Should I add yeast to bottling bucket?

Okie_brewer · 02-04-2012, 02:59 PM

I have a Russian Imperial stout that has been on secondary for about 5 months. I've read a couple of different threads on the subject of adding yeast to the bottling bucket to help carbonate high gravity beers that have been setting in secondary for a while and have found some conflicting information... Maybe differing opinions is a better way to phrase that. So, a) should I add yeast? And, b) what harm will it do if I do add yeast?

I feel like there is really no fear of bottle bombs by adding more yeast, so long as I add the proper amount of sugar since the yeast will only eat what they have available to them.

The only fear I have is the possibility of off flavors. On that note, if I use the same yeast that I used in the beer, will it really be noticeable?

Thanks for the help.

SilverZero · 02-04-2012, 03:49 PM

Should be fine.

http://www.byo.com/stories/techniques/article/indices/14-bottling/1212-on-the-yeast-guide-to-bottle-conditioning

**theonetrueruss** · 02-04-2012, 04:08 PM

my opinion in short: a) yes, b)no harm

I'm planning to bottle a triple in a week or two and will be adding yeast at that time. Unlike the article I do not do a starter for it, I just let my vial get to room temp for a few hours and pitch into my bottling bucket as the wort is draining into it. I've done this on a couple high gravity beers and didn't on a couple others. My experience is that the conditioning happens much faster this way.

**johnsma22** · 02-04-2012, 04:21 PM

I didn't do this when I bottled a 6 month old RIS and I ended up with 5 gallons of flat RIS after several months in the bottles!

Okie_brewer · 02-06-2012, 12:24 AM

Thanks a lot, guys. I will be bottling next week. I think it's going to turn out pretty well.