Im getting geared up to bottle a duvel clone in a few weeks…Question is, will pitching wine/champange yeast at bottling give me that “champange” character that duvel has?..What are some yeast recommendations to use at bottling?..Reason i will pitch yeast at bottling is because i will be lagering for about a month at 32*F and the primary yeast will probably be pretty beat up and i want to ensure i have viable yeast for the bottle conditioning…thank you
My go to bottling yeast is S-04. Gets the job done and settles fairly tight in the bottom of the bottle.
Bottling yeast will not affect the beer’s character, so use whatever strain is convenient.
I believe a large part of the character of Duvel that you’re describing has to do with it’s higher-than-standard carbonation, and not with any particular strain of bottling yeast.
I was under the impression that Moortgat used the same yeast for bottling as they do for brewing (Wyeast #1388/White Labs WLP570), as I’ve seen a fair number of folks online saying they’ve successfully harvested yeast from Duvel bottles. If that’s true, you could just make an extra-large starter and save some yeast from that.
Only a month should be no problem. I’ve lagered a pilsner for three months that carbed fine.
