I bottled my New England Brown Ale 2 weeks ago, and a bottle I sampled wasn’t carbonated yet, I thought maybe the original gravity was too high and I should’ve pitched more yeast before bottle conditioning, but then I tried a different bottle and it was carbonated.
I think this is caused by the priming sugar not being distributed throughout the beer evenly, but it made me wonder, when is it appropriate to pitch more yeast before bottling?
Is there a certain original gravity that makes it need more? and when should this yeast be added?
Even with extensive mixing of liquid priming sugar (I always use DME in water) you can get surprising variations in carbonation for some bottles vs. others. I have NEVER added yeast at bottling time and if anything have had issues with overcarbonation not under. If the bottles are relatively cold then carbonation time can be extended. Even a few degrees F say from 65 to 68 can make a difference to a yeast trying to ferment that priming sugar in an enclosed bottle with lots of alcohol in it. Two weeks with no carbonation seems a bit long unless it’s a big big beer that sat a while b4 bottling. This one sounds like under 6% but as I have no info from you as to SG OG yeast you used ferment temp etc etc etc…
For me, if the beer is over say 1.080 and/or has been in the fermenter more than maybe 4 months I add yeast when bottling.
+1
Pretty much the same here. Except I add bottling yeast for anything thats been in a fermenter for more than 3 months.
How much to add, and what kind? I have a big barleywine (OG 1122 now at 1028) that has been in secondary for six months. I want to bottle it soon but am finding differences of opinion as to what kind of yeast to use and how much to add.
Here’s a thought. Why not rack off to “tertiary” temporarily, then grab some yeast from the bottom to use with priming sugar? I’ve never done it but it sounds good. You could even mix it in with your priming sugar and some water and let them sit for a bit. Give them a taste of the real thing before they have to go into the alcohol.
Since I cold-crash the beer before bottling, every beer I bottle gets a little fresh yeast and IMO it’s worth the effort since I always know the bottles are going to carbonate.
Between age and alcohol level, that yeast is pretty much spent. I use 1/3-1/2 pack of just about any dry yeast.
How do you incorporate the yeast and what priming sugar would you use? Assume an American barleywine 1.080 OG 1.020 TG. Would you make up the sugar/water solution then add the yeast in dry to it or rehydrate the yeast first?
I really like S-04 as a bottling yeast. Just rehydrate 3g of yeast in 50ml of sterile water and add to your bottling bucket.
I usually put the priming solution in the bottling bucket, sprinkle the yeast in, than rack the beer onto it.
