Wlp 815

[beernardo]

This yeast is due up for release again as a platinum strain. I'm curious as the description is that it comes from, "a very old brewery in West Belgium." Most people assume that it's Stella yeast, because that brewery is very old, but Leuven is not in West Belgium.

Anybody have any guesses what the source might be?

 

[mark7347]

Bump. Dying to know.

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[mark7347]

Have there ever been releases of brewery house yeasts before?

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[beernardo]

Hey, as far as I understand it, most breweries use commercial yeast banks to house their yeast. Those banks will also sell that yeast under a generic name of some sort. So all of the Wyeast/White Labs strains are yeasts that are used commercially, because those yeasts have known fermentation characteristics, and they get them originally from the same yeast banks. (Though obviously not all brewery yeasts are available through WL or WY.)

Because of contracts and stuff, the actual source brewery is almost never revealed. Usually, though, the hints in the description allow you to guess what the likely source is. Mr. Malty has a chart on his site that gives the assumed source for each White Labs yeast, though it's missing some strains.

In this case, I'm stumped. But that's probably because I don't know Belgian lagers very well.

 

[helibrewer]

I'm going to brew 10 gallons of German Pilsner in Jan and wanted to try this with 5 gallons of it...curious also.

 

[cervid]

+1 for the Mr Malty chart Kristen wrote. It's a cool reference. They do release yeasts people harvest from the wild after testing but the yeasts from breweries have grown up adapting to such specific conditions they have evolved certain characteristics, are more readily available, are less risky, and take less work and cost less money for the labs to put out to the public and know their product is up to their standards. Sometimes the breweries get their strains from banks, but a lot of times it's the other way around. Sometimes, breweries get yeast from other breweries.

Plus, most of the wild yeasts and private yeasts don't pan out for a business to release. Cry Havoc from WL and Dave's 50 from Wy are yeasts not from breweries they put out, these are from private stocks. Another example of yeast that have evolved to specific conditions is from Burton on Trent and the Burton Union system. This is the whole reason they spent a ton of money to have a new Union system built. Which makes me wonder... I wonder what yeast Firestone Walker uses?

I digress, I've been looking at this yeast as well.

 

[BelgianTex]

There's several that come to mind. Finding out which one exactly is going to be harder.
Personally my money is one this one:
Van Steenberge in Ertvelde - West (Corsendock, Gulden Draak, etc..), but they also do have a pilsner and make some other beers under contract. They're big enough to be available on this side of the pond.

For your contemplation, here's a shortlist of breweries that have been around a while and that I know that have a lager. But there's many more undoubtedly that I'm not thinking of right now. Might be a starting point:
* Bavik in Bavikshove - Southwest
* Bockor in Bellegem - Southwest
* Bosteels in Buggenhout - West (although I would almost more say center)
* Clarysse in Oudenaarde - West
* Huyghe in Melle - West (if I'm wrong with my #1 choice, this would be #2)
* Moortgat in Breendonk ... not Belgian in his right mind would put them in the West of the country, but hey... you never know. Besides their world famous Duvel, they have two lagers that are reasonably well received in Belgium. Bel and Vedett.
* Palm in Steenuffel. Just like Moortgat, not really true West. But again a brewery that's available and known States Side. And since the description mentions "Vienna Lagers", Palm might come to mind.
* Roman in Oudenaarde. Definitely West. They have excellent beers and have been around since somewhere in the 1500's. My choice #3
* Slaghmuylder in Ninove. Also West. They make a beer called "Witkap" I've seen around here. And they have a Pils.
* Wieze in Wieze. West and they have several pilsners.

I may be forgetting several, so feel free to add to the list of candidates.

Now on to get my hands on some of this and brew up a batch. Perfect cold temperatures for this

 

[beernardo]

Awesome list, BelgianTex. Unfortunately that's so many possibilities! I'm a fan of Van Steenberge, but have never had their Sparta pils. Seems like it's listed as a 'typical' Czech pils.