Kveik Yeast?

These little beasts do all the hard work. Share how to keep 'em happy and working hard.

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bitter
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Kveik Yeast?

Post by bitter »

Anyone use it for distilling?

Voss looks like gives a nice orange esters when fermented about 35 to 40C and will ferment a beer in 1-2 days.

Anyone try this for neutral.. or to get some orange tones in a whiskey?

I was thinking if the esters came across might be a nice addition to a gin.

B
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fizzix
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Re: Kveik Yeast?

Post by fizzix »

Funny you bring this up as I stumbled upon the subject of Kveik (pronounced "kwike") while looking for a hot weather yeast, not necessarily a fruity one.
Here's a good short article on this 100-year-old "takes a beating" yeast: How to brew beer like a Norwegian farmer.

Highlights:
You can expect a range of fruity esters in addition to orange: pineapple, cognac, apple, floral, and honey.
As you pointed out, it's fast (2 days) and hot (70°to 100°F), highly flocculating, and some strains (as it has a varied genome) will tolerate 12%.
Kveik was developed to be a resilient yeast for hard life farmers who often mixed their yeast collections every 5 years for rejuvenation.

The damn thing has more heritage than my family tree.

Alas, my brew shop does not carry it, so research is as far as I went with it.
I bet it'd rock a gin.
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bitter
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Re: Kveik Yeast?

Post by bitter »

I have some arset kveik. .. need to get Voss
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Re: Kveik Yeast?

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Trample the injured and hurdle the dead.
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Re: Kveik Yeast?

Post by frunobulax »

I haven't distilled with it, but recently made 5 gallons of raspberry mead with HotHead. I fermented it around 80, which is actually on the
low side. it fermented fast, clean and has a sweet aroma, which complimented the mead.
It's supposed to have an alcohol tolerance of 11%, but being I fed it nutrients, I got 13% out of it before it tapped out.
I bet it would be good in just about any distillate ferment. I also saved and washed the yeast after ferment, got about 7ozs. of clean stuff for next project.
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