Kveik, The Hottest New Centuries Old Beer Yeast You've Never Heard Of

Kveik Fest 2019



We like Kveik.

Burnt City Brewing is proud to announce the First Annual Kveik Fest with special guest Lars Marius Garshol!

Kveik is a Norwegian farmhouse ale yeast has only recently become readily available to American brewers, and a lot of us are having tons of fun experimenting with it. Kveik Fest is an invitational celebration of kveik, featuring local breweries and a number of breweries that don’t show up often in Chicago. This great lineup of breweries will come together on September 7th to bring you one of the most unique beer fests Chicago has ever seen!

At Kveik Fest you can expect your taste buds to experience an extravaganza of different flavors and styles all made with kveik yeast. Don’t make the mistake of assuming this means all the beers will be the same. Kveik is an incredibly versatile yeast, lending itself to many different styles and flavor profiles. We’re excited to see what these great breweries concoct for this one-of-a-kind event!

We are ecstatic and very honored to announce that Lars Marius Garshol of Larsblog (http://www.garshol.priv.no/blog/), a leading expert on kveik and farmhouse brewing techniques, will be traveling from Norway to talk with Kveik Fest attendees. Come prepared with questions of the funkiest kind to engage with Lars while sipping on kveik beer samples. To keep the fun going we’ll be bringing you some funky entertainment, games, and amusements of all sorts!

Kveik Fest is being organized with incredible support from our friends at Omega Yeast. We thank them for making this event possible and for introducing us to kveik.

 

I meant to ask, can you let this go longer for two or three days to ferment?

And do you need a yeast starter with Kviek?

 

Dry Dock's new hazy IPA uses Kviek: https://www.brewbound.com/news/dry-dock-brewing-releases-hazy-ipa
I believe their milkshake variants do as well.

 

There's no issue with leaving beer in primary after it reaches FG (up to a month or so). I'm just saying kveik tends to finish very fast, in 2-3 days in most people's experience.

You definitely don't need a starter with kveik; the typical advice for pitching is 1g of dry yeast or 1tsp of slurry. But making one (and essentially drastically overpitching) might help suppress the fruity flavors some strains produce and give you a more neutral/lager-like result. (This varies by strain, though, as I understand it.)

 

That helps substantially. I am going to be making a hemp ale, I need to limit the fruit and make the hop/hemp profile come alive. When I get around to my NEIPA and use the kviek, then I will be dialing it back to get the fruit aromas and flavors.

 

I should add that the pitching advice I mentioned there is specific to the recommending pitching temp, which is usually around 90F. If you ferment cooler, you probably do need a bit more yeast to start with.

 

I definitely plan on pitching it when it cools down.

 

Last August I talked with two Norwegians in Bamberg, and we soon figured out we all homebrewed. The one guy said he has a mixed culture, and it is done in 24 hours at 100F.

That what I remember. Don't know anything else about pitch rate or fermentation temps, so don't ask.

 

If anybody listens to podcasts Brulosopy did one with Kveik yeast. It’s a good listen.

 

Another article.

https://beerandbrewing.com/kveik-the-ancient-and-modern-way-to-brew/

 

Here is a blog about recommend pitch temps. For Voss, it says to pitch at 39 C, which is 102.2F.

http://www.garshol.priv.no/download/farmhouse/kveik.html

 

I get that, but it will help create a smoother and cleaner finish when the complimentary flavors of the hops shining through with the hemp.

It seems like the temperature variables are there but the yeast does well in any kind of fluctation, which is exactly what I am looking for since I like to brew in an old European/farmhouse style tradition.

http://www.garshol.priv.no/blog/393.html

 

Long Beach Beer Lab has made a few Kveik-fermented beers.