A way to tell if I need new yeast for bottling?

**klnosaj** · 02-06-2012, 11:38 PM

Is there an easy way for me to tell if I need to introduce new yeast to the bottling bucket to allow carbonation after bottling? I'm working with lagers for the first time and the one I'm about to bottle has been near freezing for about 6 weeks. I'm hoping there's a way for one to be able tell if there's enough active yeast in suspension to allow bottle carbing without having to wait three weeks and then opening a bottle only then to discover that the whole batch needs help.

SilverZero · 02-06-2012, 11:57 PM

If you're worried, put yeast in. Use either dry yeast (rehydrated) or a starter that's at high krauesen. You won't need as much as for a full fermentation, obviously, but the yeast will be limited by how much priming sugar you put in. The rest will drop out when you chill the beer.

This is probably the third time I've seen this asked in the last couple of days. Was there a news story about flat beer this weekend or something?

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/should-i-add-yeast-bottling-bucket-301098/

**klnosaj** · 02-07-2012, 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverZero

If you're worried, put yeast in. Use either dry yeast (rehydrated) or a starter that's at high krauesen. You won't need as much as for a full fermentation, obviously, but the yeast will be limited by how much priming sugar you put in. The rest will drop out when you chill the beer.

This is probably the third time I've seen this asked in the last couple of days. Was there a news story about flat beer this weekend or something?

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/should-i-add-yeast-bottling-bucket-301098/

I'm usually really good about searching the forum or the google for an answer first but this time I obviously was not. My bad.

SilverZero · 02-07-2012, 12:27 PM

No worries, just be glad you're not on a tech forum admitting something like that.