bottling for various carb levels.

I have a Belgian Trippel (9%) conditioning in secondary and I'm planning on bottle carbing.

First: do I need to add another yeast like this one (Danstar's CBC-1 Cask and Bottle Conditioned Beer Yeast) to get a high carb level appropriate for Belgian strong ales? I've done some stronger beer before, but, as with most imperial stouts and barleywines, they were less carbonated.

Second: I have a case of Champagne or cork and cage bottles that I want to use and I'm thinking of making them even more carbonated than the rest of the batch which will be in 12oz bottles. Should I just put a pre-measured dextrose syrup at the bottom of them to up the carb level?

TIA

I guess I should point out that I used Wyeast 1388 (Belgian strong ale). OG 1.075, FG 1.004.

I know the dextrose syrup thing will work in theory, but I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions or experience doing something similar.

Thanks

I think the yeast from fermentation of a beer like this probably got beat up pretty good, especially if you had it in secondary for a while. You certainly don't have to add new yeast at bottling, but for a big beer that you want to put a little age on, I think it's cheap insurance.

I save a little yeast from a starter in a sterile cup or make up a small starter to get a slurry and keep it in the fridge for a week or so. I time the beers so I can bottle two or three over a two week period using a bit of the slurry at bottling time.

The other cheaper and easier option is a pack of S-33. Add maybe 1/3 of it rehydrated to your bottling bucket. I don't save dry yeast when opened.

The second part of your question about champage bottles- for convenience, I would treat it as two separate beers. Prime and bottle the longnecks, then with what's left, measure the volume to be bottled and prime accordingly. You could also prime it all, say to 3 volumes. Then measure the amount remaining and figure how much sugar you need to add more CO2 just for that.

So, to get 3 volumes of 5 gallons you add x grams sugar. You bottle and now have 2 gallons left for champagne bottles that you want at 4.5 vol. So you need enough sugar to get 1.5 more volumes CO2. Plug it into calculator and see what amount of sugar will make 2 gallons get 1.5 volumes.

The problem with the latter method is it assumes perfect distribution of the sugar which may not be the case. But you have some safety because you are using rugged bottles at the higher pressure.

Thanks, I was thinking the same.

I was planning on bottling soon, like in a couple days, so ill pick up some yeast beforehand. I won't have a slurry, obviously, so could I simply drop the full packet in the bottling bucket with the sugar and stir to distribute?

But then the yeast won't go through the bottling wand. Grrrr. Drop a little yeast into each bottle?

Unferth said:

Thanks, I was thinking the same.

I was planning on bottling soon, like in a couple days, so ill pick up some yeast beforehand. I won't have a slurry, obviously, so could I simply drop the full packet in the bottling bucket with the sugar and stir to distribute?

But then the yeast won't go through the bottling wand. Grrrr. Drop a little yeast into each bottle?

Click to expand...

You don't need the whole packet. It doesn't take much yeast to carbonate a bottle. Try 1/4 of a packet or 1/3 of a packet. Rehydrate the yeast with water and then add to the bucket. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by the yeast won't go though the wand.