Skare kveik

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ebbelwoi

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Has anyone had experience with the Skare kveik strain? Please share your thoughts!
 
My order (2g of dried flakes) arrived about an hour ago, and the 200ml starter is already bubbling. Planning a small test brew for later this week.
 
Just reporting in: the first batch was an Amarillo Blonde that turned out quite well. I got 76% apparent attenuation from a grain bill of 50% pilsner, 33% maris otter, 16% carapils and 1% caramunich I, mashed at 63C, fermented at 30C. The Skare seems very neutral indeed, even 8 days grain to glass.

Next up is a Motueka NZ pilsner.
 
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Nobody else yet?

The NZ pilsner made with Motueka came out quite well also. AA this time was 79% with a 63C mash of pilsner malt with a little carapils.
 
Don’t think you’ll much of a response since it’s not around at the major Internet homebrew supply houses.
 
I just pitched it @28c in a no boil hallertau Blanc Wai iti pilsner with brown rice in the mash. Hopping to achieve a pils profile with light citric fruits from hops and yeast.
 
I hope it turns out well. I ended up moving away from Skare. The taste was acceptable, but the beers I made with it just would not clear. Even months after harvesting the yeast, the beer on top remained cloudy.
 
Back in May Escarpment released details of their hunt for an Oslo equivalent, and they have now released KRISPY, two strains from Skare :

It can be used to make clean, lager-like beers in a fraction of the time since fermentations can be performed in the 20-30ºC range. KRISPY is a selection of two strains from the Skare kveik, and is a bit different from the Kveik Ring: Skare we previously released. Attenuation: 70-82% // Optimum Temp: 18-30ºC // Alcohol tolerance: High // Flocculation: Medium-High

Touch higher attenuation than Oslo, but no sulphur :
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I just tried the krispy yeast from escarpment. I brewed an oktoberfest, 60%pils 40%Munich and mashed at 152 (aimed for 154 :confused:).
Pitched at 76 based on some things I had read about kveik then realized that was probably too hot for my purposes so i reduced the heat. 3 hours after pitching a foam had started to build up and after 5 hours fermentation had definitely started. Checked back in the morning and temp was down to 72 and we were at full krausen. Maintained temp at a steady 70 for the remainder of the week but by day 3 Krause was receding. At transfer, my gravity was 5 points higher than I was aiming for and there was a distinct peach/mango kind of flavor and it was fairly cloudy. I'll check back in with final results in a few weeks.
 
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I just tried the krispy yeast from escarpment. I brewed an oktoberfest, 60%pils 40%Munich and mashed at 152 (aimed for 154 :confused:).
Pitched at 76 based on some things I had read about kveik then realized that was probably too hot for my purposes so i reduced the heat. 3 hours after pitching a foam had started to build up and after 5 hours fermentation had definitely started. Checked back in the morning and temp was down to 72 and we were at full krausen. Maintained temp at a steady 70 for the remainder of the week but by day 3 Krause was receding. At transfer, my gravity was 5 points higher than I was aiming for and there was a distinct peach/mango kind of flavor and it was fairly cloudy. I'll check back in with final results in a few weeks.
How did it turn out?
 
Update on my krispy beer...

1 week in the bottle i tried it because kveik fermented beers are supposed to be drinkable very quickly. It tasted very green, like unripe mango. It was fairly thin, a little sour, slightly hazy and no head retention. Undrinkable.

2 Weeks in the bottle it had mellowed a little so you could taste malt but the mango flavor was still there along with all the other issues.

3 weeks in the bottle its mellowed enough that there's a rich maltiness. Its crisp, and the mango flavor has changed to more of a pear flavor which kind of works. All other issues, not surprisingly, are still there. Its not competition worthy but its definitely not a drain pour anymore.

I'll be trying this again. I got a fridge to better control temperatures since brewing this, so that should help. Maybe I'll add some wheat to boost the head retention and but I'd like to try again before complicating the grain bill because the malt profile is pretty much spot on.
 
i thin alot of it has to do with the finishing PH of it being on the low side.
I read an article on how kveiks finish a few points lower in regards to pH so I adjusted my mash pH to account for that. I forget to check a finished beer though. 🤷‍♂️
 
My experience with Skare Kveik.
Keik obtained from an individual from Denmark named "Rune" which I met on Facebook group "kveik - kjøp/salg". I paid about €20 for 1.5g.
Skare is known to ferment clean beers almost lager-like at 31C in a relatively short period of time. It is summer and in-doors temperature is constant 28C.
For this reason I was inspired by the Czech pilsner, and brewed 20L (4 gal) of this recipe:

3.4kg Pilsner Malt, 0.5kg Munich Malt, 0.2kg Cara 120, 0.2kg CaraPils (for head retention)
Mash: 30min @65C, 40min @67C, 10min @70C (direct heating applied)
Hop: 60min 15g Aramis (6.5% AA), 30min 20g Aramis, 5min 20g Aramis
2tsp yeast nutrient; Soft water used (60% RO, 40% hard, local tap water), No chill method: basically transfer wort to jerrican and wait for it to cool down for about 15 hr.
OG: 11 Brix (refractometer)

Pitch 1.5g dried yeast slurry
lag time: 12 hrs (to start bubbling)
Ambient fermentation temperature: 28C

I found that fermentation bucket needed daily shaking for 4 days because bubbling in fermentation would slow down to almost none.
Left beer in fermentation bucket for a total of 10 days (as I said, I stopped shaking after 4 days)
day 11: Emptied to keg. Force carbonate at 50psi while rocking keg for 15 min. Chilled down to ~4C and allowed to rest for 3 days. Smells unpleasant.
day 14: Smells yeasty. Tastes bitter. Perhaps too much bittering. Not convinced by the Aramis hop, too "green". It is my first time brewing with Aramis and fermenting with Kveik. Decided to add 5g sea salt to soften sharpness of that bitterness. Tested pH: 5.5, good.
day 18: Yeast character dropped significantly. Hop aroma mellowing. Now it tastes lager-like. Salt has worked: less bitterness. Slight perception of salty. Overall it turned out great.
day 20: beer still improving and coming together. Quite pleased with results. Aramis hop is similar to noble German hops, spicy, earthy. Yeast character is very mild now. Beer still hazy.

Overall it was a good experience. I would have preferred if the beer wasn't so hazy. It is not clearing that quickly even after 10 days at 4C.
I harvested the slurry and dried it up (in open air). I have collected 6 portions of 3.5g each. I have also kept liquid slurry from bottom of bucket.

Next project: try a similar recipe with Saaz (more Czech) and ferment it with the dried yeast slurry to see if they got contaminated (which they must have to some extent) and to see if that contamination will affect the next batch. I read that it does not affect much because the Kveik yeast takes over bacteria and other wild-yeast very aggressively, subduing them.
 

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