Kveik: all things Opshaug strain version

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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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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 :)
 
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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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 :)
 
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.
 
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 .
 
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.
 
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
 
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. :mug:
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
 

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I’ve used this yeast for about 6 months now, I made a pale ale and collected kräusen, saved the yeast cake as well.

I’ve used it for faux lager (fantastic, but needs time to lager to become amazing)
Pale ales and IPA (very neutral, hops take over)

American wheat beer (very neutral, slightly acidic aftertaste, like squeezing a lime into a corona)

Stout (nothing to comment)

The yeast is very neutral. The first beer I made stopped at 1.020 but most of the re-pitched ones have gone down to 1.006.

I’ve made good beer with 3 grams dried opshaug in 22l of wort.

I always use nutrient. 1tbsp nutrient or 5-10grams dried yeast cake @10mins
 
I’ve used this yeast for about 6 months now, I made a pale ale and collected kräusen, saved the yeast cake as well.

I’ve used it for faux lager (fantastic, but needs time to lager to become amazing)
Pale ales and IPA (very neutral, hops take over)

American wheat beer (very neutral, slightly acidic aftertaste, like squeezing a lime into a corona)

Stout (nothing to comment)

The yeast is very neutral. The first beer I made stopped at 1.020 but most of the re-pitched ones have gone down to 1.006.

I’ve made good beer with 3 grams dried opshaug in 22l of wort.

I always use nutrient. 1tbsp nutrient or 5-10grams dried yeast cake @10mins

And if the wort is clear the beer will clear up as well, given time.
 

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Finally! Krausen has collapsed today (Day 5) and it's looking like it's almost done. I will take a hydro manana. So far, fermentation has been fairly conventional. I might as well have been using WLP001. Mild, slightly fruity and beery aromas, nothing unusual at all.

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I dont get it are you brewing 1 liter of beer with a huge dose of yeast?
 
I'm going to line up an Idaho 7/Briess 2 row smash with this yeast fermented at room temp. Still not too sure what this yeast will bring to the table but morebeer has a lb of Idaho 7 on sale and I have another hazy IPA to brew for a wedding soon. Might as well learn the hop and use the leftovers in the hazy :)
 
Pulled a sample of the Opshaug 2 row/Idaho 7 smash. It’s very tropical! It’s a bit yeasty at the moment too. Needs some cold conditioning but man this is a crazy good combo!!!
 
Kegged the Idaho 7/Briess 2 row brew on 5/27 fined with gelatin on 5/29 and pulled a sample yesterday evening. This is a darn good base for a juicy (non thick bodied) ipa. It could definitely use a supporting hop or two but this is very fruity and enjoyable!

We are headed to a cabin in the mountains this weekend so the next thing was to make sure this was carbed up so it would be ready to fill a few growlers for the trip. After off gassing the keg I rocked it at serving pressure with the gas hooked up until it quit bubbling inside. This was at room temp. Then I let it sit for 48 hours or so, fined with gelatin, purged, then rocked it on gas at serving pressure again. Here's the verdict...After 4 days on gas the beer was fully carbonated and is perfect! The reasoning for doing this at serving pressure is I didn't want to overcarbonate the keg. Figured the keg/liquid would essentially reach an equilibrium and that would be that. Aka it would only reach the carbonation it would have just by setting and forgetting at serving pressure anyways. I'll probably continue this method going forward.

I really see Opshaug as a great yeast for smash beers using fruity hops. Just ferment it in a dark room temp spot without worrying about temperature control and bam!
 
After another day or so of tasting wanted to come back with some more notes. Opshaug definitely seems to have a mild rotted stone fruit nose to it and produces a slicker/thicker bodied ale. Honestly I think designing a very simple "juicy/hazy" ale with 2 row only (maybe a pinch of c15/c20 at 5% tops) or very light munich might lend well here. To be honest though I'd personally stick with a 2 row malt only and focus on the hops. Doing that would allow for a nice light colored ale. I'm thinking a combo of Idaho 7/Mosaic/Citra in the 45ish ibu range, shoot for around a 1.055-1.060 og mashed in the 150f-152f range would be a very tasty ale!
 
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