Biere de Garde yeast

mdwmonster · 03-19-2010, 04:23 PM

I was planning on brewing up a Biere de Garde but I'm having some trouble finding the right yeast. Seems like no one makes Biere de Garde yeast. I've looked at a ton of recopies and it seems that yeast is all over the place from Belgian Ale to German Ale to German Lager to British Ale....

So, I'm a bit at a loss. Anyone have a good recommendation?

There is a local brewery that makes a bottle conditioned Biere de Garde - any thoughts on trying to bottle harvest what they are using? They referrer to it as a "modern interpretation" which I assume means they may not be using the same yeast as a French brewer would. It is sold in champagne bottles - any idea how many I would need to get a good enough harvest?

EvilGnome6 · 03-19-2010, 04:27 PM

I recently brewed Northern Brewer's Biere de Garde recipe using Wyeast 2112 California Lager Yeast. Fermented at 68F it left a lot of nice malt flavor but also produced some nice esters.

Denny · 03-19-2010, 04:50 PM

In general, you want a clean yeast for BdG.

**pheboglobi** · 03-19-2010, 05:50 PM

White Labs WLP072 French Ale yeast is a biere de garde yeast, but it's a platinum strain due to be released in May. I think Brewmasters Warehouse may have it though. (it's listed in the online store)

**Brew-boy** · 03-21-2010, 02:08 PM

I used the WLP072 for a biere de garde to early to tell I have it aging it the keg for 6 months now.