Yeast for a Bier de Garde

[Geistbier]

Cali Lager is listed in Farmhouse Brews as an option for the yeast, what I decided on was the Belgian Schelda strain from Wyeast, so that any esters had more a Belgian character, but I'll be fermenting cool so they shouldn't be prominent.

[brewinhard]

I'll be doing that biere de garde with WY oktoberfest lager blend this tuesday. Excited to see how it will ferment at warmer temps (58-low 60's). Hoping for a malt accented, clean version of the style (with maybe just a hint of fruitiness and hops). Gonna make a big daddy (8% or so) and lager for a while.

[grod]

Rat Pad Rat Pad Rat Pad, glad I got that out of the way.

Geist,

How did you go with this, I'm going to brew in the morning using JZ's BCS page 211 recipe (well as close as I can get).

5.2kg Pilsner malt (Weyermann, I wanted Dingemans but the brew shop had none in stock)
1.3 munich malt(Weyermann)
fuggles to 28 IBU
2nd gen of 1338 (trub pitch)
for 23 litres (bazillian gallons)

love

g

[raven19]

I have a BdG just bottled and initial sampling was around the mark in line with BJCP guidelines (not that the guidelines are the be all and end all).

I used a 2nd generation of Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong and push it to 23 degrees celcius to get some estery goodness from the yeast.

[thatguy314]

Phil Markowski writes about using a warm-fermented lager yeast, which is what he uses, and has had some very good results with it. In fact, it provides a recognizable and distinct character that you can get from all of the southampton BdGs, that tastes very similar to a Cal Common character.

My preferences is for the more traditional BdGs like Jenlain and 3 Moints, which, to my palate, are clearly fermented with ale yeasts. I would use an altbier yeast rather than a cal common yeast if I were to make an amber beer, and a altbier or kolsch yeast if I were to make a blonde BdG. This is my preference, not a statement of fact, but I think using an ale yeast would produce a product much closer to my favorite commercial examples.