Kveik: all things Opshaug strain version

[yourlastchance89]

Day 4 on a 1.065 and I'm still experiencing airlock activity, krausen, and clear evidence of ongoing fermentation. And this at 85F. Half a vial pitched into 5G. Pretty much same as last batch, but that was at 75F. Everyone is getting quick action with this yeast but me.

I still did a traditional starter targeting 0.75 cells/per ml/per °P and oxygenated my wort before pitching which may have sped up my fermentation time

 

[smata67]

I pitched 1 1/2 tsp into my first batch and 1 tsp into my second (both 3 G) from the original vial. For the second, I had it in a Better Bottle so I could see what was going on. For the first 10 hours, there was zero activity, I was considering pitching in some slurry from the previous batch, but between Hour 10 and Hour 14, the fermentation took off like a rocket and has been fermenting in rather conventional fashion since. At Day 4 it is slowing down, with a pop at about every 10 seconds. First brew was all grain and this one is all extract. I want to see if I can get better attenuation with the Kveik, the particular LME I'm using has only been able to get down to 1.019 with a variety of yeasts.

 

[smata67]

Some guidance from White Labs on pitching this yeast:

White Labs ([email protected]) <[email protected]>

Sep 16 at 1:02 PM

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out! For best results, we recommend using (2x) Homebrew Pack per 5 gal up to 1.065 SG, which can be pitched directly. Since this is a very active strain, you would probably be okay with 1 pack, however, I cannot guarantee underpitching will be successful. Making a start is not necessary if you pitch 2 packs. If you choose to make one, I have provided a link to our Homebrew Starter Tips below. Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

https://www.whitelabs.com/resources/homebrew-starter-tips

I have pitched half a vial into 3.5G twice now, first time everything went fine, though a bit slow and second time is in progress now. What they are suggesting here is no different than for any other yeast.

 

[deadwolfbones]

Also curious why this strain has the lowest temp range of all Kveik strains I've seen. Has anyone taken this beyond the temp ranges recommended by Whitelabs?

I fermented mine from 87-95F and it was superb.

 

[kmarkstevens]

I totally underpitched with max 1/3 of the tube. Also temp was 80-85F during the day and cooled to the low 70's at night. I didn't record number of days but only 2-3 before I spunded in the keg.

Next time I will make a starter. I doubt if the Seattle area makes it to 80F before next July.

 

[smata67]

It seems to be forgiving as to pitch cell count and temperature, like Kveiks have been reported to be. And faster acting. I'm shooting for 21 days from boil to drinkability on this current batch and that at indoor temperatures. Being able to free up the temperature controlled chamber for lagers is going to be a big deal for me, I have avoided them for years for this reason. I can now brew ales without worrying about temperature control during fermentation.

 

[soccerdad]

FWIW, i prefer this strain much more than the Hornidal Kveik i have used in a few other batches.

Can you say more? What exactly do you prefer with this strain.

 

[TandemTails]

I brewed up a 2 gallon batch of pale beer to blend with a stout and pitched 2g of dried opshaug at 91'F before bed. Fermentation was rocking and rolling when I woke up the next morning. Looking forward to how this turns out and I'll also be using this as a way to harvest more opshaug for drying.

OG was 1.074. I currently have it holding at 86'F in my fermentation chamber.

 

[kmarkstevens]

I made a 2 liter starter off the last starter last night. Also brewed up a 2.5 gallon 1045 with pale DME, carafoam6%, melanolid 1% and black patent 2% with a BUGU hop ration of 1:2 with first gold and then did a hop back. Starter was going but not gangbusters in the morning. Pitched 1 liter of starter into the wort, and have my brewer friend set to keep the temperature between 85 and 90F. Expect a strong ferment by the end of the day.

 

[kmarkstevens]

I poured off half the starter into the 2.5 gallon wort after 12 hours. Then I added new starter wort to the starter, and 12 hours later it looks like the above.

12 hours after pitching the Opshaug with temperature control between 85-90F, have a decent krausen. See what it looks like 12 hours from now in the morning.

 

[kmarkstevens]

I feel cursed. So, the Opshaug took about 5 days to ferment out 2.5 gallons of 1045 wort at around 85F. Had a nice rising bread dough kinda yeasty smell. I poured it into my Speidel for secondary, and to make sure my Speidel is no longer infested with pichia apotheca. Well, it is still infested and gave the Opshaug the stereo typical pichia flavor. So, dumping it and will start over with a bigger opshaug starter next time.

I swear I'm gonna get one batch successfully done at a Kveik temperature and decide if I like it or not.

 

[Kenmoron]

I feel cursed. So, the Opshaug took about 5 days to ferment out 2.5 gallons of 1045 wort at around 85F. Had a nice rising bread dough kinda yeasty smell. I poured it into my Speidel for secondary, and to make sure my Speidel is no longer infested with pichia apotheca. Well, it is still infested and gave the Opshaug the stereo typical pichia flavor. So, dumping it and will start over with a bigger opshaug starter next time.

I swear I'm gonna get one batch successfully done at a Kveik temperature and decide if I like it or not.

Are you using any yeast nutrients? I add 2x nutrient for kveik beers under 1.060 and normal amount of nutrients for kveik beers 1.060 and above. If doing starters for propagation purposes I add a pinch of nutrient.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I feel cursed.

FYI Escarpment are releasing Skare for Halloween....

 

[TandemTails]

I just brewed up 6 gallons of imperial brown ale for barrel aging (og: 1.080) and pitched about 2 tbsp of opshaug slurry at 85'F. It's been about 3 hours and a krausen is already forming. I've got it sitting in my laundry room where my boiler and hot water heater are. the room stays pretty constant around 86'F.

 

[blasterooni]

I collected yeast via a blow off tube. I am going to dry some and keep some in the fridge in the jar I used to collect it. Can't wait to see what happens. I need to get another fermawrap so I can have more than one Kveik going at a time. I also have some bottom harvested voss kveik, but its rather brown so I am not sure if its going to be healthy enough to keep and use again. It smells yeasty though. I make cider with it, and I am finding that it takes longer than beer to ferment all the way to dry, about 10 days give or take. I have kept the temperature between 85F and 95F; I pitch at 90F. The most recent batch, which is in secondary, I did with a bottom harvested slurry that I poured right into the carboy full of juice, it took off like a rocket! In order to free up the fremawrap, I transferred the batch to a bucket full of water to reduce the temp to 60F to see what happens. Its going to go to secondary today if I have time, that is if it needs it. Its already fairly clear, and the SG is 1.001 as of yesterday. I may choose to cold crash, and bottle some and keg the rest.

 

[krispn]

Used WLP Opshaug in a Two Hearted clone/all Centennial IPA. Had it at 28c (82f) and made a starter using half the starter in the brew and retaining half for another starter on another day.

It's gone from 1.062 to 1.020 in about 5 days and appears to have stopped. I was expecting better attenuation but the sample was tasting good once cooled - nice and malty. I'll dry hop once I get it cooled to 14c (57f) and hopefully it'll clear a little as it currently looks like pineapple juice

 

[blasterooni]

Used WLP Opshaug in a Two Hearted clone/all Centennial IPA. Had it at 28c (82f) and made a starter using half the starter in the brew and retaining half for another starter on another day.

It's gone from 1.062 to 1.020 in about 5 days and appears to have stopped. I was expecting better attenuation but the sample was tasting good once cooled - nice and malty. I'll dry hop once I get it cooled to 14c (57f) and hopefully it'll clear a little as it currently looks like pineapple juice

I'm not a brewer (cider maker), so I am not totally sure if this applies, however, I have had to add yeast nutes at the start (about double the recommended) and at about 50% sugar break to keep the fermentation ripping with Opshaug and Voss. I typically get about 98% attenuation, but again, its apple juice not wort. In my experience, the Opshaug will floculate nicely especially if you cold crash it. I use gelatin to clear it up. Are you getting any ester flavors?

 

[krispn]

I made a starter so hoped that there would be a healthy cell count. I could add some yeast nutrients and give it a few more days.
Not noticing any ester flavours. Once I’ve cooled the wort in the sample tube it’s quite a nice malty flavour. I’m happy with the results thus far just I might have had a misconception about how quickly this would be done based on other Kveik I’ve used.

 

[blasterooni]

I made a starter so hoped that there would be a healthy cell count. I could add some yeast nutrients and give it a few more days.
Not noticing any ester flavours. Once I’ve cooled the wort in the sample tube it’s quite a nice malty flavour. I’m happy with the results thus far just I might have had a misconception about how quickly this would be done based on other Kveik I’ve used.

Which ones have you used? I've only used Opshaug and Voss. I ordered some tomordgarden straight from Norway, but it hasn't arrived yet, don't think its even been shipped... I noticed it was out of stock a day or two after I ordered.

Anyhow, I noticed that, at least with cider, the turn around is 10-14 days with the temps at 90-95F, and I don't really get any estery flavors, which may be due to lack of proteins in the juice. I read a couple of scholarly articles that mentioned amino acids with respect to ester production. So, I am thinking of adding some aminos to the juice to see what happens, but that seems to be messing with things a little much. If you're familiar with workout supplements (gym rat supps), BCAA's are cheap and are the ones that are needed for the yeasts to create the estery flavours, apparently. If I did do that, add aminos that is, I'd do it in a gallon jug.

The fermentation is clean, nevertheless, and still has a nice apple flavor even though it was fermented at such a high temperature. However, I used it with some of the cheaper store-bought juice, and it basically tasted watery, with a hint of "whatever". The fruit really makes the biggest difference in my experience.

 

[krispn]

I’ve used a Yeast Bay Sigmund Voss on a turbo cider a few years back. About 3-4? weeks ago I made an ipa with Hornidal which a friend commented was my best ipa to date- go figure! My experience of those has been super quick fermentation at high temps with no noticeable off flavours.
I’ve put the temp back up and I’ll leave it to continue to ferment. I can always dry hop again in a few days if the beer needs more.

 

[blasterooni]

IF you're interested, check out my thread over here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/kveik-and-cider.671565/

 

[blasterooni]

I’ve used a Yeast Bay Sigmund Voss on a turbo cider a few years back. About 3-4? weeks ago I made an ipa with Hornidal which a friend commented was my best ipa to date- go figure! My experience of those has been super quick fermentation at high temps with no noticeable off flavours.
I’ve put the temp back up and I’ll leave it to continue to ferment. I can always dry hop again in a few days if the beer needs more.

Yep, there is always some way to "fix" it if needed

 

[crusader1612]

My LHBS has a vial of this, which has an expiry of today. Should I make a starter for viability reasons, or just chuck it straight in?
Was thinking a small 1-1.5 litre starter.

 

[yourlastchance89]

Do a starter. Even if it is a small one do some kind of starter. I would recommend even doing multiple steps to build it up if you can afford the time.

I had a bad experience once with expired yeast once. I got a White Labs pouch of their German Ale strain. It was a few weeks expired and was free because of that. I figured I could build it up with one big starter. Did a 5L starter. When I went to decant, I was overwhelmed with a sour smell. I tasted it and it was puckering. I even looked at with a microscope at home and it was riddled with bacteria. I held off on pitching till the next day when I could access another lhbs and buy a few pouches of fresh yeast

I would always recommend some kind of starter with expired yeast .

 

[crusader1612]

Do a starter. Even if it is a small one do some kind of starter. I would recommend even doing multiple steps to build it up if you can afford the time.

I had a bad experience once with expired yeast once. I got a White Labs pouch of their German Ale strain. It was a few weeks expired and was free because of that. I figured I could build it up with one big starter. Did a 5L starter. When I went to decant, I was overwhelmed with a sour smell. I tasted it and it was puckering. I even looked at with a microscope at home and it was riddled with bacteria. I held off on pitching till the next day when I could access another lhbs and buy a few pouches of fresh yeast

I would always recommend some kind of starter with expired yeast .

Kinda what I was thinking.
Kveik is pretty sturdy, so it should handle it, but I'll build up a 500, then a 1 litre i think. pitch it Sunday after brewing basically.

 

[rtstrider]

I'm putting in the grain order for an Opshaug brew this weekend. Should be brewing next weekend. Long story short my beer fridge is turning into a ferment chamber. There's still a good bit of beer in there so I wanted a yeast that wasn't particular about temp control. This will be fermented at room temp and the fermenter will be covered with a sheet to keep light out. Also the "dry hop" is really going to be hops in a keg hop tube thing. Wanted to play with that since I'm just now getting into kegging. Oh yeah and I have a crap ton of old mosaic so that's why it's being used for the bittering addition. Anywho here's the recipe

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: American IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.048
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)

Hop Utilization Multiplier: 1

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.061
Final Gravity: 1.014
ABV (standard): 6.22%
IBU (tinseth): 45.18
SRM (morey): 6.39
Mash pH: 5.84

FERMENTABLES:
6 lb - Brewers Malt 2-Row (46.2%)
6 lb - Maris Otter Pale Ale (46.2%)
1 lb - Caramel Malt - 20L (7.7%)

HOPS:
0.35 oz - Mosaic, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: First Wort, IBU: 16.9
0.5 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 9.58
0.5 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 6.1
1 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 7.7
1 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 4.9
2 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days
2 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days

 

[cmac62]

I just kegged a Am Wheat hopped with Citra and Cascade. It should be carbed up today, I'll post my thought, the hydro sample tasted pretty good. Lots of hop aroma and flavor. Good stuff.

 

[rtstrider]

Welp got a brew day in yesterday. As I was separating and weighing hops I decided to haze this up. Added around a 1.25lb flaked oats and changed the hop bill a bit. Added a good bit of whirlpool hops. Think it was .86 ounces each of Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe. Once this ferments out and sits in the keg for a week or so it’s getting around 1.5 ounces each of Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe in the hop tube screen thing. Never used that and brand newish to kegging so figured now was as good a time as any to try out keg hopping

Btw Opshaug was showing activity about 4 hours after pitching

 

[rtstrider]

Well this was done and kegged in 3 days fermenting at room temp. Honestly I'd say the yeast reminds me a bit of Voss but there's just so much going on with the hop bill/flavor I can't say for sure. I ended up tweaking the recipe, added some oats, changed the hop bill, and turned it into a hazy. Started putting the hops together and decided last minute it'd make a good hazy. I know...It has boil hops and hazy's shouldn't really have that. It does have a bit of hop/yeast bite but I figure that's nothing that cold conditioning and time can't fix. I'll be dry hopping this in the keg after a couple of weeks and then giving it a taste test.

 

[rtstrider]

Ended up tweaking the recipe on the fly and added oats. Turned this into a hazy and fermented at room temp. Opshaug works extremely well for hazy IPAs! Now as far as esters and such I cannot tell what is and isn’t there because the hop bill is pretty busy. I would like to brew a nice light ale (thinking very simple blonde) to get a better feel for this yeast strain.