Voss Kveik yeast is a monster

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Brewed a late-hopped Pale Ale on NYD and fermented (with washed yeast from the Porter a month ago) at 90+ for 4 days. Forgot to add any clarifying agent in the boil, as I so often do... and the beer is super-hazy, not what I wanted. Chilled it to 45 F and still looks like orange juice. Tastes harsh from all the suspended matter. I've added gelatin and have it chilling at 34F now so we will see if it clears in time to serve on Friday... seems unlikely though.

Recipe for 10 gallons: 7 kg Pale Ale (67%) 3 kg Munich II (28%) 500 g Crystal 40L (5%)
28 g Columbus FWH, 60 minute boil, 70 g each Columbus, Simcoe, and HBC342 at 1 minute and another 70 g each of the same hops in the whirlpool for 20 minutes at about 165F. Obviously too much late hops gave me a hazy NEIPA (not my favorite style) instead of a hoppy APA.

Lesson: You can ferment out in a short time, but getting a clear beer is another matter. For a quick turnaround I should have stuck with a more traditional hopping schedule.

On the plus side, the yeast dried the beer out nicely - from 1050 to 1010, can't argue with that.
 
[QUOTE="I've added gelatin and have it chilling at 34F now so we will see if it clears in time to serve on Friday....[/QUOTE]

Well I’m happy to report that it did clear up enough to serve last Friday and the beer was well received. It’s basically a slightly hazy IPA, bitterness is just right and the hop flavor comes through even though there isn’t much aroma. Perfectly quaffable beer.

So this stuff really can do great work on short notice.
 
15 hours after pitching...


bxouorl.jpg
 
I've said elsewhere but probably worth mentioning in this thread that the Lallemand dry version of Voss is now available at UK retailers, at a price just above Lallemand New England; I don't know what their plans are for rolling it out elsewhere in the world.
 
I did a 3 gallon batch of a dry Irish Stout last week fermenting with with 5 ml of a 2nd generation Voss Kveik slurry. I pitched on a Saturday evening holding fermentation at 95F. By Monday morning my gravity was at 1.015 (target was 1.013). By Thursday gravity hadn’t changed so kegged. Still waiting for it to carb but what went into the keg tasted great with just a slight hint of orange notes. Less than 48 hours to complete fermentation with no diacetyl rest required is awesome!
 
Northern_Brewer said:
Lallemand dry version of Voss is now available at UK retailers, at a price just above Lallemand New England; I don't know what their plans are for rolling it out elsewhere in the world.
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It now appears on the list of Swedish & Central European retailers, too. I might give it a shot in the summer when it gets hot.
 
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youngdh said:
I did a 3 gallon batch of a dry Irish Stout last week fermenting with with 5 ml of a 2nd generation Voss Kveik slurry. I pitched on a Saturday evening holding fermentation at 95F. By Monday morning my gravity was at 1.015 (target was 1.013). By Thursday gravity hadn’t changed so kegged. Still waiting for it to carb but what went into the keg tasted great with just a slight hint of orange notes. Less than 48 hours to complete fermentation with no diacetyl rest required is awesome!
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Ridiculous. I can't see me using a different yeast again. With the added bonus that my slurry will always be fresh and healthy!
 
Speaking of slurry... I've been reading a little bit about top crop harvesting yeast, which I know can be done for any yeast, but I was wondering what everyone was doing in order to continue to use their Voss strains..

I did a vitality starter yesterday evening just to wake up my yeast. I plan on doing a hoppy American Wheat-ish beer with lots of late addition hops, so I want as much of the fruity juiciness from this strain as possible so I plan on underpitching and letting those characteristics come out.

What I was wondering is, could someone conceivably top crop a starter and use it for a future brew or would there not be enough yeast in that cropping? I plan on top cropping my actual fermentation, but when I saw the krausen this morning on my starter, it made me wonder if that was a good practice or if it would even matter.

Also, how much top cropped yeast is enough to put back for future brews? I've read that many brewers will harvest a quart worth of top crop, but that seems a little excessive.
 
I brew a pale ale Saturday and pitch voss that I keep in a jar in the fridge (use 90% and fill with fresh most for the next batch and let it ferment), never had any problem, this is my sixth or seventh brew, but yesterday arrive at home and the place was smelling like a movie theater.
Took a sample, tasted good but smelled very intensely popcorn and it's very cloudy.
I'm now fermenting at 17°c / 63F, pitched at 26c.
I think this may be appening because of the low fermentation temp.
As this appened to anyone? Will it clean up? Any suggestion?
20200116_180723.jpeg
 
greenjam said:
I brew a pale ale Saturday and pitch voss that I keep in a jar in the fridge (use 90% and fill with fresh most for the next batch and let it ferment), never had any problem, this is my sixth or seventh brew, but yesterday arrive at home and the place was smelling like a movie theater.
Took a sample, tasted good but smelled very intensely popcorn and it's very cloudy.
I'm now fermenting at 17°c / 63F, pitched at 26c.
I think this may be appening because of the low fermentation temp.
As this appened to anyone? Will it clean up? Any suggestion? View attachment 662299
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Sounds like you’re smelling what diacetyl tastes like. As for it smelling that way, I have no idea. Maybe you’re smelling a hint of sulphur? Did you use nutrient in your brew?

I’m not one to identify off flavors, but those would be my thoughts.
 
bleme said:
Correct. According to Lars, that would be 3.5 days after pitch.
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Understood. But harvesting that yeast after fermentation is completed wouldn't be a bad practice necessarily, would it? I don't have a conical fermenter to be able to take that harvest out from the bottom unless there's another method.
 
NobleNewt said:
Understood. But harvesting that yeast after fermentation is completed wouldn't be a bad practice necessarily, would it? I don't have a conical fermenter to be able to take that harvest out from the bottom unless there's another method.
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I do mine after fermentation and have had zero issues. I find it hard to believe such a robust yeast can't wait a few weeks...
 
BandonBrewingCo said:
I do mine after fermentation and have had zero issues. I find it hard to believe such a robust yeast can't wait a few weeks...
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Right. I suppose, though, it may have to do with harvesting the most viable healthy yeast? To me that seems like it could be a little bit detrimental. I always assumed that having some dead cells along with a fractional amount of trub would help keep nutrient levels high during storage. I usually harvest the half gallon or so of trub into a 1 gallon glass jug, top up with some clean water as needed, give it a good shake and decant the yeast cells off.

One thing I've noticed over the past few days of my Omega Voss yeast starter is that the yeast is highly flocculant. I mean, it sticks like glue to my flask and globs up like nobody's business. The oatmeal stout I made with the stuff a while back is crystal clear.. No haze or gunk in the bottles whatsoever and that's doing everything I could to mess that brew up!
 
NobleNewt said:
Right. I suppose, though, it may have to do with harvesting the most viable healthy yeast? To me that seems like it could be a little bit detrimental. I always assumed that having some dead cells along with a fractional amount of trub would help keep nutrient levels high during storage. I usually harvest the half gallon or so of trub into a 1 gallon glass jug, top up with some clean water as needed, give it a good shake and decant the yeast cells off.
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See my post above (nr 165) with the voss after 15 hours - krausen already been and gone. Seems nice and viable and healthy to me :)
 
BandonBrewingCo said:
See my post above (nr 165) with the voss after 15 hours - krausen already been and gone. Seems nice and viable and healthy to me :)
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Yeah!

I pitched my glob of yeast into my viability starter and stuff was moving within 30 minutes. Lars even says it's not unusual to see activity within that timeframe.
 
NobleNewt said:
Sounds like you’re smelling what diacetyl tastes like. As for it smelling that way, I have no idea. Maybe you’re smelling a hint of sulphur? Did you use nutrient in your brew?

I’m not one to identify off flavors, but those would be my thoughts.
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I also think it's diacetyl, don't think it's sulfur...
Never used nutrient and never had any problem
My questions are, have anyone had a smell like this with voss and do you think the yeast will clean for itself?
 
NobleNewt said:
Allegedly, yes. Yeast produce diacetyl but they also clean it up. Here's an article.

You may have just sampled it/stumbled upon it during peak diacetyl? If that's even a thing..
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Thanks for the article, I will let the beer at least a couple more days in the Fermentor...

I'm still curious if something like this as ever happened to anyone with voss and if you think that the origin was the low fermentation temperature
 
Brewed a kolsch-ish recipe on Saturday. About 80/20 Vienna and White Wheat Malt mashed at 147, pitched Voss at about 85 degrees. Started at 13.2 Brix (1.053) and Monday was already down to 7 Brix (1.013 with refrac. correction).

About 48 hours and 75% attenuation!
 
Albionwood said:
Sounds like I repeated the error of letting temperature fall during fermentation. Brewed a Porter one week ago and pitched one full packet of Omega Voss into 10 gallons at 85F. Wrapped the fermenter up in towels expecting it to stay warm from fermentation, but the weather was against me and it fell into the 60s. Original gravity 1056 and yesterday it was down to 1016, about four points higher than I wanted. Taste is sweetish and there's a lingering unpleasant burnt character that I hope ages out.

I put on a Brew Belt and we'll see if it wakes the yeast up. Would like to get at least two more gravity points out.
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I’ve experienced the same. My wheat/kolsch ran down to 1.012 quickly, but stopped there when the carboy dropped into the 60s. I’ve applied the heating pad to get the yeast warmed up and there seems to be a mini krausen developing. I’m already at 75% attenuation, but my estimate was 82%. Basically, it should finish out about 3 SG points lower.

Seems like this yeast doesn’t care much for temps in the 60s unless you’ve got the patience and time to baby it along at those lower temps. I don’t, and I’d like to bottle this weekend!
 
I'll say something else about this yeast.. If you bottle condition like I do, you can bottle, put your bottles on a heat pad to keep temps up, and they carb up much quicker than other yeasts without the off flavors.

Just poured one that's only been in the bottle 9 days before 2 days in the fridge and it's nice and bubbly! It came out of the case that sat on the heating pad for a few days.
 
I’m now fermenting my third batch with Voss, using slurry from the first batch that’s been in the fridge for a few weeks. Put 1 tbsp slurry into 400 ml wort on a stir plate at 99F while sparging, and it was foaming within half an hour. Pitched it into 19 gallons at 90F and 16 hours later it’s at 96F and fermenting vigorously.

Planning to serve this beer in 10 days.

Just finished the Porter from two months ago. It settled into a very nice beer, very drinkable. Not great enough for me to abandon M42 though, it’s still my favorite for Porter or Stout.
 
Brewed a weat beer Sunday night, dump the wort over the slurry of a APA at 38°c 101°F OG=1.048, 1 hour later it was bubbling like crazy.
24h later was 95% done = 1.016
 
Albionwood said:
I’m now fermenting my third batch with Voss, using slurry from the first batch that’s been in the fridge for a few weeks. Put 1 tbsp slurry into 400 ml wort on a stir plate at 99F while sparging, and it was foaming within half an hour. Pitched it into 19 gallons at 90F and 16 hours later it’s at 96F and fermenting vigorously.

Planning to serve this beer in 10 days.

Just finished the Porter from two months ago. It settled into a very nice beer, very drinkable. Not great enough for me to abandon M42 though, it’s still my favorite for Porter or Stout.
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The amber ale I just made used only a splash of the Voss I had in the fridge. Maybe an ounce of the 8 oz mason jar I had in the fridge. No ill effects whatsoever. Didn't bring out any fruitiness like many seem to think an underpitch would. Very clean. Cleaned up more as it got into week 2 in primary. Looking forward to bottling it this weekend or next.
 
What's the best source to buy this yeast.
I am fermenting beer though, I start at 6-9% and try to finish them dry via amg enzyme. I am getting fine results with ec1118 and Turbo 24 and a 28% I got from a ebay seller in Alaska, but I would like it to go faster, I am currently between 4 and 6 weeks.
Cool.
Srinath.
 
Jokester said:
What's the best source to buy this yeast.
I am fermenting beer though, I start at 6-9% and try to finish them dry via amg enzyme. I am getting fine results with ec1118 and Turbo 24 and a 28% I got from a ebay seller in Alaska, but I would like it to go faster, I am currently between 4 and 6 weeks.
Cool.
Srinath.
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I got mine here, a couple of years ago: https://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/voss-kveik-oyl-061/
 
Its flocculation is medium ? and only 12% abv tolerance, but I saw in earlier posts it ferments fast to that 12% and flocculates well when its got to 12% or has fermented dry ?
I am very much in the 11% and up range, in fact I started a batch of amg hyper ferment of Double indemnity and this one goes to 11 50-50 blend that was 9.8% abv start - Ofcourse I have turbo 24 and a 28% er in it now in the yeast cake. That would finish out well I would think, I routinely start at sugary beverages that tip the scales over 8 when I start and may go to 14 or more.
Of course I could always get the fast ferment done in 3-4 days and add a second yeast that finishes dry.
The yeast cake of the Voss kevick doesn't stay useable past 2nd generation ? Is there a larger packet than the little ones they sell.
Does it flocculate after fermenting in the bottle, or is cold crashing necessary to flocculate it.

Cool.
Srinath.
 
Jokester said:
The yeast cake of the Voss kevick doesn't stay useable past 2nd generation? Is there a larger packet than the little ones they sell.
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Who told you that? Kveik yeasts are usable over and over for many generations. Maybe if you try to push it to 18% without a normal ABV batch in between strong batches it will die out, so don't do that ;)
 
I don't push to 18% in any of the "beers" per say, the 20+% abv comes in the freeze process, and I used to shoot for 30% and have come to realize the 20% ones taste better, I'll be trying to hit 20% for a couple batches but that's the freeze concentrate process.
Cool.
Srinath.
 
Im wondering if there is any consensus on getting the esters to come out - is it mostly from underpitching? Or more about fermenting hot?

or is everyone pretty much following the hot+underpitch protocol?
 
jaymosbeershack said:
I ran a single pack of Voss for 6 batches, and probably could have kept going but I forgot to drop yeast before dry hopping.
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What happens when you dry hop it with yeast still in it ? Because I am starting with a beer, its already got all the hops it ever will have basically.
Cool.
Srinath.
 
SanPancho said:
Im wondering if there is any consensus on getting the esters to come out - is it mostly from underpitching? Or more about fermenting hot?

or is everyone pretty much following the hot+underpitch protocol?
Click to expand...

There's a split between "consensus" and "evidence."

Consensus is that underpitching+high temps = more esters. This is what most of us are doing, and it's the way kveiks have been used in Norway where they developed, if I understand correctly.
There have been some efforts to test that theory, under laboratory conditions and in homebrew tests (Brulosophy), though none have really been definitive. Those results have generally not provided strong evidence that underpitching really affects ester production, but I think they did show that temperature had a significant effect.

Several of us have also experienced stalling if temperature is allowed to decline during fermentation, though this is by no means universal.

Bottom line for me is, I can pitch a tablespoon of slurry from the last batch into 40 liters of wort, hold at 95F and get a great beer in a week. I don't think anyone would argue that's not a winning formula.
 
The issue is in relation to hops. Lower temp ferments hold on to more of the hop oils/etc than hotter ferms. Not sure if it’s about temp per se, or just a faster more vigorous ferment. Maybe both.
In that case, this temp protocol would sacrifice those hop flavors in hopes of retaining more yeast esters.
 

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