Pitch Yeast Prior to Bottling 8.7 ABV RIS?

I just brewed a 8.7 ABV RIS. It is already tasting good and I am excited for the end result in 6 or so months.

It is at a steady terminal gravity of 1.027 which is right around me expected terminal gravity.

I fermented with Wyeast 1056. The yeast has flocced out at this point and the alcohol is fairly high.

I am going to bottle on Sunday. I bought a packet of US-05 to pitch today, prior to bottling. However, I'm wondering if this is necessary and whether the US-05 will just be killed off by the high alcohol environment upon pitching.

Should I bother? Will it carb up over the 6 months I lay it down without the added yeast?

How long has it been in the primary/secondary/whatever? If it's only been a couple months or less, I wouldn't bother.

bknifefight said:

How long has it been in the primary/secondary/whatever? If it's only been a couple months or less, I wouldn't bother.

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+1.

I prefer bulk conditioning to bottle conditioning, so if you're waiting another 6 months before you drink this, I'd consider holding off on bottling if you can. unless its already been a few months as is

It has only been in a primary. Therefore, it is still on the yeast.

It has been in primary for 3 weeks.

Your suggestion is to rack to secondary and leave it there for a couple months?

I do not normally use a secondary.

definitely no need for more yeast in that case.

its personal preference. IME, bulk conditioning leads to a better beer quicker than bottle conditioning. if its been at a stable fg for at least a week you can certainly go ahead with bottling tho.

if you have a spare smaller carboy, I'd consider aging part of it to compare for the next time around.

MrGrieves said:

It has only been in a primary. Therefore, it is still on the yeast.

It has been in primary for 3 weeks.

Your suggestion is to rack to secondary and leave it there for a couple months?

I do not normally use a secondary.

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I do not suggest a secondary. I only listed it as a possibility of where the beer could be. If you plan on bottling in the next 2 months (in this amount of time, it will be fine left on the yeast if you choose to bulk age it), I do not feel there is need for more yeast.

So you think I can leave it on the yeast for a couple more weeks without problems?

So, I am about to bottle this tomorrow. Should I pitch yeast today or just go straight to bottling with the yeast that is in there?

MrGrieves said:

So you think I can leave it on the yeast for a couple more weeks without problems?

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Yes

US-05 will just be killed off by the high alcohol environment upon pitching.

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US-05 has a tolerance up to ~12% if I'm not mistaken.

Should I pitch yeast today or just go straight to bottling with the yeast that is in there?

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After a quick search and looking over a few other threads, I can't see any reason to re-pitch at bottling with an ~8% abv beer. It won't hurt and if you're really paranoid about it you can do it, but would essentially be a waste of yeast and add more sediment to your bottles.

I wouldn't repitch in this case either. I have repitched when making a big stout with good results and little downside, but that was bulk aged for months.