Bootleg Biology OSLO

[Kenmoron]

I just pitched half a packet into a 3 gal batch of festbier at 95F. Excited to see how clean and lager-like this turns out. I plan on drying the yeast cake but I have a question for those that have re-used it this way. What was your re-pitch rate like and did it produce similarly clean beer? I've dried and re-pitched Voss at about 1 gram into 3 gal (roughly 1/10 normal pitch rate). Got a beautiful Voss-ester beer, however, I think the point of Oslo is to minimize yeast character. So does it still perform clean and lager-like when underpitching like you would normally do for the other kveiks?

 

[isomerization]

This yeast is pretty darn cool.

Brewed on May 24, kegged about a week later, so about 2 weeks in the kegerator.

 

[Schlenkerla]

Subbed,

Used a bottle cultured yeast, this week albeit a different strain. 24 hours 1.044 to 1.004. this was a quart starter. I assume you're underpitching.

Ready to use the Hornindal Kviek have in the fridge.

What base recipes are you guys using for Kveik?

 

[cefiro355]

If anyone can test dry Oslo flakes and is sure about viability, then I would like to trade for some other interesting yeast flakes that I have. I have Sowuli and Gebo strains, which I have dried and reused multiple times with great success (https://sleightbeerlab.com/product-category/yeast-pitches/). Please send me a message if so.

How many grams of this (or Kveik) in general would you recommend to direct pitch at 5 gallon wort?

 

[crooow]

So does it really produce a lager taste?

 

[Austin_]

I picked the wrong week to use this yeast. I pitched some last Sunday, and I'm just now getting to FG. The weather had been in the 90s for a couple weeks and I figured I was good, but then this past week it dipped in to the 70s during the day and 50's at night. I had to wrap my fermenter with my seed starter pad to keep the temperature up.

 

[Coffeeturnal]

How many grams of this (or Kveik) in general would you recommend to direct pitch at 5 gallon wort?

I'd feel comfortable with a 5 gram pitch. I'm sure you could go lower though, tbh. My feelings aren't based on any sound data though. I put a single flake (maybe 3mmx3mm in size) in a starter and it fermented out.

So does it really produce a lager taste?

In my experience, yes. I'm not a lager aficionado though, so perhaps my standards aren't terribly high as far as "lager" taste goes. Either way, it produced delicious beer.

 

[isomerization]

So does it really produce a lager taste?

My palate sucks, but yes I think it’s very crisp and clean. Bringing a growler to my club meeting on Friday, many BJCP judges there, so should be a strong barometer.

 

[isomerization]

I picked the wrong week to use this yeast. I pitched some last Sunday, and I'm just now getting to FG. The weather had been in the 90s for a couple weeks and I figured I was good, but then this past week it dipped in to the 70s during the day and 50's at night. I had to wrap my fermenter with my seed starter pad to keep the temperature up.

Did you pitch in the 90Fs? This yeast starts so fast that it should be able to keep temps up when pitched warm (maybe with a blanket too).

 

[Austin_]

Did you pitch in the 90Fs? This yeast starts so fast that it should be able to keep temps up when pitched warm (maybe with a blanket too).

I pitched it the mid 90's thinking it would be fine, since like you said, it ferments quickly. Didn't happen for me. I didn't use a starter, so that might have been the problem. That said, I brewed again this morning and pitched some slurry from the previous batch. I've never seen something take off so fast! It looks like a tornado in there after only a couple hours. The airlock might as well be an A-10's cannon.

 

[Kenmoron]

How many grams of this (or Kveik) in general would you recommend to direct pitch at 5 gallon wort?

Apparently most dried cultures are about 10-15 billion cells/gram. From most of my research, "underpitching" for a kveik is about 1/10th normal pitching rate. I use 1 gram of dried kveik (Voss or Hornindal) for my 3 gal batches. However, Oslo is supposedly different since you are trying NOT to get esters so I'm not sure the same pitching rates apply. I'm currently trying to figure that out with my own experiments and info from others.

My palate sucks, but yes I think it’s very crisp and clean. Bringing a growler to my club meeting on Friday, many BJCP judges there, so should be a strong barometer.

Very interested on hearing feedback from others (in particular the BJCP folks). I plan on bringing my Oslo "lager" to my next meeting as well, but that isn't for another few weeks.

 

[cefiro355]

So I've bottled and while it's still conditioning sampling @ bottling was clean/clear/very lager like. And the yeast dried immensely well (and tested) have LOADS dried.

 

[TandemTails]

So I've bottled and while it's still conditioning sampling @ bottling was clean/clear/very lager like. And the yeast dried immensely well (and tested) have LOADS dried.

that's great news! Did you use the food dehydrator method or did you use the oven?

 

[cefiro355]

that's great news! Did you use the food dehydrator method or did you use the oven?

Dehydrator @ 100F for around 5-6 hours. There was a slight drying time difference between the Oslo and Aurora.

 

[ebbelwoi]

So I've bottled and while it's still conditioning sampling @ bottling was clean/clear/very lager like. And the yeast dried immensely well (and tested) have LOADS dried.

If you'd be interested in selling some, please PM me. I'm in Japan, and shipping liquid yeasts isn't an option. I'd love to try some dried Oslo.

 

[cefiro355]

If you'd be interested in selling some, please PM me. I'm in Japan, and shipping liquid yeasts isn't an option. I'd love to try some dried Oslo.

If anyone else needs help sourcing Oslo or Aurora Liquid or Dried feel free to PM me!

 

[Comfort_Zone]

If anyone else needs help sourcing Oslo or Aurora Liquid or Dried feel free to PM me!

PM sent

 

[isomerization]

My palate sucks, but yes I think it’s very crisp and clean. Bringing a growler to my club meeting on Friday, many BJCP judges there, so should be a strong barometer.

The Mexican lager was very well received! Multiple comments that they couldn’t believe it was fermented so warm.

Potential criticisms, beer wasn’t as crisp as desired (FG was 1.012, so maybe finish lower?) and lack of slight sulfur note you’d get with traditional lager yeast.

 

[Austin_]

Have any of y'all had chill haze issues with this yeast? I haven't had chill haze in my beer in years, but this first batch I did with Oslo has some going on with it. Maybe because I only quickly chilled to 95 as opposed to my normal 70 or below? I did everything I normally do - used whirlfloc, chilled in less than 10 minutes, an cold crashed after fermentation and used gelatin.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Chill haze proper is down to residual protein - so it could be something to do with a change of malt, or not cold crashing properly?

 

[KyleF318is]

The Mexican lager was very well received! Multiple comments that they couldn’t believe it was fermented so warm.

Potential criticisms, beer wasn’t as crisp as desired (FG was 1.012, so maybe finish lower?) and lack of slight sulfur note you’d get with traditional lager yeast.

Followed your lead and brewed pretty much the same beer. Hot weather in Houston and this sounded excellent.

I only used half a packet. Saving the other half for something different. Within 5hrs I had activity. About 48hrs later I’m down to 1.014 and still chugging.

Question, you stated that you think a lower FG would have helped. Did you stop it early or did it drop out? Hoping I can keep it going. Was hoping for 1.008. That’d be roughly 80% attenuation. Thoughts? Am I dreaming? Haha

Thanks for posting all about yours. How’s it drinking weeks later?

 

[isomerization]

Followed your lead and brewed pretty much the same beer. Hot weather in Houston and this sounded excellent.

I only used half a packet. Saving the other half for something different. Within 5hrs I had activity. About 48hrs later I’m down to 1.014 and still chugging.

Question, you stated that you think a lower FG would have helped. Did you stop it early or did it drop out? Hoping I can keep it going. Was hoping for 1.008. That’d be roughly 80% attenuation. Thoughts? Am I dreaming? Haha

Thanks for posting all about yours. How’s it drinking weeks later?

Here’s my brewersfriend link:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/edit/801899

One of the comments/critiques was that they wished the beer were more crisp. I mashed at 152F and fermented in mid to upper 80F. I’d guess mashing at 148F with the same temp schedule drops the beer to close to 1.008, so I might try that next time with this recipe for comparison purposes.

With that said, I think the beer is awesome. The corn is present and the lime-citrus vibe is definitely apparent without overwhelming the palate. Beer is crystal clear as well. This yeast is definitely cheat mode for lagers!

 

[cefiro355]

I mashed @ 145ish and hit 1.010 bottled on 7th day with no issues. Clearer than my usual beers (although I don't really try either direction) and the yeast has a nice aroma and a lager esque taste but maybe a slightly fuller mouthfeel, this could be what people are saying could be more "crisp". Considering it can be brewed with ease/no temp control/quickly/and dries it's a winner.

 

[Coffeeturnal]

The above comments are also in line with my experience. If you're going for a super crisp lager, this is perhaps not the strain for you. It's more of a full-bodied lager. My 3.3% had the mouthfeel of a 6%. I think it'd be really nice for experimenting with super session lagers.

 

[jnxbrews]

Has anyone tested the upper limits of alcohol tolerance for this yeast? I've brewed 5 beers with Oslo thus far, highest being 8.6%abv baltic porter that went from 1.085 to 1.019 in three days with ease. Im thinking this will have no problem at 10%. Oslo makes nice crushable beer out of session strength pale wort but I'm loving it for higher strength dark beers.

 

[Comfort_Zone]

Hmmmm, with this yeast producing a nice full body I'd think this strain would be perfect for something like a doppelbock.

 

[Coffeeturnal]

Has anyone tested the upper limits of alcohol tolerance for this yeast? I've brewed 5 beers with Oslo thus far, highest being 8.6%abv baltic porter that went from 1.085 to 1.019 in three days with ease. Im thinking this will have no problem at 10%. Oslo makes nice crushable beer out of session strength pale wort but I'm loving it for higher strength dark beers.

I haven't tried it yet. I've seen reports of ~10% being achieved. A lot of kveik isolates can get to 13% I think. Perhaps someone with some free time and some DME would want to do a small batch test? I'd volunteer, but pretty much all of my free time is spoken for until the end of summer.

Hmmmm, with this yeast producing a nice full body I'd think this strain would be perfect for something like a doppelbock.

I'm given serious thought to doing something like that later this year to have it ready for colder weather. I think this could produce something really special.

 

[TandemTails]

Just pitched OSLO in my marzen about an hour ago. Wort was about 78'F when i pitched the yeast but got a heat belt on it and will ferment it at 85'F for about 6 days. To those who have used this yeast, think I should go higher than 85'F?

Grain bill:
* 4 lb 12 oz Munich
* 4 lb Pilsner (Weyermann)
* 2 lb 12 oz Vienna
* 12 oz Caramunich II
* 4 oz Aromatic

Hops:
* 1oz Hallertauer @ 60
* 1oz Hallertauer @ 10

Mashed @ 152'F for 60 minutes with 4.4 gallons. Batch sparge 1 @ 168'F w/ 1.1 gallons. Batch sparge 2 @ 168'F w/ 4 gallons

Measured OG: 1.054
Est IBU: 20

Batch sparge recirc going (cascade hops climbing the tree on the left side of the pic)

Waiting for the magic to happen

 

[Kenmoron]

I decided to push the upper limits of fermentation temp like the other kveiks and did Oslo at 95F in a festbier. Fermented completely in about 24-30 hrs. The gravity sample tasted great and I bottled on day 3. Bottles have been sitting in my closet at ambient about 75F. 1 week after bottling it was still undercarbed and had a somewhat sour 'green' taste to it. Waited another week and still fairly undercarbed with the same sour green characteristics.

Anyone have any issues bottling? Thinking I may have to try and get my bottles up to 95F to wake the Oslo back up. Thoughts?

 

[Coffeeturnal]

Just pitched OSLO in my marzen about an hour ago. Wort was about 78'F when i pitched the yeast but got a heat belt on it and will ferment it at 85'F for about 6 days. To those who have used this yeast, think I should go higher than 85'F?

Grain bill:
* 4 lb 12 oz Munich
* 4 lb Pilsner (Weyermann)
* 2 lb 12 oz Vienna
* 12 oz Caramunich II
* 4 oz Aromatic

Hops:
* 1oz Hallertauer @ 60
* 1oz Hallertauer @ 10

Mashed @ 152'F for 60 minutes with 4.4 gallons. Batch sparge 1 @ 168'F w/ 1.1 gallons. Batch sparge 2 @ 168'F w/ 4 gallons

Measured OG: 1.054
Est IBU: 20

Batch sparge recirc going (cascade hops climbing the tree on the left side of the pic)

Waiting for the magic to happen

You'll be fine at 85. You can go higher if you want more attenuation. At 85, mine was done in less than two days.

I decided to push the upper limits of fermentation temp like the other kveiks and did Oslo at 95F in a festbier. Fermented completely in about 24-30 hrs. The gravity sample tasted great and I bottled on day 3. Bottles have been sitting in my closet at ambient about 75F. 1 week after bottling it was still undercarbed and had a somewhat sour 'green' taste to it. Waited another week and still fairly undercarbed with the same sour green characteristics.

Anyone have any issues bottling? Thinking I may have to try and get my bottles up to 95F to wake the Oslo back up. Thoughts?

Did you cold crash? Just wondering if there maybe aren't many cells left to carb it up.

Did you take into account that there is less CO2 in solution because of the high temp? You would need more priming sugar than usual because of this. Since the beer was at 95F, there is about 0.2 volumes of CO2 fewer in solution than if it were fermented at room temperature.

 

[isomerization]

I decided to push the upper limits of fermentation temp like the other kveiks and did Oslo at 95F in a festbier. Fermented completely in about 24-30 hrs. The gravity sample tasted great and I bottled on day 3. Bottles have been sitting in my closet at ambient about 75F. 1 week after bottling it was still undercarbed and had a somewhat sour 'green' taste to it. Waited another week and still fairly undercarbed with the same sour green characteristics.

Anyone have any issues bottling? Thinking I may have to try and get my bottles up to 95F to wake the Oslo back up. Thoughts?

+1 to above comments. With all kveik yeasts I have used, Ive found them to flocc very hard even without cold crashing (unless you count going from 95F to 70F haha).

I kegged my batch of Oslo, but didn’t notice any off flavors, and that was within 2 weeks of brewday.

 

[Kenmoron]

I didn't cold crash. Bottled when the beer was still about 80F. I accounted for lower than typical CO2 absorption and added priming sugar based on a temp of 90F (non-significant amount of sugar from 95F). Interestingly, I see increased yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottles. Any chance it's just not good at fermenting under pressure??? I've never had this happen with bottle conditioning before...even bottling other kveiks.

 

[isomerization]

I didn't cold crash. Bottled when the beer was still about 80F. I accounted for lower than typical CO2 absorption and added priming sugar based on a temp of 90F (non-significant amount of sugar from 95F). Interestingly, I see increased yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottles. Any chance it's just not good at fermenting under pressure??? I've never had this happen with bottle conditioning before...even bottling other kveiks.

Could try warming them up?

 

[Kenmoron]

Yeah, I think my next step is to throw them in a cooler with a heating pad and open one up every couple of days.

 

[TandemTails]

Yeah, I think my next step is to throw them in a cooler with a heating pad and open one up every couple of days.

I had that happen to me once with a belgian dark strong. didn't carb up after like a month and i was about to pop all the lids and add some ec-1118 but figured i'd shake all of the bottles up first and then wait another week.

I basically swirled them around enough to churn up anything that had flocced out and put it back in suspension. After a week at 65-70'F they were all carbed up.

I'd say maybe give that a shot too.

 

[Coffeeturnal]

I didn't cold crash. Bottled when the beer was still about 80F. I accounted for lower than typical CO2 absorption and added priming sugar based on a temp of 90F (non-significant amount of sugar from 95F). Interestingly, I see increased yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottles. Any chance it's just not good at fermenting under pressure??? I've never had this happen with bottle conditioning before...even bottling other kveiks.

Weird. Yeah... I guess try warming them as others said. I had no issues carbing quickly in the bottle. Hope it works out!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Bootleg are releasing another batch of Oslo (and others) next week :
https://bootlegbiology.com/2019/07/10/oslo-funk-island-coming-july-15/

They've also added more distributors outside the US :

• Canada – Short Finger Brewing (ON), Frasier Mills Fermentation Supplies (BC)
• Norway – Brewshop.no
• South Africa – The Homebrew Shop/National Food Products
• U.K. – The Malt Miller

Nothing yet on the Malt Miller site, but they do have Ubbe from Wicklow Hops Company, which looks like a rebadged Oslo : https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product/whc-ubbe-kveik/

 

[cmhaynes]

Yeah, I think my next step is to throw them in a cooler with a heating pad and open one up every couple of days.

I've had the same issue with two different yeasts from the Yeast Bay: Voss Kveik and Simonaitis. I pitched and fermented both warm with a heat belt, but then they both took forever to carbonate bottles at room temperature. Both had plenty of yeast in the bottles, but whereas other yeasts are finished carbonating in a few days but then need to condition a bit, these needed a full 3 weeks at 70ish to carb up. I think I probably swirled the yeast in the bottles a bit, and that may have helped.

 

[Kenmoron]

After a quick agitation of the yeast (inverted and swirled the bottles) and sitting in a cooler with a heating pad for 24 hrs (got to about 90F) I tested a bottle and they're now carbed. Yay! Unfortunately, they still have an odd sour apple taste. I'm not sure I truly know what acetaldehyde is like but maybe this is it? Again, my gravity sample tasted great and didn't have this profile. I'm also pretty confident in my sanitation practices. I'm gonna try and give the bottles a few more swirls and hold the temps on the high side in order to try and get the yeast to clean up after themselves. However, I've always thought that yeast activity from bottling shouldn't really contribute to flavor perception. Anyone have any additional input on this and if it's possible? I have noticed that Oslo looks way chunkier/clumpier than any other yeast I've used so maybe once it's done and floccs it doesn't really like to do anymore work and needs to be re-suspended?

 

[TandemTails]

I pitched my OSLO on Monday afternoon and got a krausen 4 hours later. Today, Friday morning it's still bubbling away, even though the krausen has mostly subsided. Getting about 1 bubble per second out of the airlock.

Maybe I'm seeing a slightly longer fermentation time since this yeast pitch came from the actual pouch from bootleg biology. Based on what others have said, i thought this would have been done a day or so ago haha.

I might take a gravity sample later today to see what it's actually at.