the oven, and thought it would have been a PITA do deal with not over cooking it there.

For your follow up question, I don't think it is less likely to not get infected then other yeast. I think that Kviek may be more resilient, and easier to dry out for reuse, but traditionally these yeast's carry some bacteria/wild yeast. I would think the original source of these new commercial pitches of Kviek came along with some funky stuff and the strains were isolated into what is being reproduced by the lab.

 

[madscientist451]

Why not just save the slurry in a jar?

 

[Amadeo38]

Why not just save the slurry in a jar?

Funerals, weddings, and births are few and far between, and why else would you brew a beer? Gotta dry that stuff on the dried and cleaned spine of an animal in the shape of a circular crown. Tradition!

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Funerals, weddings, and births are few and far between, and why else would you brew a beer? Gotta dry that stuff on the dried and cleaned spine of an animal in the shape of a circular crown. Tradition!

Ahhh...is that why they needed to evolve a yeast that can turn around a beer in 4 days? Hard to tell the grieving family they have to wait 4 weeks for the funeral while your beer ferments!

I have yet to use a Kviek yeast, but I am very curious. I have been harvesting my yeast slurry into canning jars. Drying out yeast on parchment paper in an oven would make me nervous! I am curious if there are actually other common yeasts that can ferment well at 90F and can survive being dried.

 

[Amadeo38]

Ahhh...is that why they needed to evolve a yeast that can turn around a beer in 4 days? Hard to tell the grieving family they have to wait 4 weeks for the funeral while your beer ferments!

I hadn’t thought about it, but I bet you’re right!

 

[madscientist451]

Ahhh...is that why they needed to evolve a yeast that can turn around a beer in 4 days?

I'm skeptical that the farmhouse brewers did anything to make the yeast "evolve".
They used what they had, and borrowed from the neighbors.
But OK, I'll try the old method of dunking a wooden ring into the beer. I'll put it up in my dry, dust farmhouse attic to cure, then toss it in to another brew and see what happens.
Hopefully, I'll make this happen sometime this summer.

 

[Kenmoron]

I just started drying my kveik and have been successful!

I used Imperial Loki (Voss) on a simple SMaSH beer. I then took the yeast cake and spread it out on parchment paper and put it in a closet in a clean room. It took about 6 days to completely dry. It looked a little funky but I decided to just use it anyway. Once dry, I crumbled it up into pieces using the parchment and put it in a clean container in the freezer. For my next brew (about a week later) I pitched 1 gram of crumbled flakes into 3 gal of wort at 100 degrees. I held fermentation at 95 degrees and it was finished in about 36 hours. The beer has a great flavor and aroma of oranges and a little spice

 

[Smellyglove]

I just started drying my kveik and have been successful!

I used Imperial Loki (Voss) on a simple SMaSH beer. I then took the yeast cake and spread it out on parchment paper and put it in a closet in a clean room. It took about 6 days to completely dry. It looked a little funky but I decided to just use it anyway. Once dry, I crumbled it up into pieces using the parchment and put it in a clean container in the freezer. For my next brew (about a week later) I pitched 1 gram of crumbled flakes into 3 gal of wort at 100 degrees. I held fermentation at 95 degrees and it was finished in about 36 hours. The beer has a great flavor and aroma of oranges and a little spice

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I don't think you need to put it in a freezer. "Original" Kveiks usually were kept on the ring on the wall afaik.

 

[Kenmoron]

I don't think you need to put it in a freezer. "Original" Kveiks usually were kept on the ring on the wall afaik.

Lars had mentioned that you can store dried kveik in the freezer and it can last for 20+ years. I felt like putting it in there sounded like a good idea. I could just as easily leave it sitting out in a cupboard but figured it wouldn't hurt to go by what he said.

 

[Smellyglove]

Lars had mentioned that you can store dried kveik in the freezer and it can last for 20+ years. I felt like putting it in there sounded like a good idea. I could just as easily leave it sitting out in a cupboard but figured it wouldn't hurt to go by what he said.

Follow whatever recommondation Lars gives. I know some, but very little (like nothing) comparing to Lars G.

 

[khannon]

All I know in researching this is that I will be implementing a "Yeast Scream"... growing up a batch now to dehydrate and play with.. The bartender(nice lady) at one of the local breweries was shocked when I pronounced it right, then said "You know it's Norwegian right?" to which I replied "Which strain?". At this point the brewers had left, I will figure out which strain later when I talk to them, but I bought some and it seems to be growing on the stir plate just fine.