Kveik mead?

[TandemTails]

I usually ferment my meads with wine yeast (D47 mostly) at low temps (60'F). I'm starting to consider getting rid of my fermentation chamber and was wondering if anyone has fermented their meads warm with a kveik strain. I'm also curious if using this yeast will affect aging/turn around time on mead.

I recently purchased Bootleg Biology's OSLO strain and might play around with that after I brew a beer with it.

 

[NeverDie]

I usually ferment my meads with wine yeast (D47 mostly) at low temps (60'F). I'm starting to consider getting rid of my fermentation chamber and was wondering if anyone has fermented their meads warm with a kveik strain. I'm also curious if using this yeast will affect aging/turn around time on mead.

I recently purchased Bootleg Biology's OSLO strain and might play around with that after I brew a beer with it.

Yes, Kveik makes a great mead. Overall fermentation time is less.

https://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php/28021-Yet-Another-Ale-Yeast-Experiment

 

[CKuhns]

Omega Hothead [Kveik] Yeast. Fast, 7 day primary and clean used it with a couple 1.065 OG meads at 88 deg F. Very happy with it. No undesirable fusels and or H2S. I normally do high ABV mead using wine yeast that must age for a good long bit. These are good at 6 weeks and great after carbonating at 3 month's.

 

[TandemTails]

Omega Hothead [Kveik] Yeast. Fast, 7 day primary and clean used it with a couple 1.065 OG meads at 88 deg F. Very happy with it. No undesirable fusels and or H2S. I normally do high ABV mead using wine yeast that must age for a good long bit. These are good at 6 weeks and great after carbonating at 3 month's.

That's really promising and great to know. Thanks!

 

[Mead'n It]

I just finished trying a Hornindal Kveik yeast. It finished in 7 days but had a warm beer flavor on the back end. The nose is like a white wine and up front the taste is sweet but something is wonky on the back end.

It was also kind of difficult to find a SNA schedule for this kind of yeast. Good luck!

 

[CKuhns]

I just finished trying a Hornindal Kveik yeast. It finished in 7 days but had a warm beer flavor on the back end. The nose is like a white wine and up front the taste is sweet but something is wonky on the back end.

It was also kind of difficult to find a SNA schedule for this kind of yeast. Good luck!

If you degas begore bottling or kegging most of the "wonky" goes away. But it is an Ale yeast and does bring some ale like flavors on the back end. If that isnt what your looking for then do a melomel as the fruit or juice predominates.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Does anyone know which would be a more neutral strain? The history of this family of yeast and the conditions it prefers intrigues me. But does any of the flavor and aroma of the honey get lost due to higher temps regardless of what the yeast is doing?

 

[Maylar]

Bray Denard (loveofrose) has used Hothead kveik at 72° and he says it's just as clean as his usual 1388 in BOMM meads. Except that it leaves a ton of honey flavor and no peach notes like the 1388.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Hmm... I’ve been using his protocol for all my wines and meads, so that’s something I’ll have to look into.

 

[loveofrose]

Hothead leaves honey flavors at low temperatures (68 F), but can throw lots of mango and pineapple at 75+F. It’s not as neutral as Wyeast 1388, but it’s great in recipes that don’t clash with tropical fruit flavors.

 

[Redeemer]

Hothead leaves honey flavors at low temperatures (68 F), but can throw lots of mango and pineapple at 75+F. It’s not as neutral as Wyeast 1388, but it’s great in recipes that don’t clash with tropical fruit flavors.

Do you have any recipes of your own that you'd like to share with the class? I've been thinking of doing something with mango recently.

 

[loveofrose]

It’s pretty good as a traditional, but it really shines in fruit meads. Here is my current fav:

Tepache Mead - ~1 gallon

Tepache is a traditional pineapple drink prepared in Mexico/Central America. Here, I am converting it into a mead.

1. Sanitize a 2 gallon open top demijohn.
2. Add the following:
-3 lbs honey
-8 oz Dark Agave syrup
-6 bananas
-2 cup of dried coconut flakes
-2” ginger, skin on
-2 cloves
-1 cup coconut flakes
-Optional: 1/4 habanero for spice, 1/2 for burn, and a whole for pepper heads.
-1/4 tbsp K2CO3
-0.4 tsp Fermaid K
-0.8 tsp Fermaid O: Again at Day 2. A third addition is not needed due to fruit content.
3. Add water to 1 gallon and mix until honey is dissolved.
4. Add 1 pineapple, no core or rind cut into 1/4” slices.
5. Pitch a starter of Omega Hothead.
6. Put a towel over the crock and ferment at 80+ F for 3-5 days. At these high temperatures, Hothead ferments with strong mango flavors but no fuselage.
7. Rack into bottles and cold crash.
8. Bottle when clear.

 

[loveofrose]

Be sure to stir daily to keep fruit in solution.

 

[TandemTails]

Just to keep this thread semi-alive, here's my update:

I made an 800mL starter for my Oslo kveik the other day. Let it spin on a stir plate for 24 hours and then got a 36 hour cold crash. I decanted and pitched it into 2.5 gallons of apricot melomel (og: 1.095).

I'm planning on Tonsa 3.0 w/ fermaid-o. Going to add about 2g of it four times before the 1/3 sugar break. It's going to be a little hard to gauge so instead of doing the 24, 48, 72 and 1/3 mark I'm probably going to add it every 12 hours or so considering how fast this yeast works. I'll also be degassing and stirring regularly until I'm out of fermaid-o additions.

 

[Sonja Dewhurst]

I did a hot head (omega) mead with just clover and kept it in the 90's. It was very tasty in about 5 weeks and is still great 8 months later.

 

[AkTom]

I need to give this a go. Thanks

 

[TandemTails]

Here's the schedule for my first 3 days. I degassed 3x per day (morning, afternoon, evening).

7/22/19 @ 8:30am - pitched the decanted starter
7/22/19 @ 4:00pm - already a heafty krausen so I added ~2g of fermaid-o
7/23/19 @ 6:15am - added ~2g of Fermaid-o
7/23/19 @ 2:45pm - added ~2g of Fermaid-o
7/24/19 @ 2:00pm - took a gravity reading w/ hydrometer and it was already at 1.037.

I didn't add the 4th fermaid-o addition since i blew way past the 1/3 sugar break. I probably added the 3rd fermaid-o addition after the 1/3 sugar break which probably happened somewhere in the 24 hour range post-pitch haha.

Hydrometer sample tasted pretty clean and fruity, although definitely a little hot. I'd imagine I'll reach FG within another day or so.

 

[MMM2]

I did a hot head (omega) mead with just clover and kept it in the 90's. It was very tasty in about 5 weeks and is still great 8 months later.

I am puzzled.
When you say ‚just clover‘, do you really mean ‚no nutrients‘?

 

[Amadeo38]

Anyone have a much slower fermentation experience? I’m not sure if it’s an OG issue, but my 1.113 OG mead pitched with about 50ml of straight up Kviek Hothead yeast (not slurry, flocc’d out liquid yeast equivalent to probably four tablespoons) is only dropping about 7-10 points per day at 76F. I put heat wrap on it last night to 80F but it’s not really going much faster. Degassing 2x/day and already finished my staggered nutrient additions, just waiting on the 2/3 sugar break addition.

OG at pitch on Saturday Evening (8/3) = 1.113
SG at this moment on Thursday Afternoon = 1.074

 

[CKuhns]

Kviek hothead yeast is an aale yeast has an alcohol tolerance of 10 to 11%. I suspect (dont know for sure so take this as an observation only) its due to the OG and the little buggers struggling with an environment too sweet for them. But with good aeration and lots of nutrients. ( It does take almost 2xs what you typically might expect.) It still should chew through the sugars.

I have had good success with an OG of 1.065 to 1.075 at 80 deg f. Do not gave expierience with Kviek at 1.113 or there abouts. It will be interesting to see where this one ends up.

 

[Amadeo38]

Ah, well this is my fault for confusing my two on-hand Kviek strains, as the other has a 14% alcohol tolerance. Bummer! Based on the meadmakr website, if this fully attenuates to 11%, it will be sweet at 1.030 FG. I had plans to keg it and serve it carbonated. Perhaps I will rack three gallons into my 3-gal carboy on some EC-1118 to finish it off, and rack two gallons of the sweet mead into the keg and blend with something to make it less cloying.

 

[Sonja Dewhurst]

I am puzzled.
When you say ‚just clover‘, do you really mean ‚no nutrients‘?

Sorry for the confusion, I used 3 or 4 nutrient additions of Servomyces. I meant just cheap 100% clover.

 

[TandemTails]

After a month in primary I racked my apricot melomel to secondary. FG is 0.998 for an estimated 12.9% ABV with Oslo kveik. It's been sitting in my office which hovers between 75-82'F and the mead tastes phenomenal for being a month old. I still plan on back sweetening and adding a little more apricot puree to give it that extra boost, but this experiment has turned out great so far! So much less finnicky than trying to keep D47 in the low 60'F range.

 

[TandemTails]

I started another Kveik mead the other day and figured i'd post progress on this one as well.

Yeast: Bootleg Biology Aurora Kveik (1/4 cup slurry from a beer)
Honey: Jammu (132oz)
Water: up to 2.75 gal
Nutrients: 1/2 tsp Fermaid-o at pitch, 24, 48, 60 hours
OG: 1.103
Temp: sitting in office that swings between 70-76'F

Gravity readings:
September 9 @ 7:00pm - 1.103
September 10 @ 6:00pm - 1.096
September 11 @ 9am - 1.093
September 12 @ 8am - 1.085

I'm basically at the 1/3 sugar break after 3.5 days. There's no krausen or real signs of fermentation until I swirl the bucket, then i get a huge release of CO2. I've been degassing twice per day and swirling the bucket a few more times per day. Now that i'm at the 1/3 break I'll continue to swirl but will keep the lid on the bucket aside from daily gravity tests.

 

[beervoid]

I started another Kveik mead the other day and figured i'd post progress on this one as well.

Yeast: Bootleg Biology Aurora Kveik (1/4 cup slurry from a beer)
Honey: Jammu (132oz)
Water: up to 2.75 gal
Nutrients: 1/2 tsp Fermaid-o at pitch, 24, 48, 60 hours
OG: 1.103
Temp: sitting in office that swings between 70-76'F

Gravity readings:
September 9 @ 7:00pm - 1.103
September 10 @ 6:00pm - 1.096
September 11 @ 9am - 1.093
September 12 @ 8am - 1.085

I'm basically at the 1/3 sugar break after 3.5 days. There's no krausen or real signs of fermentation until I swirl the bucket, then i get a huge release of CO2. I've been degassing twice per day and swirling the bucket a few more times per day. Now that i'm at the 1/3 break I'll continue to swirl but will keep the lid on the bucket aside from daily gravity tests.

How did this turn out?

 

[TandemTails]

How did this turn out?

This is still sitting in secondary. It has a ton of cocoa nibs and cocoa powder in it and I heard that needs to age for a long time before the harshness dies out and it's delicious.

I should probably taste test it soon and see how it's doing!

 

[beervoid]

This is still sitting in secondary. It has a ton of cocoa nibs and cocoa powder in it and I heard that needs to age for a long time before the harshness dies out and it's delicious.

I should probably taste test it soon and see how it's doing!

When did you hit final gravity? And how low did it go?

 

[TandemTails]

When did you hit final gravity? And how low did it go?

It took about 4 weeks but it got down to 1.000. The plan will be to stabilize it and then backsweeten slightly

 

[Redeemer]

It took about 4 weeks but it got down to 1.000. The plan will be to stabilize it and then backsweeten slightly

Would love to see some pics and tasting notes on this.

 

[JodasTheBeerMaker]

Does anyone know which would be a more neutral strain? The history of this family of yeast and the conditions it prefers intrigues me. But does any of the flavor and aroma of the honey get lost due to higher temps regardless of what the yeast is doing?

Maybe Lutra I was thinking about trying Lutra or HotHead for my next 3 gallon batch.

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

I've used Lutra several times now for a 1 month mead recipe. It's been awesome.

Still use White Labs 720 Sweet Mead yeast for my longer aging versions, and old fashioned bread yeast works impressively well too, just takes a lot of time to age.

The Lutra produces a great, keggable mead in a short time. My OG was 1.070 and finished at 1.000 for 9.2%.