{"id":22570,"date":"2019-07-22T08:00:06","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T15:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=22570"},"modified":"2019-07-11T13:15:45","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T20:15:45","slug":"keeping-up-with-kveik","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2019\/07\/22\/keeping-up-with-kveik\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping up with kveik"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is a concept in the business world of the \u201cdisruptive technology.\u201d This can either refer to innovations that upend the way entire industries function, or robots that are programmed to issue blood-curdling screams at random intervals. It\u2019s more commonly the former. Such technologies are understandably rare, but when they appear, early adoption can mean the difference between existence and extinction.
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The beer industry is long overdue for such a disruption. Similarly, as a modern \u201cjournalist,\u201d I am likewise overdue to misidentify and needlessly hype one. So when tales of a new and exotic Scandinavian yeast with mystical properties recently came to my attention, I knew what I needed to do.
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The first thing I learned about \u201ckveik\u201d (which means \u201cyeast\u201d in one Norwegian dialect) was that it is neither new or exotic, so admittedly this expos\u00e9 is off to a pretty rocky start. There\u2019s been a surge of attention on kveik among beer academics and the homebrewing community of late, but this blend of related yeasts has been a mainstay of Norwegian farmhouse brewing for generations. Studies have identified kveik \u201cyeast logs\u201d (a dried lump of previously pitched yeast) dating back to 1621, indicating their use must predate even that timestamp. Furthermore, kveik has been genetically confirmed as only containing Saccharomyces cerevisiae<\/em> yeast strains, which is the same taxonomic designation as most common brewer’s yeasts. 
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Two beers featuring kveik were recently on the taps at Modern Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kveik may not represent some bizarre cryptozoological discovery, but it turns out the moniker of \u201cmystical\u201d still applies. Despite its ubiquity in the Norwegian brewing tradition, kveik\u2019s unique capabilities are only now coming into broader recognition.
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To appreciate kveik\u2019s mutant powers, we must first understand how its peers operate. Think of most ale yeasts as an entitled multi-platinum rock band. They will show up and play all the hits to the delight of their fans, so long as all the terms in their contract rider are met. Should a deviation in something like peak fermentation temperature occur, the allegorical equivalent of failing to remove brown M&Ms from the backstage candy bowl, tantrums will ensue. This usually takes the shape of unpleasant solvent-y notes and unexpected fruity flavors that fundamentally alter the brew. Comparatively, kveik is a hungry up-and-coming band, eager to please its burgeoning fanbase at any cost. No matter what you throw at it, it just works harder.
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To detail the benefits of kveik without further leveraging rockumentary tropes, I spoke with Joe Kurowski, technical brewing manager for White Labs San Diego. Over the last few months Kurowski has been working with different isolated kveik strains to build a more complete understanding of its behavior. He has witnessed how exposure to elevated fermentation temperatures that would make most brewer\u2019s yeasts squeal allow kveik yeasts to fully attenuate (read: convert all fermentable sugars to alcohol) days quicker than other S. cerevisiae<\/em> strains, without introducing any off flavors. \u201cIt very much acts like California Ale Yeast, just much faster,\u201d he shared.
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This time delta is not necessarily a game-changer, since the duration required on the back end to dry hop and condition the beer hasn\u2019t been brought in, but it\u2019s not insignificant either. In a consumer ecosystem that is constantly demanding the newest of the new, a theoretical 15 percent bump in fermentation capacity turnover certainly couldn\u2019t hurt. Further, if wort doesn\u2019t necessitate chilling below 90\u2109 before pitching yeast, there\u2019s some potential energy savings to consider as well.
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There are other dimensions of kveik that make it an alluring option. A particularly striking one is its low production of diacetyl, a fermentation by-product recognized by its \u201cmovie popcorn\u201d aroma and flavor. Most yeasts will break it down given a sufficient rest time, but that isn\u2019t a requirement with kveik. \u201cThe flavor threshold for diacetyl is somewhere between 80 and 100 [parts per million], so if we\u2019re down at 30 at peak, you basically never need to worry about it,\u201d Kurowski noted.
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Even if those characteristics of kveik yeasts don\u2019t turn the industry on its ear, there\u2019s simply no denying they are pure beastmode in the brewhouse. Kveik yeasts generally show great tolerance of high alcohol levels, and rather than needing to be stored in liquid form like most pitches, kveik can be skimmed off the foam of a fermenting beer, dried, and stored in bricks for later use. There are multiple anecdotal reports that IPAs brewed with kveik strains maintain freshness months after typically fermented ones start to fall off. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever<\/em>, until you are dead.
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(Okay, that last bit was actually a quote from The Terminator<\/em>, but it\u2019s weirdly apt here, right?)
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It should be noted that kveik\u2019s association with \u201cfarmhouse\u201d brewing is strictly colloquial. Kveik doesn\u2019t generate the peppery\/spicy phenolic compounds associated with farmhouse saison styles. It does contribute some slightly fruity and tropical ester compounds, but their intensity nests quite comfortably into the standards of many modern IPA and British styles. More importantly, kveik is fully domesticated, so there\u2019s none of the potential for contamination that accompanies a wild yeast.
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Today, the most reliable way to experience what different kveik strains conjure are the \u201cKveik IPA\u201d variants in White Labs\u2019 tasting room. However, newly kveik-woke consumers like yourself will no doubt start to notice more options about town as brewers experiment with them. Mikkeller San Diego has already brewed three different kveik beers (two IPAs and one strong ale) and Modern Times Beer included it in two different recent hazy IPA collaborations.
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Kveik yeasts may not pan out to be the disruptive influence on brewing I was banking on, but if Modern Times Beer Commissioner of Flavor (a.k.a. brewer) Andrew Schwartz\u2019s experience is echoed elsewhere, we can expect to see kveik making more of a splash soon. \u201cIt’s a super unique yeast with many possibilities still yet to be explored,\u201d he said. 
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There is a concept in the business world of the \u201cdisruptive technology.\u201d This can either refer to innovations that upend the way entire industries function, or robots that are programmed to issue blood-curdling screams at random intervals. It\u2019s more commonly the former. Such technologies are understandably rare, but when they appear, early adoption can mean […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":22569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22570","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/20190708_185327.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1","wps_subtitle":"The greatest brewing secret no one was hiding","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-5S2","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}