Does anyone re-pitch the same yeast they used to ferment into the beer before bottling? I have an IPA (somewhere between a normal IPA and a DIPA) that’s been sitting in the secondary for 3 weeks and I’m thinking about pitching more yeast before bottling just to be sure there’s viable yeast for carbonation.
Will adding a small amount of dry yeast affect the taste? Are there any other possible downsides? Is there any reason to use a different yeast than was used for fermentation?
Thanks!
I am a new brewer, just putting that out there, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I would say it should be fine without repitching. There should still be plenty of viable yeast in suspension unless you cold crashed it, then a lot of the yeast would have fallen and it would take much longer than 2-4 weeks to carb (but still not sure it would require a repitch).
I noticed this when I bottled my caribou slobber two weeks ago. I racked to the secondary following the directions, I noticed the next day how clear the top of the beer looked (as opposed to the leftover from the primary) and there was really nothing apparent at the bottom or floating around. It sat in the secondary for 3 weeks I think before I decided to bottle, maybe a little less. When I bottled, I noticed a rather large yeast cake on the bottom of the secondary. To me, I figured there was still plenty of yeast. Even now in the bottles there is a sediment formed, although very little.
There ought to be yeast but there’s no downside to adding a couple grams of dry yeast to the beer before bottling. There’s not enough sugar in priming for the bottling yeast to add any character so it doesn’t really matter what you use if you choose to pitch. I only had to suffer through one under-carbed disappointment to just start adding a bit of fresh yeast to every batch regardless of age and I was typically bottling 20-30 gallons at a time so it was worth the small effort for the peace of mind.
I have seen them in the last few catalogs, but NB has those new capsules you can add to the bottle. If I’m not mistaken it’s 2 per bottle and you get 200. It’s a combination of both the priming sugar and yeast to “perfectly” condition the bottle. Found the link
Save some money and just use some ale yeast you saved from other batches or dry yeast package. I wouldn’t worry about over pitching since that is dependent on available sugar and head space. Probably won’t change the flavor because it’s such a small amount of fermentation. I’ve done it before in an experiment.
I think fizz drops are a huge PITA and they do not let you dial in your carbonation as well as weighing out some table or corn sugar, dissolving, then adding. +1 to using some leftover slurry (with proper sanitation), or 1/4-1/2 pack of dry yeast if you are worried.
Per above, adding more yeast will not risk bottle bombs. Also per above, there should be plenty of active yeast to metabolize the priming sugar (even if the beer is cold crashed).
I’ve also read that those pills take a lot longer than just priming with corn sugar. Read some of the reviews. It seems a lot easier, but not sure I’d want to wait longer for carbonation when priming sugar is pretty simple too.
[quote=“Brewinbill”]Does anyone re-pitch the same yeast they used to ferment into the beer before bottling? I have an IPA (somewhere between a normal IPA and a DIPA) that’s been sitting in the secondary for 3 weeks and I’m thinking about pitching more yeast before bottling just to be sure there’s viable yeast for carbonation.
Will adding a small amount of dry yeast affect the taste? Are there any other possible downsides? Is there any reason to use a different yeast than was used for fermentation?
Thanks![/quote]
you do not need to add more yeast on a beer that young
[quote=“Brewinbill”]Does anyone re-pitch the same yeast they used to ferment into the beer before bottling? I have an IPA (somewhere between a normal IPA and a DIPA) that’s been sitting in the secondary for 3 weeks and I’m thinking about pitching more yeast before bottling just to be sure there’s viable yeast for carbonation.
Will adding a small amount of dry yeast affect the taste? Are there any other possible downsides? Is there any reason to use a different yeast than was used for fermentation?
Thanks![/quote]
3 weeks is nothing…unless it was a very high OG beer you won’t need more yeast. For normal gravity beers, there’s plenty of yeast left even after months of lagering. Don’t sweat it. And when I do use bottling yeast, the strain makes virtually no difference. I almost always use US-05, IF I use bottling yeast.
