WLP815 Belgian Lager Yeast

I've got an attempt at a Stella clone going right now with WLP815. I know most of the German lager yeasts can be used for any of the German lager styles and I was wondering what other styles of beer would be good with this Belgian Lager yeast? Would it be weird in a German Bock or Pilsner? Munich Helles or Dunkel? I'm assuming using this in a Bohemian Pilsner would pretty much turn it into a Belgian Pilsner... I'm just trying to get the most out of this yeast while I have it going.

Thanks!

I'd go to the White labs website, find that yeast & look at their recommendations, the reviews posted by other users. it should say what beers they brewed. good luck!

midfielder5 said:

I'd go to the White labs website, find that yeast & look at their recommendations, the reviews posted by other users. it should say what beers they brewed. good luck!

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I checked the site but there aren't any reviews yet for this strain. It's a platinum strain and I'm not sure if they've ever released it before. I may be the first to review it!

Maybe I'll just try something completely different with this yeast.

It says it's clean and crisp so I would think it would work for any of the styles you mentioned.

Has anyone else tried this strain yet? I used this yeast in a double batch that was brewed back Feb. 19. I attempted a American Lite Lager and slightly hoppier Amber Lager. After carbonating the Lite Lager for a couple days I tried the beer for the first time last night. Not a Lite Lager at all, more of a Belgian Blonde. There is a very distinctive Belgian spice character to it that does make it a pretty spot on Blonde. I haven't yet tried the Amber but my curiosity has it currently on gas carbonating.

If anyone else has tried this stain I'm curious if it fermented as clean as White Labs claims it should. I'm wondering if I may have fermented a bit too high for the yeast and that produced the estery profile. I pitched at about 58 degrees F and brought the primary fermentation down to about 52 for three weeks before doing a diacetyl rest and finally racking to kegs for lagering on 3/24.

I'll admit this is my second time attempting a lager (non-California anyway) and I'm still learning. Do you think I made a mistake or is the Belgian spice characteristic of the yeast? Should I degas and allow to lager a bit more? It really is a pretty good Blonde so all is not lost, but with my next attempt I may try a more traditional strain.

As an update, I tried the amber lager and it is much cleaner and true lager-like. Thinking back, the light lager was a bit warmer when it started than the amber, but the difference in flavor profile is pretty surprising.

I'm still curious to hear about other's results. My initial impression is that this may be a good yeast to experiment with at slightly higher temperatures, but also a nice lager yeast that produces just a touch of Belgian character.