Voss Kveik yeast is a monster

[Albionwood]

One thing I have noticed is that although it doesn’t throw off flavors and the beer is drinkable nearly from the get go, it gets better with about a month + age. The stout I brewed four weeks ago is really starting to be great. It was a drinkable beer but nothing special.

What temperature and pitch rate?
Cold conditioning in a keg, or bottle conditioned?

I’m starting a Porter tomorrow for serving almost exactly a month later.

 

[Bobbybob]

Pitched one pack @71 and just let it go. I wanted no yeast flavors and it worked. My house is set to 71 so it was probably 73 ~ 74.

 

[beersk]

One thing I have noticed is that although it doesn’t throw off flavors and the beer is drinkable nearly from the get go, it gets better with about a month + age. The stout I brewed four weeks ago is really starting to be great. It was a drinkable beer but nothing special.

This was my experience with Hornindal Kveik as well. It's good right away in that it doesn't have any off flavors or anything, but it just seems to clean up a little as it clears more and ages also. But this goes for basically any yeast, I think.

 

[Bobbybob]

This was my experience with Hornindal Kveik as well. It's good right away in that it doesn't have any off flavors or anything, but it just seems to clean up a little as it clears more and ages also. But this goes for basically any yeast, I think

I was thinking that no off flavors means ready beer. That is not the case. Don’t get me wrong it was good then but some time made it a very solid beer.

 

[Albionwood]

Pitched one pack @71 and just let it go. I wanted no yeast flavors and it worked. My house is set to 71 so it was probably 73 ~ 74.

I kinda want a little orange character, could be an interesting note in a Porter. Think I might try half a pack, pitch at 85ish and see how it goes.

 

[NobleNewt]

Pitched one pack @71 and just let it go. I wanted no yeast flavors and it worked. My house is set to 71 so it was probably 73 ~ 74.

How long was your fermentation time? I pitched about 48 hours ago, and the samples I've pulled off from 24 hours on have been delicious for my oatmeal stout. Part of me expected fermentation to be finished with how quickly and aggressively this yeast took off, but my first gravity reading (at 48 hours) read 1.024.. Still a ways to go to get to 1.016 or so.

I pitched at about 85 degrees and let the temp fall naturally, but my house is cold and the stick-on thermometer is saying it's about 66 on the carboy. Wondering if I should add a little warmth to help it finish out or if I should just leave it alone and check again after a full week.

OG was 1.056 for what that's worth.

 

[jaymosbeershack]

I have made that mistake a few times. Ive found that if i pitch at 85, I need to keep it at 85 till its done. If i let the temp fall naturally, it slows down to a crawl. Ive gone from 1.064 to 1.022 in 24 hours, then took 5 days to get to 1.014. The batch i have in the fermenter now went from 1.062 to 1.015 in less than 48 hours held at 85 for the full 48

How long was your fermentation time? I pitched about 48 hours ago, and the samples I've pulled off from 24 hours on have been delicious for my oatmeal stout. Part of me expected fermentation to be finished with how quickly and aggressively this yeast took off, but my first gravity reading (at 48 hours) read 1.024.. Still a ways to go to get to 1.016 or so.

I pitched at about 85 degrees and let the temp fall naturally, but my house is cold and the stick-on thermometer is saying it's about 66 on the carboy. Wondering if I should add a little warmth to help it finish out or if I should just leave it alone and check again after a full week.

OG was 1.056 for what that's worth.

 

[Bobbybob]

I have been doubling up brew days by making a big beer and a small beer (the Small beers have actual over attenuating 5.5~6%) have So now I have 7 brews with this yeast, and all except one finished in 3 days. I would set it on a heater vent or in a warmer spot.

 

[NobleNewt]

I have made that mistake a few times. Ive found that if i pitch at 85, I need to keep it at 85 till its done. If i let the temp fall naturally, it slows down to a crawl. Ive gone from 1.064 to 1.022 in 24 hours, then took 5 days to get to 1.014. The batch i have in the fermenter now went from 1.062 to 1.015 in less than 48 hours held at 85 for the full 48

Good to know. I ended up wrapping a heating pad around my carboy with an ace bandage. Stuck my thermometer probe on the opposite side of the pad in the bandage then wrapped it all in a blanket.

The heating pad has an auto-off feature at two hours, but both the stick-on and my probe will rise 2-4 degrees over those two hours so I think it’s doing some good.

Never thought in all my days that I would be worried about fermentation being too cool in Texas, but here we are!

 

[rlonardo]

I just brewed my first beer with Voss, a NEIPA. For as quickly as it fermented (Brewed 5 days ago, kegging today) I was surprised at how "calm" it was. I used a blowoff as I was expecting a violent ferment but the krausen never reached the neck of my carboy despite leaving not a ton of head space.

 

[NobleNewt]

Just an update to my Voss Oatmeal Stout.. I wrapped a heating pad around the fermenter and was able to increase the temperature a good 10 degrees over the course of a few hours.

For those wondering, I've been using a Walgreens 3 temperature heating pad. The pad on high will increase temperatures somewhat rapidly over 2 hours (4-5 degrees or so), medium will increase temperatures (2-4 degrees) or hold temperatures, while low will mostly maintain temperature or raise them very slowly. The pad has an auto-off feature at 2 hours, but I've found running it for 2 hours on/2 hours off has mostly kept my temps in the upper 70's to low 80's with a blanket and towel wrapped around the ferm.

Hoping to bottle this weekend and get my gravity to FG. From what I've read it doesn't seem that the Voss is as fickle with temperature changes as most ale strains, but hopefully no funkinesss will come from me applying the heat as I am.

 

[Miraculix]

Just an update to my Voss Oatmeal Stout.. I wrapped a heating pad around the fermenter and was able to increase the temperature a good 10 degrees over the course of a few hours.

For those wondering, I've been using a Walgreens 3 temperature heating pad. The pad on high will increase temperatures somewhat rapidly over 2 hours (4-5 degrees or so), medium will increase temperatures (2-4 degrees) or hold temperatures, while low will mostly maintain temperature or raise them very slowly. The pad has an auto-off feature at 2 hours, but I've found running it for 2 hours on/2 hours off has mostly kept my temps in the upper 70's to low 80's with a blanket and towel wrapped around the ferm.

Hoping to bottle this weekend and get my gravity to FG. From what I've read it doesn't seem that the Voss is as fickle with temperature changes as most ale strains, but hopefully no funkinesss will come from me applying the heat as I am.

I pitched at 37c, wrapped the fermenter in a sleeping bag, no heating, no I'll effects. Nice beer, slightly tart though, but not more than some other yeasts also are.

 

[youngdh]

Voss Kveik definitely is a monster, actually I would now call it "immortal" after what just happened to me. After fermenting my most recent NEIPA with the last of my original Omega Voss Kveik slurry I'd stored in my beer fridge, I decided to try drying the slurry. Per this thread on drying Kveik I put my slurry into the oven with only the oven light. I instructed my wife to not turn the light off. After about day 4 it looked ready to package which I'd planned to do that evening. Before I got around to doing this, my wife decided she wanted to bake some cookies and started preheating the oven forgetting I had my yeast in there. Shortly after turning the oven on she realized I was drying yeast and pulled the tray out of the oven. When I asked how hot the oven got she said "I don't know". Oh me :-(. I decided to make a 1.060 starter to test if yeast had met their demise or not. After 24 hours on the stir plate I still had no bubble activity and decided the yeast was "cooked", literally. I decided to wait another 12 hours before tossing the starter "just in case". Well, I'm glad I did. About 35 hours after building the starter I had a one inch krausen! This yeast is unbelievable. I suspect I have yeast mortality due to the higher heat and why such a long lag time with the starter. If I choose to re-use these yeast flakes in the future I'll definitely do a starter first, unless, I bite the bullet and drop $10 on another pouch of Omega Voss or better yet Lallemand's dry Voss becomes available at my LHBS.

 

[Miraculix]

Voss Kveik definitely is a monster, actually I would now call it "immortal" after what just happened to me. After fermenting my most recent NEIPA with the last of my original Omega Voss Kveik slurry I'd stored in my beer fridge, I decided to try drying the slurry. Per this thread on drying Kveik I put my slurry into the oven with only the oven light. I instructed my wife to not turn the light off. After about day 4 it looked ready to package which I'd planned to do that evening. Before I got around to doing this, my wife decided she wanted to bake some cookies and started preheating the oven forgetting I had my yeast in there. Shortly after turning the oven on she realized I was drying yeast and pulled the tray out of the oven. When I asked how hot the oven got she said "I don't know". Oh me :-(. I decided to make a 1.060 starter to test if yeast had met their demise or not. After 24 hours on the stir plate I still had no bubble activity and decided the yeast was "cooked", literally. I decided to wait another 12 hours before tossing the starter "just in case". Well, I'm glad I did. About 35 hours after building the starter I had a one inch krausen! This yeast is unbelievable. I suspect I have yeast mortality due to the higher heat and why such a long lag time with the starter. If I choose to re-use these yeast flakes in the future I'll definitely do a starter first, unless, I bite the bullet and drop $10 on another pouch of Omega Voss or better yet Lallemand's dry Voss becomes available at my LHBS.

View attachment 657506

Just dry the starter you just made!

 

[beersk]

Voss Kveik definitely is a monster, actually I would now call it "immortal" after what just happened to me. After fermenting my most recent NEIPA with the last of my original Omega Voss Kveik slurry I'd stored in my beer fridge, I decided to try drying the slurry. Per this thread on drying Kveik I put my slurry into the oven with only the oven light. I instructed my wife to not turn the light off. After about day 4 it looked ready to package which I'd planned to do that evening. Before I got around to doing this, my wife decided she wanted to bake some cookies and started preheating the oven forgetting I had my yeast in there. Shortly after turning the oven on she realized I was drying yeast and pulled the tray out of the oven. When I asked how hot the oven got she said "I don't know". Oh me :-(. I decided to make a 1.060 starter to test if yeast had met their demise or not. After 24 hours on the stir plate I still had no bubble activity and decided the yeast was "cooked", literally. I decided to wait another 12 hours before tossing the starter "just in case". Well, I'm glad I did. About 35 hours after building the starter I had a one inch krausen! This yeast is unbelievable. I suspect I have yeast mortality due to the higher heat and why such a long lag time with the starter. If I choose to re-use these yeast flakes in the future I'll definitely do a starter first, unless, I bite the bullet and drop $10 on another pouch of Omega Voss or better yet Lallemand's dry Voss becomes available at my LHBS.

View attachment 657506

That's wild. It's why I didn't order an ice pack when I had my Hornindal and Hothead shipped to me last August. Those yeasts performed stellar.

On the heating pad from a post above, I have a heating pad I had totally forgotten about. I wonder if I could hook that up to my Inkbird and maintain 80F with the probe attached to the fermenter...or I wonder if there's potential risk there. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[bleme]

It's pretty amazing how many 'rules' the kveik yeasts break!

Lag phase, total fermentation time, attenuation and flavor are dependent on pitch rate, yeast handling, fermentation temperature and nutritional quality of the wort. Our research suggests that pitching LalBrew® Voss directly into wort without prior rehydration will often result in better performance including shorter lag-phase and greater attenuation.

 

[youngdh]

Just dry the starter you just made!

Yup, I've considered that but this is a small starter and would be a 3rd gen of this yeast. I'll give it the sniff test to see if it smells funky and not worth preserving, or, just get another pouch of pure yeast next time I brew and treat this as a educational exercise for myself. The first Omega pouch I purchased last Jan., I used 5ml of slurry in my 3G batch (you are to seriously under pitch this yeast strain and ferment hot to get the ester profile) and stored the remaining 10ml in sterile vials in my fridge which I used throughout the year. I got 3 - 3G batches from a single Omega pouch

 

[Miraculix]

Yup, I've considered that but this is a small starter and would be a 3rd gen of this yeast. I'll give it the sniff test to see if it smells funky and not worth preserving, or, just get another pouch of pure yeast next time I brew and treat this as a educational exercise for myself. The first Omega pouch I purchased last Jan., I used 5ml of slurry in my 3G batch (you are to seriously under pitch this yeast strain and ferment hot to get the ester profile) and stored the remaining 10ml in sterile vials in my fridge which I used throughout the year. I got 3 - 3G batches from a single Omega pouch

I did exactly the same.

 

[NobleNewt]

That's wild. It's why I didn't order an ice pack when I had my Hornindal and Hothead shipped to me last August. Those yeasts performed stellar.

On the heating pad from a post above, I have a heating pad I had totally forgotten about. I wonder if I could hook that up to my Inkbird and maintain 80F with the probe attached to the fermenter...or I wonder if there's potential risk there. Anyone have any ideas?

I don’t see why you couldn’t. Honestly, my fermentation didn’t kick back up much until my probe on the outside of the ferm hit the upper 80s.

I’ve got my probe stuck on the ferm with some insulating tape opposite the heating pad. The probe also reads high at lower temperatures, so I know it’s actually reading about 84. Even still, my hydro sample yesterday only read 75.

All that to say, the probe on the outside will give you a good indication of what’s happening inside but it’s not totally accurate. Best to do what you’re saying and start at 80, check actual wort temp, and work it up as you see fit.

 

[beersk]

I don’t see why you couldn’t. Honestly, my fermentation didn’t kick back up much until my probe on the outside of the ferm hit the upper 80s.

I’ve got my probe stuck on the ferm with some insulating tape opposite the heating pad. The probe also reads high at lower temperatures, so I know it’s actually reading about 84. Even still, my hydro sample yesterday only read 75.

All that to say, the probe on the outside will give you a good indication of what’s happening inside but it’s not totally accurate. Best to do what you’re saying and start at 80, check actual wort temp, and work it up as you see fit.

Great, thanks for the info.

 

[NobleNewt]

Great, thanks for the info.

You bet. Another thing I forgot to mention is that I’ve run my heating pad on high several times to drive the temp up and it hasn’t hurt the yeast.

I wouldn’t try that on a conventional ale strain, but with this kveik I’m not nearly as concerned. It’s an anomaly.

 

[Albionwood]

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.

 

[NobleNewt]

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.

I'm curious to know how long it takes yours to finish out. I've had mine steadily rising over the past 48 hours and I've had little to no gravity drop. Still seeing some airlock activity, but no appreciable change in gravity. Stuck at 1.022 as of 24 hours ago. I might take another gravity reading this afternoon to see where it stands, but no changes in 48 hours of elevated temp so far.

 

[jaymosbeershack]

What temp are you at? I did a juicy pale at 70 that took about 6 days to finish.

I'm curious to know how long it takes yours to finish out. I've had mine steadily rising over the past 48 hours and I've had little to no gravity drop. Still seeing some airlock activity, but no appreciable change in gravity. Stuck at 1.022 as of 24 hours ago. I might take another gravity reading this afternoon to see where it stands, but no changes in 48 hours of elevated temp so far.

 

[NobleNewt]

What temp are you at? I did a juicy pale at 70 that took about 6 days to finish.

Just took a hydrometer reading, and the sample was at 78* with no change in gravity. Still stuck at 1.022 but with airlock activity! I would think by now, surely, I would have at least seen some change in gravity albeit small. One could split hairs and look at my hydrometer in the beer and say it was 1.021, but I'm not so confident. Seemed to be at the same level as yesterday.

Yet, every time I fiddle with it and take a sample, the airlock goes to bubbling away every 10-30 seconds. I refuse to think that I'm only going to get 60% attenuation from this yeast, so I may just be in it for a typical fermentation time of 10-14 days.

Before we get too crazy, here's the recipe:

3.75 Gallons (ended up w/ 4.25 in the fermenter)

OG: 1.056

-6.5# Maris Otter
-12 oz. Crystal 60
-10 oz. Chocolate Malt
-8 oz. Victory Malt
-7 oz. Flaked Barley
-6 oz. Roasted Barley
-5 oz. Flaked Oats

 

[youngdh]

That's wild. It's why I didn't order an ice pack when I had my Hornindal and Hothead shipped to me last August. Those yeasts performed stellar.

On the heating pad from a post above, I have a heating pad I had totally forgotten about. I wonder if I could hook that up to my Inkbird and maintain 80F with the probe attached to the fermenter...or I wonder if there's potential risk there. Anyone have any ideas?

You certainly can do this. I would recommend putting in a thermowell on your fermentor to get the ink bird temp probe toward the middle of the wort/beer to avoid short cycling the on/off cycle with the ink bird controller. With the probe between the heating pad/element and the fermentor you'll be short cycling the heating pad as it quickly heats to 80F and the ink bird shuts if off, and the cycle will repeat.

 

[beersk]

You certainly can do this. I would recommend putting in a thermowell on your fermentor to get the ink bird temp probe toward the middle of the wort/beer to avoid short cycling the on/off cycle with the ink bird controller. With the probe between the heating pad/element and the fermentor you'll be short cycling the heating pad as it quickly heats to 80F and the ink bird shuts if off, and the cycle will repeat.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[tellyho]

I think others have reported this as well, but wanted to add my experience that Voss throws off some undesirable (to me) funkiness when you ferment at 90+. Currently trying to disguise this in an IPA by adding some more keg hops. Flavors to me are musty-ish.

I get none of these flavors when I ferment the same yeast (dried) at more normal temps - worked great in an imperial stout and a faux-rauchbier for me at 70s temperatures.

In the future, I will not be driving temp in the 90s, though I definitely appreciate being able to pitch at that temp.

 

[Albionwood]

I think others have reported this as well, but wanted to add my experience that Voss throws off some undesirable (to me) funkiness when you ferment at 90+. Currently trying to disguise this in an IPA by adding some more keg hops. Flavors to me are musty-ish.

I get none of these flavors when I ferment the same yeast (dried) at more normal temps - worked great in an imperial stout and a faux-rauchbier for me at 70s temperatures.

In the future, I will not be driving temp in the 90s, though I definitely appreciate being able to pitch at that temp.

That’s weird. I thought the whole point of Kveik yeast is to ferment hot and fast.

 

[Albionwood]

I'm curious to know how long it takes yours to finish out..

I got the beer back up into the 80s but it didn’t really restart. Probably should have roused. Finished at 1014. Kegged it today and will see how it tastes when carbed.

Saved two quarts of slurry, will wash and dry one and repitch the other into an IPA - and will try to keep that up around 90F.