diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index d34828f9..216aa6eb 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ ostree (2019.2-1) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * d/upstream/metadata: Add DEP-12 metadata
   * d/copyright: Update
   * d/libostree-1-1.symbols: Update
+  * Use debian/experimental branch for new upstream release during freeze
 
  -- Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org>  Fri, 18 Jan 2019 08:48:31 +0000
 
diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index bc3838e0..272be244 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ Build-Depends-Indep:
 Rules-Requires-Root: no
 Standards-Version: 4.3.0
 Homepage: https://github.com/ostreedev/ostree/
-Vcs-Git: https://salsa.debian.org/debian/ostree.git
+Vcs-Git: https://salsa.debian.org/debian/ostree.git -b debian/experimental
 Vcs-Browser: https://salsa.debian.org/debian/ostree
 
 Package: gir1.2-ostree-1.0
diff --git a/debian/gbp.conf b/debian/gbp.conf
index 2bda9c8b..eda2cdd2 100644
--- a/debian/gbp.conf
+++ b/debian/gbp.conf
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [DEFAULT]
 pristine-tar = True
 compression = xz
-debian-branch = debian/master
+debian-branch = debian/experimental
 upstream-branch = upstream/latest
 patch-numbers = False
 upstream-vcs-tag = v%(version)s