Omega Hornindal Kviek

[Kealia]

These Kviek strains have been getting a lot of attention lately and I had the opportunity to try one out for myself, so I did.

What people are reporting on this strain are:
- Super-fast fermentations (48-72 hours)
- No fusels
- Super clean at low range and fruity at high range
- No clean-up time needed, tasting great when it is done

I was attracted to this because my fermentation chamber only has room for my SS BrewBucket so I can only ferment and control temps on one 5G batch at a time....until now. With the Mash & Boil I can set a low-end temp to hold so as long as the high-end doesn't get out of control I can now ferment 2 batches at once. Mind you, I don't NEED this type of throughput, but I certainly needed to try it!

So I brewed an IPA on Saturday using some Mandarina Bavaria and Motueka that I had on hand to play with and pitched some Hornindal Kviek yeast at about 80 degrees. The yeast's range is listed as 72-95 so I figured 80 would give me room on the high-end for any heat generated during fermentation. WIthin 24 hours it was going crazy-strong (turn up sound if you can):


Today (just shy of 48 hours as of this posting), I'm seeing 1 bubble roughly every 5 seconds so I'm guessing that it's likely to be done tomorrow. I won't be home tomorrow - returning late Wednesday - so I'll check in then to see where it is done. The temp only ever got about 5 degrees warmer than I set the M&B for, so I have a baseline for next time - knowing it can be set higher.

What I can smell coming out of the airlock smells like somebody is cutting fresh pineapples. If any of that carries through I'll be ecstatic. Hell, even if it doesn't and just ferments clean I'll be happy to have another fermentation option when/if needed.

I'll report back more results.

[Beer-lord]

It's all I hear about 2 and I want to play with this yeast as soon as I deplete the yeasts I already have. But, to my way of thinking, it's no use using this at cooler temps for a clean beer. Its talked about because of what it gives in the higher ranges and that's what makes it so special.
I'm looking forward to your thoughts on this one. Seems it's a real crowd pleaser.

[mashani]

Nobody who uses that stuff where it came from would intentionally try to use it as a "clean" yeast. Hornindal is in the "raw beer tradition" part of Norway. So, they would more often likely making raw (unboiled) beers IE similar to the ones I mashed at 150 and never boiled, made with mostly pilsner malt, and enough hops to keep lacto from being happy and getting all of their flavors in their beer from the yeast and juniper, either an infusion of it, or the mash strained through fronds. The citrus from the yeast and juniper together are great.

They would start drinking that stuff right out of the fermenter with whatever residual carb was in it.

[Kealia]

The smell certainly makes me want to take a swig!

[Kealia]

Back home today (Day 5) so I checked the gravity - 1.014.
And after dumping the first trub sample from the spigot I can see the beer is already starting to drop clear.

So I don't know how quickly it finished since I couldn't check it on Tuesday, but as of now it appears to be done @ 75% attenuation. Time to dry hop. We'll see if it drops anymore but I'm going to let the temp drop to room temp before dry hopping.

EDIT TO ADD: I adjusted the sample temp for temperature since I forgot this was still sitting at 90.

[Beer-lord]

I should have tried this yeast during my Year of the Yeast.
It's gonna happen soon(ish) but I really want to hear what you think. Imperial's a yeast called Loki that I'm almost positive is the same. 65-105 temps! Might have to order some before it's gone so hurry up and keg this puppy so I can find out your thoughts.

[Kealia]

I'll be happy to report back but I did the non-scientific thing here and am using this on a new recipe with Motueka which I've never used before.
So I may only be able to report back on performance (no fusels, clarity, speed) and not flavor - but we'll see.

[mashani]

@BeerLord, FWIW, and maybe it's just me, but every pack of Imperial yeast I've gotten that was over 1 month old has been garbage, where Omega and GigaYeast have been great even 3-4 months old.

[Beer-lord]

I've used their yeast after it sat in my fridge for a few months and near expiration with no problems. There's so many cells, nothing seems to kill it. At least that's been my experience. Fast starting and fast eating too!

[mashani]

I've used their yeast after it sat in my fridge for a few months and near expiration with no problems. There's so many cells, nothing seems to kill it. At least that's been my experience. Fast starting and fast eating too!

That's my experience with the other 2 brands, but not Imperial. I guess I just got unlucky.

[The_Professor]

That's my experience with the other 2 brands, but not Imperial. I guess I just got unlucky.

Perhaps the oration you gave as you pitched the yeast want not motivational enough.

[mashani]

That's my experience with the other 2 brands, but not Imperial. I guess I just got unlucky.

Perhaps the oration you gave as you pitched the yeast want not motivational enough.

That's funny... I did actually do an oration for one beer, but it was with Omega yeast.

I have never used Imperials Kviek, so no need to do an oration. My bad experiences with Imperial were with Belgian strains.

[Kealia]

Since this yeast worked so quickly I'm betting the same holds true for carbonating. After kegging I had some beer left over so I filled 4 swing tops and put them in my chest freezer at 90 to see if they will carb up in 48 hours. I'm going to test one on Friday to see. And since they are swing tops, I can quickly check for a "pop" when I open it and close it back up if it doesn't.

[Kealia]

I checked the trub bottle on Sunday after 48 hours at ~90 and 24 hours in the fridge. It popped!

The beer is fully carbed and ready to drink, although this was a HEAVY trub bottle so it was churning hop debris and trub so it was undrinkable. I did toss the other 3 bottles into the fridge, though.

I have yet to taste the final beer as I don't have room in the kegerator at the moment but I plan to try one of the bottles in the next few days.

So again, if no flavor impact I'm loving this yeast for the temperature range and speed.

[mashani]

Your going to get flavor impact, but it won't be phenolic. Just citrus/tropical like.