So I ordered some Omega Kveik yeast the other week and of course Hurricane Dorian decided it was a good idea to shut down our town which meant my package sat at UPS for a week before it could be delivered. With the high temps that Kveik can withstand, do you think there is an issue with just pitching from the pouch this weekend or should I do a starter just to be safe?
I have no experience with Kveik, but I think a starter is always a good idea.
My only experience with Kveik was with a small package of dried yeast at HomebrewCon. I drove home with it in the luggage over several days. Left it on the nightstand after unpacking. Finally made a starter. No problem, it fired up.
I might be tempted to just pitch your package.
My other concern is that I’ll be using this in a barleywine. OG of 1.098. I have some brewer friends that tell me it will chew right through it and no starter needed. Now that it has been “exposed” for so long I am not so sure.
My sample was in my wallet in my back pocket for a couple of weeks and I used it without a starter.
Lance has great yeast at Omega, but with a barley wine, I would consider a vitality starter, anyway, if not a small batch to propagate and then Cheers!
I think you would be fine just pitching it directly but no harm would come from making a starter.
Kveik is commonly dried and several of the strains perform well at warm temperatures. Letting it sit a week at room temperature is not a rough condition for that yeast.
I went ahead and did a direct pitch at 84*, no starter, on Sunday. Took almost 24 hours to get going. Way longer than other times I’ve used Kveik. Bumped it up to 89* last night and seemed to be a little more vigorous this morning. Might check gravity this evening just to get an idea of what’s going on.
I didn’t had much experience with kveik and going with a starter is a good idea.