Omega Lutra yeast?

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So yesterday I forgot to take the Lutra yeast out of the fridge until I was ready to pitch. I tried to warm it by holding the bag between my hands for a while, but ended up pitching it a bit cooler than the advised room temperature. I don't bother with an airlock, I only use a blow-off with Kveik yeasts. It took a while for fermentation (at 78°) to really get going, I assume because of the cooler pitching temperature. About 90 minutes in I heard a bubble. Six hours later when I was heading to bed it was only bubbling at a rate of one per 15 seconds. When I got up at 5am this morning (around 14 hours after pitching) it actually sounded violent. I couldn't even begin to count the bubbles, although if pressed I'd guess 10+ per second, constantly. Never seen anything like this before, I didn't even see it this crazy in the Voss Kveik I recently fermented a neipa with at 94°. Oh, and I didn't even add any yeast nutrient to the boil, I just hit it with an oxygen stone for 30 seconds or so prior to pitching the Lutra. By the time I got home from work today, 25 hours after pitching, it's slowed to about one bubble every second or two. It may be done by tomorrow. Crazy.
 
I've used Lutra several times with an adjunct lager recipe. It's a beast. I have temp control, but fermented at ambient basement temp in the low 70's. Airlock starts to bubble before I'm done with clean-up, which I'm sure greatly reduces odds of infection. Fermentation is fast, yeast is chunky and drops clear. Took 1.048 lager to 1.007. Crisp, clean. Nice beer on tap in a couple of weeks, and could speed that up with warmer temperatures. I'm a fan.
IMG_1130.JPG
 
rallenhall said:
I've used Lutra several times with an adjunct lager recipe. It's a beast. I have temp control, but fermented at ambient basement temp in the low 70's. Airlock starts to bubble before I'm done with clean-up, which I'm sure greatly reduces odds of infection. Fermentation is fast, yeast is chunky and drops clear. Took 1.048 lager to 1.007. Crisp, clean. Nice beer on tap in a couple of weeks, and could speed that up with warmer temperatures. I'm a fan.View attachment 697747
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I love that glass!
 
Took a quick hydrometer reading of my Pseudo Helles, and it's showing a gravity of 1.010. OG was around 1.048, FG per recipe says 1.008. Not seeing any visible signs of active fermentation and hydrometer sample was pretty clear. Did this stuff finish out just a few points off recipe OG, or should I wait a bit just to make sure?
 
Probably done, this stuff is a beast. Bottling or kegging?

I just filled a keg with Star San in preparation of kegging my Schwartzbier. Haven’t taken a gravity reading yet, but it’s been quiet since yesterday. I’ll take a reading first but I can’t imagine it’s not done. I’ll update in a bit.
 
BongoYodeler said:
Probably done, this stuff is a beast. Bottling or kegging?

I just filled a keg with Star San in preparation of kegging my Schwartzbier. Haven’t taken a gravity reading yet, but it’s been quiet since yesterday. I’ll take a reading first but I can’t imagine it’s not done. I’ll update in a bit.
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Bottling for now. I'm saving up some green to get the set up for kegging eventually.
 
I’ve never bottled using Kveik so I have no experience to draw from. But if I were you I’d hold off and take another reading tomorrow or Sunday and if it’s still reading 1.010 then go ahead and bottle. Basically look for two identical readings a day or two apart before bottling. Better to be safe.
 
BongoYodeler said:
I’ve never bottled using Kveik so I have no experience to draw from. But if I were you I’d hold off and take another reading tomorrow or Sunday and if it’s still reading 1.010 then go ahead and bottle. Basically look for two identical readings a day or two apart before bottling. Better to be safe.
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That's what I was thinking. Better safe than sorry.
 
Well my gravity is a bit higher than I hoped, though I shouldn't be surprised. My mash temperature got away from me as I was a bit distracted. Should have mashed at 152° but it topped off around 156° So I'm looking for a FG of 1.012 per BS3, but it measured around 1.018 this evening. Warm and un-carbed the sample still tasted quite good, though a little sweet. I decided to let it ride until Sunday in hopes it may give up a couple more points, unlikely though. I'll keg on Sunday since we're heading to the lake tomorrow.
 
I may try this yeast in the future for beer but my wife wants me to make a perry (pear cider) as I usually make ciders for her several times a year. I was wondering how Lutra would be if I made a perry with it? Anyone do this yet on a perry or other cider? Very interested in how it would turn out. Since it is very clean will it just leave the taste of the fruit or does it add or bring something else to the table. Or is Lutra not good to use in ciders. Any wisdom is appreciated.


John
 
jcav said:
I may try this yeast in the future for beer but my wife wants me to make a perry (pear cider) as I usually make ciders for her several times a year. I was wondering how Lutra would be if I made a perry with it? Anyone do this yet on a perry or other cider?
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No idea on Lutra specifically, but in general clean yeasts like US-05 and lager yeasts are OK-ish but not first choice for ciders, in general an English ale yeast is your best bet.

Also I imagine that just from an infection control POV, holding fruit juice at kveik temperatures is not ideal - don't forget you don't have the anti-bacterial effect of hops.

But no doubt in Norway there are plenty of people using kveiks for ciders, it's just that there may be better options to the average non-Norwegian homebrewer - there's a big thread in the cider forum about that sort of thing.
 
Excellent tips there Northern Brewer I will keep that in mind. I may go the English yeast route then. I have had great results with Wyeast 4184 Sweet Mead/Cider in the past as well. Thanks again!

John
 
Bottled up my Lutra Kveik pseudo-lager on Sunday. Cracked open a bottle tonight after chilling it in the fridge for a bit. The flavor is terrific, but the carbonation is still a little lacking. Going to give the rest of the batch a couple more days to see what happens.
 
Just picked up a pouch of this and looking forward to checking it out. I've never seen an Omega pouch expand quite this much, I guess I'll have to get on a brew very soon.

What's the range on this yeast stylewise? Just anything clean? Seems like a good chico replacement.
 
beersk said:
It will be good. My Oktoberfest bier turned out amazing. Everyone who's had it says it's great and doesn't even question whether it's a lager or not. I'm thinking about brewing another one before the weather turns cooler...
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You were correct beersk. I even fermented at 80* and it finished in a couple days. Grain to glass in 7 days. No obvious esters, a little bit of that lager bite. Not perfect compared to the real thing, but 95% there... good enough for me!
 
shoreman said:
Just picked up a pouch of this and looking forward to checking it out. I've never seen an Omega pouch expand quite this much, I guess I'll have to get on a brew very soon.

What's the range on this yeast stylewise? Just anything clean? Seems like a good chico replacement.
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Lutra is supposed to ferment very clean, so I would think it'd be good for either an ale or a lager-ish beer with a straight forward grain bill, nothing too outrageous.
 
beersk said:
Yeah, it's not absolutely clean like many lagers yeasts. It does have a light fruit ester. But it's very pleasant. I'd put it more in a kolsch category than a lager.

Definitely checks that box for me since I now have no ferm temp control.
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^^^ This. It's not perfectly clean like a lager, but Lutra is the closest I've come across in kveik. I'll be using it for my next batch, schwarzbier.
 
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^
Make sure to report back on how it turned out! I ordered some Lutra to ferment a pear cider (perry) for my wife. I am using Musselman's Apple Cider to ferment with the Lutra and will back sweeten with 100% pear juice to see what the Lutra does to it. Should be a cool experiment. If I like the results I will try it in a beer recipe later.

John
 
dmtaylor said:
^^^ This. It's not perfectly clean like a lager, but Lutra is the closest I've come across in kveik. I'll be using it for my next batch, schwarzbier.
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I don't think you'll really notice much of a difference between something like 34/70 or S-189 and Lutra in schwarzbier. It's a game changer yeast for me, it's my house yeast now.
 
I brewed an IPA yesterday and pitched an entire pack of Lutra at 3PM. I did not make a starter and I pitched it into the fermenter with the wort at 88°. It started bubbling away last night around 9 PM, so about Six hours until it started to takeoff. Right now it’s about 9:45 in the morning, and it’s chugging away like a machine gun. It’s sitting right at 89° and while there is still a hefty Krausen, it looks like it’s already starting to fall a little bit.

OG was 1.072. Used Columbus cryo and Nelson in the whirlpool and will be dry hopping with an additional 8 oz. of Nelson after it reaches terminal and a soft crash. Will come back with an update.
 
Is krausen going to be an issue with this yeast? Some of my fermenters I fill up pretty high and they can't handle say 6 inches of krausen or anything absurd like that. Thanks in advance.
 
dmtaylor said:
Is krausen going to be an issue with this yeast? Some of my fermenters I fill up pretty high and they can't handle say 6 inches of krausen or anything absurd like that. Thanks in advance.
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When I used it recently to ferment a Schwarzbier I used a 1/2 inch blowoff, 3 or 4 feet long, into a plastic pitcher. Pretty much the entire inside of the blowoff tube was coated with krausen and the 5 inches or so of water/Starsan bubbled up and overflowed the pitcher. I had to put a towel under it. I’d never seen such a violent fermentation before. YMMV but you’ve been warned. o_O
 
dmtaylor said:
Is krausen going to be an issue with this yeast? Some of my fermenters I fill up pretty high and they can't handle say 6 inches of krausen or anything absurd like that. Thanks in advance.
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Krausen has been 2-3 inches max both the first time I used it and this time. In my setup it’s a complete non issue but I usually have about 5.5 gallons in a 7 gallon fermenter.
 
Made an Oktoberfest with it, pitched at 90, fermented at 70 degrees ambient temp, finished in about 4 days. Taste at kegging was very clean, cleaner than beers I've made with Oslo. Quite dry and crisp with some hints of sulphur in the fermentor. Harvested it and excited to make some Kolsch-esque beers with it. So far I am a fan.
 
BongoYodeler said:
When I used it recently to ferment a Schwarzbier I used a 1/2 inch blowoff, 3 or 4 feet long, into a plastic pitcher. Pretty much the entire inside of the blowoff tube was coated with krausen and the 5 inches or so of water/Starsan bubbled up and overflowed the pitcher. I had to put a towel under it. I’d never seen such a violent fermentation before. YMMV but you’ve been warned. o_O
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Let me clarify. In my case the blowoff tube contained whatever matter gets carried off with the CO2 during fermentation. The actual ring that remained behind after the krausen fell was about an inch or two above the beer.
 
Time heals all things they say. After a few weeks of bottle conditioning at room temp, and moving as many bottles to the fridge as I can fit at one time to chill for a couple days, my Lutra Kveik Pseudo lager is absolutely DELICIOUS! Flavor and carbonation are right where I want it to be. I guess the take away here is that even though Lutra ferments like a beast and finishes out within a few days, if you bottle your beer, it will benefit from an extended bottle conditioning period at room temperature before moving your batch to cold condition at lower temperatures.
Lutra Pilsner (2).JPG
 
Has anyone smaller beers like 4% within yeast? Do you need to add nutrients like some other kveiks?
 
I contacted Omega on this particular strain. One very interesting thing they stated was to keep it to the low temp side to make it cleaner. I did a pseudo Mexican lager. It wasn't as fast as everyone is experiencing. It was about 6-7 days. But it was very clean. That keg didn't last long. Mu testers put a damn hurt on that batch. Very clean with no aftertaste.
 
Looking forward to that as I'm about to try to work on some clean beers with this yeast and was thinking of pitching warm.
 
BrewAgain said:
I contacted Omega on this particular strain. One very interesting thing they stated was to keep it to the low temp side to make it cleaner. I did a pseudo Mexican lager. It wasn't as fast as everyone is experiencing. It was about 6-7 days. But it was very clean. That keg didn't last long. Mu testers put a damn hurt on that batch. Very clean with no aftertaste.
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It makes sense that it'd be cleaner on the cooler side. I don't actually do anything to keep my beer at 90F. I pitch the yeast at 90 and let it drop to whatever my room temp is (68-78F) and keg it after about 7-10 days. It's crystal clear going in to the keg. But the thing I really love about this yeast, and it has already been noted by another poster, is that it starts fermenting IMMEDIATELY. It's insane.

@shoreman I still use nutrients with Lutra, but I use the Wyeast yeast nutrient regardless of it being kveik or not. Something I picked up from Gordon Strong years back.
 
shoreman said:
Has anyone smaller beers like 4% within yeast? Do you need to add nutrients like some other kveiks?
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Interesting. I hadn’t heard that about kveik. I do like brewing a session Pilsner several times a year. I’ll be sure to add nutrients.
Fermaid O ok? I have lots of that at the house for ciders and meads.
 
A friend of my better half sampled some of my Lutra Pseudo Lager and it was a big hit with her. She made the suggestion that if I brew it again, to add some orange flavor to it. Doesn't sound like a half bad idea. 🤔
 

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