Share your Imperial A43 Loki kveik experiences

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ten80

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There's not much discussion of Imperial A43 Loki so I'd like to share some of my experiences here. I have read that this may be the same strain as Omega's "Horindal," but I've not been able to confirm for certain. It all started with one pack of yeast, 4 days old from manufacturing...

1. "Starter beer" Piwo Grodziskie 3-gal batch (100% wheat with about 50% of that oak-smoked)
OG: 1.032,
FG: 1.008.
Temp: pitched at 80F, maybe rose to 85F.
Timeline: Pitched and achieved FG overnight, krausen completely gone in the morning. Cold crashed and racked to keg with gelatine at 2-3 days. Grain to glass and drinking nicely in about 7 days, very clear and smooth at 2 weeks.
Flavor: clean wheat beer with hint of oak smoke, no discernible yeast character.

I then took the 1L of yeast slurry and brewed the following:

2. Imperial NEIPA-esque 8-gal batch split 2 ways (2-row and cane sugar, Dogfish Head 120-minute inspired malt bill) with all late hopping additions (Azacca, Cascade, Jarrylo) and various dry hops including azacca, cascade, jarrylo, El Dorado, and Citra
OG: 1.090, 4 gal with 4.5 lbs cane sugar and 1 lb blood orange syrup added over 4 days (adjusted 1.139), and 4-gal with 4 lbs cane sugar and 1 lb candied orange peel added over 3 days for adjusted OG around 1.135.
FG: 1.028 and 1.036, respectively
Temp: Both Pitched at 85F, rose to 91F for blood orange and 94F for candied orange
Timeline: Both blood orange and candied orange batches finished fermenting in 3-4 days and fermented out each 2 lb cane sugar addition in about 12 hrs. Candied orange batch stalled at 1.035 and could not be convinced to drop further, even after rousing the yeast, pitching yeast slurry from the NEIPA, and ramping the temperature to 94F. Cold crashed both batches at about 7 days and racked to kegs. Samples are immensely hazy with no sign of clearing at 2 weeks.
Notes: Only 1-2" of krausen at any given point, no blow-off. Yeast flocculated hard after about 4 days, indicating that it was not going any further. Aggressive dry hopping with 2 oz every 24 hrs for the last three days. About 2g of Fermaid-K was added with each 2 lb sugar addition.
Flavor: Both batches have immense tropical hop and citrus flavor with no "hot" alcohol flavor despite finishing just above 13.5% and 13.2% alcohol, respectively. The candied orange batch finishing around 1.035 is very sweet but still very pleasant, like drinking a mixed tropical fruit punch. There's a definite alcohol warmth, but no fusels are apparent. Can't tell if the yeast gives a "candied orange" flavor because I literally added candied orange to each batch :p

3. NEIPA, 6 gal batch split two ways (2nd runnings from Imperial NEIPA)
plus 1 lb flaked oats steeped in boil. Similar boil hop and dry hop to Imperial version.
OG: 1.052 for 3 gal and ~1.054 for 3 gal with 3/4lb candied orange peel added.
FG: 1.008.
Temp: Pitched at 80F, let rise to ~90F
Timeline: Fermented to completion in just 24-36 hrs. Aggressively dry-hopped for about 3 days with 1 oz every day. Racked to kegs with gelatine around day 4. Dry-hopped candied orange batch in keg. Force carbed at 60 PSI
Notes: Super fast fermentation with little krausen. Yeast flocculated HARD after about 3 days; it was visibly done fermenting.
Flavor: Candied orange peel batch was drinking nicely as an "NEIPA" on day 7, then started settling and now is approaching complete clarity. Not sure if this is the gelatine acting on the haze or yeast flocculating. I'd now call this batch a "tropical pale ale" moreso than an NEIPA. Non-candied orange batch has yet to be tapped so I'll follow up later.

Conclusions: 1 packet of yeast became 17 gallons of three different beers in less than two weeks with fermentations taking 1-4 days at 80-94F. Wow. Somewhat unfortunately, all of the beers were flavored with smoke or hops, so I cannot speak to the profile of this yeast in a "clean" malt profile beer (e.g., Pilsener, blonde, etc). This yeast does well with step-feeding of sugars and starting gravities of 1.090.

What's next? I reserved a flask of the yeast to grow up a starter for a HUGE wheat wine with cranberries. Targeted OG 1.120-1.130 and it will be fermented around 85-90F. Locally-picked cranberries will be added at the tail end of fermentation to not blow off the flavors.

What are your experiences with this nutty yeast?
 
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I've mostly seen it suggested that it's Voss rather than Hornindal, but I've not used it myself - you'd expect more overt orange from Hornindal.
 
Brewed another batch, an "imperial cranberry wheat" using left over dregs from a couple weeks prior

OG: 1.080 for 7 gal, ~50% wheat, 25% pilsener, and 25% 2-row malt, 1 pound macerated wild cranberries in boil. ~20 IBU bittering hops and comet hops plus sitka spruce tips at whirlpool.
FG: 1.020.
Temp: Pitched at 85F, let rise to ~90F, ramped to 100 F for completion, then sat at room temp for a week to condition on fruit.
Timeline: No activity for 2 days, then fermented to completion in just 48 hrs. Added 500mL wild cranberry juice concentrate during high krausen and 400g alcohol-macerated cranberries at cold crash.
Notes: Slower than usual fermentation with large krausen. Yeast flocculated slowly after fermentation activity stopped. Maybe the yeast slurry I used had sat in the fridge for too long.
Flavor: Smooth mouthfeel and large body corresponding to high wheat usage and 1.020 final gravity. Nice light cranberry flavor with some depth. Perhaps a hint of citrusy notes and raspberry from the spruce tips and/or comet hops.
 
Used it in a pale ale. Fermented up to 106°. Totally fine. Dried (open air) and froze the yeast cake. Just pitched 1/3 of flakes into a porter. Slow (around 12hr) start leads me to believe I underpitched. Will report back on outcome.
 
Very cool! I just pitched 2 month old dregs from a flask into a 1.038 berlinerweisse. I did wake up the dregs with a little fresh wort and they
"woke up" quickly. Pretty impressive given that the flask sat in a fridge for such a long time.
 
It seems to have worked just fine. I'd probably pitch 1/2 of the dried yeast cake in the future. Took about 3 days to fully dry.
 
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