Kveik - General Information
About Kveik
Kveik is a family of domesticated yeast originating from Norway, similar in properties to English ale yeast but with enhanced fermentation rate and stress tolerance. Genetically, they are derived from a hybrid of "beer 1" (the parental group of most ale yeasts) and a wild/unknown parent (see our scientific paper).
Our Kveik Products
We offer the following kveik strains/blends as well as the rotating Kveik Ring offerings.
- Voss Kveik - citrusy, can ferment up to 42ºC, flocculent.
- Hornindal Kveik - blend of two strains, fruity (red fruit and tropical), ferment 28-35ºC ideally, flocculent strains selected.
- Arset Kveik - similar to Hornindal, but a blend of 4 strains. Works really well in kettle sours.
- Ebbegarden Kveik - blend of two strains, tropical-fruity. Highly suited to NEIPAs.
- KRISPY - selected strains from Skare Kveik for producing super-clean, lager-like beers quickly.
- Laerdal - strong pineapple aromatics and lower attenuation.
Kveik handling
Kveik can be underpitched if desired. We can offer half-pitch rates or quarter-pitch rates if brewers desire. This can enhance the flavours, but also can lead to a slower or incomplete ferment.
Kveik yeasts have high nutrient requirements. They perform best in higher gravity (and higher nutrient) worts. Supplementing wort with nutrients is advised for worts below 1.060.
High temps are not necessary. All of these strains will ferment out at 22ºC or even as low as 12ºC for some strains. However, Kveik tends to be fastest between 30-40ºC.
Note that when pitching above 25ºC, we recommend using additional oxygenation as oxygen is less soluble at higher temperatures, so you will need a higher oxygen flow rate to achieve the same amount of dissolved oxygen.
Do Escarpment kveik pitches contain bacteria?
All of our kveik cultures are sourced from their origin as directly as possible. Our kveik cultures are selected from the original farm cultures and are sold as blends of pure yeast isolates. Our kveik cultures do not contain bacteria, but some original farm cultures do.