What the topic says… After a very active primary that blew off and lasted only 6 days, and 5 weeks in secondary with zero activity, I am ready to bottle my Number Eight.
Should I add some additional yeast to the bottles to make sure it carbonates properly? If so, which kind should I add?
Most of the time there is enough yeast to properly carb a batch. If you are dead-set on adding yeast, strive for a clean, dry, beast like US-05. Add a quarter to a third of a pack to the bottling bucket. I did about 50 batches without reyeasting and never had carbonation issues.
Thanks for the response. It does help to ease my mind a bit.
A question comes to mind though. So far in my beer making adventures, I’ve been especially careful about not pulling up any sediment from the carboy when transferring (primary → secondary & secondary → bottling bucket).
Should I keep doing that, or is it sometimes “good” to pull up a little bit into the next vessel?
Basically, I’m curious if there’s always enough yeast just floating around in the beer to handle the next step — assuming nothing horrible happens like temperature extremes or under-pitching, or the like.
Some yeast will make it in the transfer without intentionally sucking any up. Also the amount of sugar you are adding to each bottle is so small a tiny gang of yeast could finish the job.
I’ll reyeast if I do a very long lager, say 6 months or if I have a really high ABV brew, like 15%. Then reyeasting is a good idea. Also there is the “better safe than sorry” advice which says to reyeast every batch. One pack of dry yeast will be enough for 3-4 bottling sessions. If you’re worried, $3 for a pack of US-05 is worth the peace of mind.
