Three Birds with One Stone

With all of the new strains we are getting in, it’s getting hard keeping up with the test batches. So this time around, we are going to brew three different beers from one 1/2 bbl batch of wort. This way we stock up on beer for the summer while learning about three different strains. So one 15 gallon batch of wort will be divided into three carboys to make three 5-gallon batches. For this test, we have decided to use Lærdal Kveik, Espe Kveik and New World Saison Blend. Two rather distinct Kveiks and a Brett Saison.

Grist

Keeping this pretty simple. The base is Avangard Pilsner malt with Spelt and Torrified Wheat for body. Why Torrified Wheat you ask? Because I have a 55 lb sack of it and I have noticed very little difference between using that and regular white wheat malt. OG was targeted for 1.055 for an ABV of ~ 5.4%. Mashed was held at 154F for an hour.

Hops

For this beer(s), we wanted to let the yeast shine so hopping was minimal. Perle was used as a first wort hop as well as a 60 minute addition. Perle is similar to Hallertau Mittlefruh and will impart a gentle bittering. The only other hops used were a whirlpool addition of Opal that will impart hints of spice and subtle citrus. Total IBUs were targeted at about 20.

Yeast

Now on to the good stuff. As mentioned above, for this test we used Espe Kveik Blend, Lærdal Kveik and New World Saison Blend. Espe isolated from the village of isolated of Grodås, Norway is this month’s release of the Kveik Ring series. It should produce bright tropical fruit flavors along with a warming cognac/rum character.

Lærdal is a single-strain isolate from the Lærdal Kveik (sourced from Dagfinn Wendelbo). It adds pineapple/tropical and orchard fruit characteristics to a beer. Though not taking advantage of it in this beer, Lærdal also has the ability to perform hop biotransformation, making it an interesting choice for an APA, IPA or NEIPA. Both the Espe and Lærdal beers were fermented between 85F and 90F.

For the third beer, we used New World Saison Blend. This will produce a nice funk-forward Saison with notes of plum and citrus. It was fermented between 75F and 80F and will be bottled and aged for a few months to develop.

The Espe and Lærdal  beers should be kegged up in a few days so stay tuned for tasting notes.