kveik impressions

I been experimenting with kveik, so far i tried hornidal and voss. its very impressive how fast it starts and how ferocious it ferments, but idk about you but my final beers so far have been so so. To me the beers are “almost” clean and give off a subtle leather note and a strange mouthfeel. the beer is not bad  just strange, it was fun but probably not gonna use kveik again, does anyone have experience with kveik? what is your take away and how was the beer?

I didn’t like the flavors I got from the 80-95 temp range I experimented with. I used Voss and Oslo. After watching a webinar on Kveik from a Canadian yeast company, I lowered temps to 75 and the flavors I perceived went away. Clean, clear and still fast fermenting.  Also Kveik needs to start with a higher pH than normal yeast. 5.6-5.8. They stated that kveik yeast drop the final pH lower than normal ale/lager yeast. That’s why some people will get a “tang” flavor

I have not tried beers made with all kveik strains, but I have yest to find one I reall y care for or that comes anywhere near what I think of as clean. Given that I don’t care about fermentation wwped and that it’s as much trouble for me to keep the temp up for it as it is to keep temp down for other strains, it just doesn’t seem to have much to offer me.

yeah i fermented in the 90’s, maybe before i hang up the kveik i should try at a lower temp like you said. another thing i noticed that i forgot to mention was how the hops expressed themselves, i got alot of catty/armpit and its a hop combo i used alot ,cascade,amarillo and simcoe and it usually gives me piney,citrus/tangerine not arm pit lol

i hear ya Denny. Im gonna try one more round at cooler temps and see what happens, so far it doesn’t seem to have much to offer me either

if you wanted to watch the webinar…  (1:13:00 timestamp for the lower temps)
Escarpment Labs - Demystifying Kveik Yeast - Richard Preiss - Escarpment Labs - Crowdcast

Ive played with kveik alot and I think it can make a nice beer, but it has some pretty big pitfalls.
I am very diligent about oxidiation for my hoppy beers, I dry hop with a few gravity points left or use a small amount of sugar with my dry hop charge to scrub o2, close transfer with co2 and typically spund or prime in me serving keg with sugar I inject into the gas port. Basically take as much precaution against oxidizing my beer as I can, and my hoppy kveik beers do not have a good shelf life. I cant help but think dry hopping at those high temperatures accelerates stalling. Scot Janish is a big proponent of low temp dry hopping in his new book, and I think my experience with dry hopping at high temps is making me one as well.
I also get some weird flavors from hops I dont normally get when I dry hop my kveik beers that isnt there from kveik beers that I dont dry hop.

Kveik also is a family of yeast, and Ive fermented some that are over the top orange estery, and some that are fairly clean.

FWIW I’ve started dry hopping for 48 hours at 35F and it’s working better than anything else I’ve tried.

I like Kveik.

Im trying to figure out a way to do this with my setup while minding oxygen. I may try to hang the bag of hops in my serving keg and use fermentation CO2 to flush the keg for the duration of fermentation then rack the beer into the keg. That way I get to keg hop without opening the keg port and can immedisdately put the keg in my keezer to cold crash and carb

That may work, but it’s the wrong order based on what I’ve read. You need to gget th e beer cold first, so you onky have 48 hours of contact.  After that not onkky do you get increased polyphenols, but it also appears the hops start to reabsorb the oils they’ve released.

I recall reading that in Scotts book. Well dang, back to the drawing board

I’ve kegged with a closed transfer and cooled. A second keg had hops added in a bag. CO2 was trickled through the out tube for 5 minutes or so (black ball lock on CO2 Line).  Cold Beer was transfered into that keg. After 3 days I moved that beer into a purged keg, then into the serving fridge.

how fast does hops drop off in flavor/aroma if you expose the beer to a little o2 during say opening keg and adding dry hops? i am still tryng to tweak my methods and of coarse minimize o2 but in my case kegs last a few days around here probably not a real concern for my situation

Ya know what?  I do what I can and don’t worry about the rest.  Sure, I want to make the best beer I can, but within the constraints of it being a hobby I want to enjoy.  If you’re stressing over something, you’re doing it wrong.  For me, enjoyment of the process is primary.  Beer itself takes a back seat to that.

dude i totally agree, i been trying to live by that and i am, still shaking off the bs i built up in my head and for the most part i am doing ok…getting there

you’re probably ok then. I noticed hop flavor degredation after 3 or 4 weeks with my hoppy beers I made with Kveik.

This is why I wanted to go to HomebrewCon and taste all these beers. I’ve been hearing funny things and others rave. I don’t care about turning a beer around in two days. I want to know is it actually going to make a product I want to drink.

cool thank you for the input, beers hardly ever last that long round here so thats good for me. cheers

i hear ya, i have very limited experience with kveik but i’d rather take a beer that took 2 weeks that is awesome vs a beer that took 2 days and is so so, but i do recommend everyone try kveik just for the sheer nuttiness of it, the stuff RIPS through wort and if you dont blink its pretty cool to see, my airlock was like a machine gun