Anybody know what yeasts Victory brewing uses and wether or not they use their primary strain in bottling? In particular their Helios (saison style) yeast. I have grown some up if for no other reason than to see if I could. I plan on trying some just for kicks but wondered if anyone knows about it?
I am planning to brew a Saison in the near future. The plan is to brew 10 gallons. I will then pitch WLP565 in 5 gallons and I will split the rest into 1 gallon carboys and pitch different yeasts. I figured I would use the helios for one. If it turns out well I will keep the yeast.
I may try culturing some other yeasts from bottles. I have started some Ommegang.
Well, I may have found my answer partially. I was rereading brew like a monk and I read that Victory has used a lager strain for bottling their Golden Monkey Tripel as they do not (or did not) have a dedicated warm conditioning room.
The yeast did however have those Belgian-ey phenolic aromas as I stepped it up from the bottle. Maybe it was just a lager strain being fermented too warm? Thins may have changed at the brewery since the book was written, or perhaps Helios is treated different? Guess I will find out when I ferment a small batch.
It would seem likely that unless they filtered it really tightly before adding the lager yeast for bottling that some of the fermentation strain must still be in there. Maybe what you got is a mix of the 2?