I'm having some dried stuff sent from Norway. Really nice guy over there is sending me some. I plan to harvest and dry it after to keep the tradition alive.
First, I'm going to harvest some in a jar in case I screw up the drying process. As far as drying goes, I'm going to split the remaining yeasties into 4 experiments. 1: Make a kveikstokk (piece of wood with holes drilled in it), boil it to sanitize, and slather some yeasties on there. Hang to air dry. Knock off flakes and toss em in some wort a few hours before the next batch. 2: Spread yeast on a piece of freshly ironed linen, squeeze the beer out, let air dry. Store in a centrifuge tube. 3: Spread the yeast on a sheet of baking parchment that's been sprayed with starsan and toss it in the oven at 30-35C. Store in a centrifuge tube. 4: Mix the yeast with baking flour into a dough-like substance, let air dry, and store in tupperware that's been sanitized. I found all these methods, along with instructions for the traditional ring that I don't have the tools to build, on a couple different blogs.
My buddy/neighbour/ brewmaster, who owns one local brew pub is going to get some of this yeast for, I'm excited to try it out!
Do you know what kind of kveik he's getting yet? This site has a pretty cool breakdown of different "strains" and recommended pitching temps. Some have tasting notes. http://www.garshol.priv.no/download/farmhouse/kveik.html
No I have no idea, we were sitting around the fire on New Year's Eve tossing a few back and I mentioned this type of yeast and he said he could get some for me if I wanted. I'm heading down to his brewery today or tomorrow to pick up a few small amounts of rain that I don't have and will chat a bit more about it then.
Omegas hot head is great for summer brewing and it likes it hot- like I set in on my deck in the summer sun to re-invigorate the buggers. It does not floc well but otherwise a great summer time yeast that you dont have to look after.Booze travler show had a segment on the kviek yeast just the other night!