Gold Pitch pouch of >200 Billion yeast, Saison #2 strain.

There are a number of new yeast companies just starting up and I’m really excited to see these new strains being picked up. Gigayeast, Yeast Bay, and East Coast Yeast, which I’ve written about before, are finding, isolating and stepping up strains found in great commercial beers and making them available to homebrewers. Some of this comes from the big yeast companies (White Labs, and Wyeast for homebrew) selling their services. The Gold Pitch from Gigayeast sure looks like a Wyeast yeast pouch, and the Yeast Bay vials sure look like a White Labs tube.

Yeast Bay vials via Ales of the Riverwards Blog.

The Saison #2 strain caught my attention, mostly due to the description of having a tart finish. It’s no secret that I have a passion for sour beers, and while I know this yeast won’t produce a sour beer without some bacteria like lactobacillus, I am interested in getting tart beers as well. There are a number of really great saisons that taste tart but aren’t sours. I plan to find out if I can get that same effect with this yeast.

Gigayeast describes the flavors as fruity and spicy, so when choosing the recipe I started with my house saison, and dropped the gravity a bit so the pouch could be used without a starter and then switched in some spicy and fruity hops. I’m getting to try out a new (to me) hop, Summer Saaz, which is both spicy and with a touch of fruit when used for aroma and dry-hopping. Another hop favorite, Meridian, which was used in an amazing Sour Pale Ale (Dr. Vainglory at Black Star Coop), which has lots of fruity, punch-like flavors. And some traditional english Fuggle for that nice earthy spice. I also didn’t want to change the recipe up too much to help detect the differences between how Rekkae is normally brewed and what the new ingredients are bringing to the familiar beer.

Take a look: