My setup
The gear behind every batch. Nothing exotic, just chosen to make brew days repeatable and fermentation easy in tropical heat.
Brewing system
KegLand BrewZilla 35L Gen 4
An all-in-one electric system that mashes and boils in one vessel and has a built-in pump. The Gen 4 connects to RAPT, so I programmed my brew day once as a profile in the RAPT portal: mash, boil and hop stand. Now I reuse it every time.
For hop-forward ales I use a single-infusion mash and adjust the temperature for the body I want: around 64°C for dry and crisp, up to 69°C for a fuller body.
Fermentation
- Fermenter: Kegland FermZilla Tri-Conical 27L
- Temperature control: none needed, because Kveik handles tropical ambient temperatures.
- RAPT Pill: a floating hydrometer that sends gravity and temperature readings in real time. I know when fermentation is done without opening anything, and the graphs go into my brew day posts.
Dry hopping
I hang the dry hop bag inside the fermenter with sous vide clip magnets, so I never have to open the lid. That means less oxygen exposure and less mess.
Yeast
All three are Kveik strains, so they handle tropical heat without any temperature control. What changes is the flavour, from clean to very fruity.
| Yeast | Temp range | Attenuation | Flocculation | Max ABV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lutra | 20–35°C | 75–82% | Medium-high | 15% |
| Voss | 25–40°C | 76–82% | Very high | 12% |
| Hornindal | 28–37°C | 73–80% | High | 14% |
Figures from each manufacturer's spec sheet.
Omega Lutra Kveik (OYL‑071): clean and neutral
Lutra has an unusual backstory. Omega found it hiding inside their Hornindal kveik culture after a customer brewed a surprisingly clean pilsner with the blend. It ferments far cleaner than you'd expect from a warm ferment, so the malt and hops do the talking. At the cool end of its range, around 20 to 22°C, it's a favourite for pseudo-lagers, and in tropical heat it stays clean and gets very fast.
It's my go-to for most beers, including my Black IPA and Kveik Oatmeal Stout.
Lallemand LalBrew Voss: orange and citrus
This strain comes from Sigmund Gjernes's farmhouse culture in Voss, Norway, which he has kept going with traditional methods since the 1980s. Voss loves heat. Its sweet spot is 35 to 40°C, where it can finish in about two days, and even at 30°C it's done in three to four. The orange and citrus character stays steady across that whole range, and it drops out very clear.
It's a dry yeast, so it's easy to keep on hand. I'm working on banking my own so I don't need a fresh pack every batch.
WHC Lab Hornindal: pineapple, stone fruit and tropical fruit
It's a dried kveik isolate from the Hornindal region of Norway, and the fruitiest of the three. Expect pineapple, mango, tangerine and stone fruit, with the fruit getting stronger the warmer you ferment. WHC recommends pitching into wort above 28°C, up to 37°C, which is easy when the room is already warm.
It suits pale ales and hazy IPAs with fruit-forward hops, and WHC also suggests it for stouts. Like most kveik it's a hungry yeast, so WHC recommends a double dose of yeast nutrient.
I overbuild my starters to keep these going between batches, and log every generation in my yeast bank.
Batch size
Most recipes here are about 19 litre batches, all metric.
Packaging
Kegging