6 month secondary - repitch before bottling?

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jmalex

jmalex

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I've got a Russian Imperial Stout that's been in the secondary for about 6 months, and bottling day is coming up soon. The OG was 1.094 and it finished at about 1.026 (at last check). Is the yeast in there still viable? I've got way too much time invested in this beer only to have it be flat in the bottle. If I repitch, how much and what kind of yeast should I use? Using the original strain is out of the question (it was Pacman). Suggestions?
 
You probably don't NEED to repitch, but I can't imagine it would hurt. I repitch when I cold condition anything, usually with something like Saflager, but I would think any clean, neutral yeast (US-05) would be fine. Being a belt-and-suspenders kind of guy, I put a bit less than half the packet in the bottling bucket and racked on top of it, as well as a tiny amount in each bottle. I still didn't use the full packet.
 
the_bird said:
You probably don't NEED to repitch, but I can't imagine it would hurt. I repitch when I cold condition anything, usually with something like Saflager, but I would think any clean, neutral yeast (US-05) would be fine. Being a belt-and-suspenders kind of guy, I put a bit less than half the packet in the bottling bucket and racked on top of it, as well as a tiny amount in each bottle. I still didn't use the full packet.
Click to expand...

Are you repitching right before bottling? How do you avoid creating beer bombs?
 
Bottle bombs are created by too much sugar being in the beer at the time of pitching - incomplete fermentation, or too much priming sugar added. Adding fresh yeast won't make a real difference, since there's still viable yeast in the beer - it just may ferment quicker if the old yeast has been dormant for a while. But the actual amount of carbonation is determined by the remaining/added sugar content.

Also, this thread is ten years old, and this is probably the only brewing question I've answered in the past five.
 
the_bird said:
Bottle bombs are created by too much sugar being in the beer at the time of pitching - incomplete fermentation, or too much priming sugar added. Adding fresh yeast won't make a real difference, since there's still viable yeast in the beer - it just may ferment quicker if the old yeast has been dormant for a while. But the actual amount of carbonation is determined by the remaining/added sugar content.

Also, this thread is ten years old, and this is probably the only brewing question I've answered in the past five.
Click to expand...

Well, that Russian Imperial should just about be ready *smacks lips*
 

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