Which Kveik for Beer Styles?

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cskid

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Since a brief hiatus from brewing due to young kids and lack of time I'm getting back in the game. My new 10 gallon Anvil Foundry arrived last week and I'm stoked to use it and hope it saves me some time with my brew days. In my time off the Kviek yeast phenomenon took the states by storm. As a brewer in Florida who in the past changes out ice bottles to control ferm temps Kviek yeast seems like a potential game changer for my brewing. Meaning not freaking as much about temp control. So with that a couple of questions:

1. Is there a chart or reference guide that suggests which Kviek strains to use for certain beer styles? A guide for dummies suggesting which Kviek to use based on what style I want to make would be helpful.
2. If I were to pitch Kviek in the house any problems with temps ranging from 74-80F? Is that too cool for most strains?
3. If I pitched a Kviek strain outside during summer in Florida any problems setting and forgetting it understanding temp ranges may change 10+ degrees from REALLY REALLY hot during the day (90-98F in the shade) to comfortable breezy evenings (80-85F)?

Thanks.
 
I was using Fermentis Kveik this summer and was pitching @ 85-95f with no problems, I dont chill. I made a double starter from the package, so I have a backup. I also dried some for a backup. Good question on different Kveiks on their flavor or taste as I am tired of the orange marmalade flavor in my brew.
 
I find Opshaug kveik very neutral. If you need the specific yeast profile for your beer kveik won't provide that.

You could consider brewing some Saison as they like it hot as well! or a co pitch.
 
If you're making hoppy pale ales I'd recommend Voss, Lida or Laerdal (my favorite).
Malt forward styles and I'd go for Arset, Hornindale or Midtbust.
If you like phenolic beers then Jovaru is very similar to T58.
And finally for fruit sours you could try Tomasguard.
These are all original farmhouse strains and I'd highly recommend Too Far North for your purchases.
 
Brew up something simple and split between a few yeasts. I did a witbier and used some of the wort without orange peel and coriander to underpitch hornindal kveik with oxygen and ferment at 95. Tons of yeast flavor without off flavors. I think this will really help you get a feel for them.

If you're making hoppy pale ales I'd recommend Voss, Lida or Laerdal (my favorite).
Malt forward styles and I'd go for Arset, Hornindale or Midtbust.
If you like phenolic beers then Jovaru is very similar to T58.
And finally for fruit sours you could try Tomasguard.
These are all original farmhouse strains and I'd highly recommend Too Far North for your purchases.

I've loved the fruitiness of Hornindal in IPAs. Used Jovaru once and it sorta reminded me of French Saison IIRC.
 
Brew up something simple and split between a few yeasts. I did a witbier and used some of the wort without orange peel and coriander to underpitch hornindal kveik with oxygen and ferment at 95. Tons of yeast flavor without off flavors. I think this will really help you get a feel for them.



I've loved the fruitiness of Hornindal in IPAs. Used Jovaru once and it sorta reminded me of French Saison IIRC.
That is, because it's not a kveik. It's a diastatic saison strain.
 
As with any yeast, you want the temperature to be as stable as possible so it would be a hood idea to have the fermenter in a well insulated area so it doesn't fluctuate that much.

Regarding styles, I have worked with 21 unique farmhouse cultures in a multitude of styles, feel free to ask for specific styles. I think I can put together a chart but with the holidays that close I don't have the time until past the next day of Christmas (where I live we do the 24th, 25th and 26th), but for a faster feedback until then, you can ask me about specific styles
 
I recently used Lallemand dry Voss with the MoreBeer all-grains pils kit. Turned out very good. The orange flavor is a lot more subdued than I expected, I don’t detect it much at all. It is slightly tart, but pleasant, and certainly not a traditional pilsner. Tasty batch though! It won’t last long.

I chilled to 96F, pitched, and let it ride at ambient (mid 70s).
 
I've only used Lallemand Kveik Vos.
It handles high temperatures beautifully and seems OK with lower night time temps.
I put the fermenter in a cooler box to reduce fluctuations, but they will still be there!
Note, I am not experienced enough to say anything about flavour variations, off-tastes etc
 
I’ve used Voss with my session NEIPA and my Dry Irish stout, both Omega Voss and Lallemand’s dry Voss with good results. I use a brewers heating belt and ferment at 95F and under pitch to get the most esters out of the yeast. 5ml of slurry to 3G of wort. Both beers finish in 24-36 hours and typically go from brew day to glass in a week. I’ve recently used Omega’s Hornindal in my NEIPA and like it better for the NEIPA. You mention brewing in FL where it’s hot. I’m in NoVA/ DC area where during the peak of summer we can hit triple digits with humidity and no coastal breeze. DC summers can be miserable.
 
Kveik tastes like kveik, so it is only good for beers that should taste like that. Lutra brings the lowest amount of kveik taste to the table, so anything cleaner, use that one.

I agree with this. Kveik has been marketed as super clean, but it seems to have a noticeable flavor in most strains. Some are more citrusy, some are cleaner... all have a bit of an acidic twang. I rather like Voss for hoppy beers and prefer it hot to bring more citrus to the forefront. I like Lutra in beers that you want it to be less noticable in (I've made perfectly good blondes, ambers, and stouts). Hornindal is a bit in between for me and more versatile (Lutra is an isolate out of the Hornindal strain). One thing to remember with kveik in general is that they really have a high nutrient requirement. Best to add in some nutrient in the last 5 minutes of the boil.

IMO if you're wanting a US-05 replacement that you don't need to worry about temp too much, go with Lutra.

At this point I really only use kveik when I need to turn around beer super quickly or it is too hot and I don't want to brew a saison.
 
Kveik tastes like kveik, so it is only good for beers that should taste like that. Lutra brings the lowest amount of kveik taste to the table, so anything cleaner, use that one.
Kveik doesn't taste the same, but if you compare the more widely available ones, Voss, Osphaug, Lutra and Hornindal, yes they are similar and one cleaner than the other, but there's a wild variety of flavours outside of those
 
Kveik doesn't taste the same, but if you compare the more widely available ones, Voss, Osphaug, Lutra and Hornindal, yes they are similar and one cleaner than the other, but there's a wild variety of flavours outside of those
I didn't mean to say that they taste the same, but that they all share this common part of the taste which I often refer to as the kveik twang. No other yeast has this, only the kveiks. Some of them show this more and some less, but eventually all of the kveiks have it. ... Unfortunately.
 
I didn't mean to say that they taste the same, but that they all share this common part of the taste which I often refer to as the kveik twang. No other yeast has this, only the kveiks. Some of them show this more and some less, but eventually all of the kveiks have it. ... Unfortunately.
I've had some kveiks that taste radically different to others, but again, at the end of the day, most people only has easy access to 4 kveiks. There's a lot of kveiks and some are similar to each other but others are not, I use them for everything with a few exceptions and I've had people taste them side by side with the same style and no kveik and there's no difference
 
Glad to see you got back into the hobby with a good set up! Here are my responses for you:
1. To my knowledge there are no real "charts" out there showing what strain works with what best for style. That being said, I would be happy to try and compile info and make one.
2. Kveik is robust. It can handle just about any temperature you would see with ease.
3. Again, most of the strains out there can handle just into the triple digits. I, myself haven't tried yet, but there are reports of successful beers being brewed at 105F

Lutra will likely be the cleanest fermenter of the strains. I am a fan of Hornindal for it's citrus and tropical fruitiness. All kveik has a bit of a tartness, or "twang". I am planning on trying every single strain of kveik available and figuring out what flavors and aromas come from them. Lots of SMaSH brews I feel will happen this next year.
 
I plan too to brew a lot with kveik strain I don't have the possibility to keep the temps low. I have a ss bucket and a heating strap and will try to ferment at high temps. I want to try a clean blond (speudo-lager). I heard about a strain from escarpment lab similar to lutra, Krispy and Krispy 2.0.

Anybody have already try them?
 
3. Again, most of the strains out there can handle just into the triple digits. I, myself haven't tried yet, but there are reports of successful beers being brewed at 105F

I have not gone that high, but I have a NEIPA recipe that I brew regularly with Lallemand Voss Kveik and ferment at 98F. It is really good. I am going to swap it out next time for the Imperial Kveiking to see what it is like. It is advertised as a blend of three Kveik strains but Imperial will not say which three.
 
I have not gone that high, but I have a NEIPA recipe that I brew regularly with Lallemand Voss Kveik and ferment at 98F. It is really good. I am going to swap it out next time for the Imperial Kveiking to see what it is like. It is advertised as a blend of three Kveik strains but Imperial will not say which three.
I've tried to figure out the strains. But they have that info locked up tighter than a tick
 
Kveik is my house yeast. I use it with everything. Stouts, barley wine, IPA. This yeast ferments so clean at so many temps, I don't see any brews it wouldn't work for, except styles that necessitate yeast character, like a saison.

I used to ferment at 90, but when my temp control system broke I started fermenting at about 65, room temp, with no issues, except taking another day or two.

I love this yeast, and I don't know if I'll ever use anything else ever again. It's easy mode. Move over us-05.

I use M12 from mangrove jack.
 
We've heard a lot about Lutra being relatively clean. Has anyone pushed kviek at the lower end of its temperature range to further suppress esters? What temperature?
I've fermented an IRA (twice now) with Lutra, and kept it at 27°C. I had no yeast flavour in the beer remaining after 5 weeks since pitch, 3 weeks of those in the keg. It still presents with a kveik-like bite on the tongue in young beers fermented with it, but it cleans up really well after a while.

I also got hyped up because of Kveik, but I'll be honest, except for the fermentation temperature, it's overrated. The fact that it eats through the primary fermentation in 36 hours is moot considering it takes 4 weeks to clean up anyway, just like any other yeast. I left my first IRA in primary for 15 days just to get rid of the "yeast flavour", which is actually a day or three longer than I typically do using S04 ale yeast.
 
I've brewed twice now with Lallemand Voss.
First time was a 13% Barleywine with approx 200 IBU (calculated) at 32oC.
It worked great and was done in 6 or 7 days.
Was also very drinkable after 3 months whereas the same beer took about 6 months to become drinkable with US-05.
Also little to no fusel alcohols or bad hangovers compared to the US-05 version, even though I kept the temperature under 18oC for that.
Probably because it was such an intense beer I didn't really notice any yeast flavour from the Voss version.

The second beer was an NEIPA that I wanted to turn around in less than a week so I had something for the holidays.
It was a bit of a patchwork beer to use up malts and hops.
Fermented again at 32oC and was finished in 3 days and is on tap 4 days now and tasting good.
It is a bit more citrusy/tart than fruity but I'm not sure if that's from the hops or the yeast as I have nothing to compare it to.
I guess it's a combination of both.

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The second beer was an NEIPA that I wanted to turn around in less than a week so I had something for the holidays.
It was a bit of a patchwork beer to use up malts and hops.
Fermented again at 32oC and was finished in 3 days and is on tap 4 days now and tasting good.
It is a bit more citrusy/tart than fruity but I'm not sure if that's from the hops or the yeast as I have nothing to compare it to.
I guess it's a combination of both.

I've brewed few beers with Kveik, mostly with Hornindal & Voss. Great yeast, really quick turn around and no fusel alcohols as you mentioned. I have noticed that Kveik lowers PH more than ale yeasts so that might be the reason why you detected citrusy/tart taste? But the hops matter also so it is probably the combination of those two. Because Kveik lowers your PH more I decided to try it for sour beer. I brewed cherry sour couple days ago with Voss and Sour Pitch and it's fermenting as we speak. Going to add the cherries next monday so just have to wait and see how this turns out
 
As far as different temps go , I've done the Lutra at 64* and 68* it took 2 weeks for the "S" loc to go even, they were kegged and put in my lagerator at 33* for a while. It might have been 2-4 weeks before there was room. They were clean and I didn't get any twang. One was my pilsner recipe and the other a dunkel. The pils tasted like a clean blonde but not a lager and the dunkel was a very good brown ale.
I also did an IPA pitched at 86* and went to 90* ,the "S" loc went even in 4 days was kegged in 7 and served at a 4th of July party on day 12. It kicked,and had all positive reviews. The second 5 gal keg was put on tap 3 or so weeks later and I think the flavors were not as muddy and more defined.
My conclusion on these yeasts is they take 4-6 weeks G to G like most ale do, but you don't have to care about temp control as much. They do taste better early then say US05 but are always at their peek after 2-4 weeks lagering at 33*
Another bonus is I don't think I'll have to purchase another pouch of any of the 3 i have because they dry well and the saved over build starters fire right up for a new batch.
My house yeast is 2565 and most think that Lutra is close to a Kolsch ,but I'm not switching my house strain quite yet.
 
I've fermented an IRA (twice now) with Lutra, and kept it at 27°C. I had no yeast flavour in the beer remaining after 5 weeks since pitch, 3 weeks of those in the keg. It still presents with a kveik-like bite on the tongue in young beers fermented with it, but it cleans up really well after a while.

I also got hyped up because of Kveik, but I'll be honest, except for the fermentation temperature, it's overrated. The fact that it eats through the primary fermentation in 36 hours is moot considering it takes 4 weeks to clean up anyway, just like any other yeast. I left my first IRA in primary for 15 days just to get rid of the "yeast flavour", which is actually a day or three longer than I typically do using S04 ale yeast.
That’s part of the beauty of Kveik in they don’t need a diacetyl rest (clean up period). The yeast flavor you're experiencing may be the yeast being slow to drop out. If you’re wanting a clear beer with very little suspended yeast and fast, consider using a little gelatin as a fining agent and cold crashing the beer.
 
My pseudo lager using Krispy has a very strong apple taste. I fermented for 20 days but it's definitely got a lot of Acetaldehyde. Luckily it's a nicer kind of green apple taste, not like rotten apples. So it's quite drinkable, but I know that can sometimes turn into rotten apple.
 
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