Hi, I'm getting ready to bottle a Belgian Quad. It has been lagering in my fridge for 6 months (mostly because I've been pretty short on time to bottle). I assume I will not have enough viable yeast left in the secondary, so what yeast should I use to prime? I plan on bottle conditioning this beer. One of the guys at my LHBS suggested champagne yeast. Some research I've made said not to use this because, "Champagne yeast is highly attenuative, and you may find yourself with the yeast munching more sugars than the lager yeast did, resulting in bottle bombs." ....or maybe a drier beer than I had intended. I don't mind spending the extra cash to buy morel of the same yeast used in the primary, but not if it won't make any difference in bottle conditioning. Thanks in advance!
I've used Muntons Generic Ale Yeast to bottle beers that have been aged a while in secondary and it works fine and it's only like a buck and change...
Champagne yeast will eat the same amount of priming sugar as your original yeast, i.e. 100% of it. It will not eat any of the maltotriose that was left behind, so will not cause bottle bombs if everything else is right (i.e. correct amount of priming sugar, and beer that had been fully attenuated (except for some portion of maltotriose) in the first place.).
I've used a packet of Notty Ale yeast with the regular amount of priming sugar for the beer style with success.
It seems that all these yeast strains will work, but my "champagne yeast/bottle bomb" comment distracted the real question (and that's my fault) which is, will I be loosing out on any flavors appropriate to a Quad if I *don't* use the yeast suitable for a Beligian quad or does it really make no difference. If I recall, I think I used WLP500 in the primary.
The amount of fermentation that happens in bottle conditioning is so small that it's doubtful you would be missing much, if anything, detectable.
Honestly the Belgian yeast is so dominant, you shouldn't have an issue with another yeast messing with the flavors. Champagne yeast should be alright, it's a strong working yeast with a clean fermenting reputation. Bottle bombs aren't out of the question, but that would only be an issue if your yeast crapped out and didn't eat all the fermentables during primary. If you pitched enough yeast, you should be fine because WLP500 attenuates at 75-80%, which is pretty high. Like VikeMan said, the priming sugar you add is 100% fermentable, so whichever yeast you decide to add should eat 100% of the priming sugar (the exact same).
