First Kveik Mead

[Redeemer]

Tonight I pitched my first kveik mead using Voss from Omega. I didn't use a starter, and pitched it into 2 gallons of Ozarka spring water and 5 lbs of local raw wildflower honey. I am doing this mainly as a massive starter to harvest and re-use more of the yeast when the temps come back up and well, I got my hands on the yeast yesterday and simply couldn't resist.

SG came in at 1.080 so I am thinking around 10-11% if it goes all the way. I heated the spring water to make the honey blend easier; something I've never done but wanted to try. This batch of honey is dark; VERY dark, and I know this is silly but, smells like bees. That aside I added 1 teaspoon Fermaid-K and 1 teaspoon Fermaid-O to the must.

I wasn't even going to post this except for the fact that I smell a ton of H2S from the yeast pack of all things. Seriously I cut it open and it smelled just like the must from a previous ferment I posted on a couple days ago. I've never used this yeast and don't know what it's supposed to smell like but this stuff smells like rank farts. Whatever. I pitched it anyways and we will see what tomorrow brings.

I have a pack of hothead in the fridge if this goes south.

 

[RPh_Guy]

It should smell like fresh orange juice and orange marmalade.

Anecdotally:
This yeast is quick to produce H2S because it has a very high nitrogen demand. Temp under 80°F seems to also stress it.

You may need a total of 13g yeast nutrient or more.

 

[Miraculix]

And just to add, it looks like fermaid o produces the better tasting results so I would go with this only, no fermaid k. And please use a proper scale with 0.1g steps. They are cheap and measuring in teaspoons just doesn't do the job properly.

 

[Redeemer]

And just to add, it looks like fermaid o produces the better tasting results so I would go with this only, no fermaid k. And please use a proper scale with 0.1g steps. They are cheap and measuring in teaspoons just doesn't do the job properly.

I've got a digital kitchen scale that I usually use, but laziness got the best of me. I am going to check the SG and will measure in grams for the next addition, as soon as I get the turnips and stuffing to a point lol.

Oh and @RPh_Guy it didn't smell anything like oranges to me, it was the worst smelling yeast I've ever encountered. The smell fortunately seems to have disipated, and the wort smells decent now, pretty much like plain honey.

 

[Redeemer]

I checked the gravity at noon. It was down to 1.070. Thats progress considering only 12 hours since pitching, but its only 70 degrees in my office. Time to turn up the heat.

 

[Redeemer]

It should smell like fresh orange juice and orange marmalade.

Anecdotally:
This yeast is quick to produce H2S because it has a very high nitrogen demand. Temp under 80°F seems to also stress it.

You may need a total of 13g yeast nutrient or more.

So I racked it into two (1) gallon glass containers today, with about 3/4 of a quart jar full for sampling and such. The gravity hasn't dropped in 48 hours, holding steady at 1.020 but I suspect that could be due to a drop in temp and leaving my office windows open so I got into the high 50's. Normally I let a batch go to completion in the primary, or up to a month for meads but I didn't want the yeast exposed to that high of an ABV because this was a batch to test the yeast and harvest.

Mission accomplished on the harvest. I got a half quart, topped it up with spring water and put it in the fridge for later use. Tasting notes blew me away. It was a little sweet obviously but had hints of citrus. More impressive was the utter lack of fusel or phenolic flavors. I didn't even taste yeast. Just a nice clean drink with a good mouth feel, and while I could tell alcohol was present, no burn whatsoever.

I also added spring water to the remainder of the wuart jar to dilute it and see if the yeast have hit their tolerance on ABV. This is covered with plastic wrap, sitting on my desk and will serve as my canary.

I'm open to suggestions for how to treat the other 2 gallons. My first thought is to just let it sit for a month or two and then test SG, and sample.

 

[CKuhns]

I would go with your first thought. You can always experiment a bit later.

 

[Redeemer]

I would go with your first thought. You can always experiment a bit later.

Good call. I took a look at my 2 gallons. They are sharing a brown paper bag on the dining room table with ambient temps around 72 degrees. They are both bubbling away happily.

Interestingly enough, the sample in the jar that I left in my office dropped crystal clear over night. It got cold last night and i DID dilute it with some spring water but still, for how young it is, I am impressed.

 

[hezagenius]

@Redeemer

What sort of attenuation did you ultimately see with Voss for your mead? And how long do you think it took to get there? I have some Hornindal in my fridge and was planning on tossing it because it's about 3 months old but I also need a quick turnaround yeast since I want to serve some mead in about 3.5 weeks.

 

[Redeemer]

@Redeemer

What sort of attenuation did you ultimately see with Voss for your mead? And how long do you think it took to get there? I have some Hornindal in my fridge and was planning on tossing it because it's about 3 months old but I also need a quick turnaround yeast since I want to serve some mead in about 3.5 weeks.

I wouldn't throw away the Hornindal if it is only 3 months old. Even if you have to buy a gallon of apple juice, dump some and pitch the yeast, give it a job to do and it will be happy. Don't let it go to waste.

Attenuation in the first couple of batches was definitely over 95% as the stuff fermented very dry. I had to prime to get it to carbonate, and have been drinking the results. Dry and tasty. The third batch, attenuation seemed less. I would say around 80%. That has since been refrigerated and has a fair bit of residual sweetness.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Attenuation shouldn’t be a thing in mead/wine, all the sugars are fermentable vs the complex sugars in grains used for beer making. Only reason it wouldn’t go dry is if it got stuck or when it’s at alcohol tolerance for the yeast.

 

[hezagenius]

I wouldn't throw away the Hornindal if it is only 3 months old. Even if you have to buy a gallon of apple juice, dump some and pitch the yeast, give it a job to do and it will be happy. Don't let it go to waste.

Attenuation in the first couple of batches was definitely over 95% as the stuff fermented very dry. I had to prime to get it to carbonate, and have been drinking the results. Dry and tasty. The third batch, attenuation seemed less. I would say around 80%. That has since been refrigerated and has a fair bit of residual sweetness.

How long do you think it took to hit final gravity? I pitched my yeast Friday night and it's chugging away around 93F. I figure I'll check it in a week to see how much progress has been made.

 

[hezagenius]

I checked my gravity after 2 weeks and it was only 1.048 (SG was ~1.116). I added some nutrient to see if it picked up but after another 2 weeks, it was still 1.048 despite continuing to bubble pretty actively for a week. So I ended up a little shy of 9% with a nice mouthfeel. No perceptible alcohol flavor other than sometimes at the end of a gulp. The good news is there ie no need to backsweeten!

I bought a pack of Hornindal and a pack of Voss so I'll try another batch with a more structured nutrient regiment.

 

[Redeemer]

Attenuation shouldn’t be a thing in mead/wine, all the sugars are fermentable vs the complex sugars in grains used for beer making. Only reason it wouldn’t go dry is if it got stuck or when it’s at alcohol tolerance for the yeast.

You are correct sir; I mis-spoke. I think in my case it was a situation of being somewhat abusive to the yeast, not fermenting at optimal temperatures and possibly pushing it past tolerance. Or I simply didn't wait long enough. Most of the posts regarding how fast this works are based on beer, which is going to usually go quicker anyways, and higher temps.

I was tempted to think that maybe this yeast (Hornindal anyways) can't be pushed to what the package specifies, but some batches have exceeded my expectations, all made from the same slurry. I continue to be amazed and impressed with just what it can do under the right conditions though.