Carbing a 9.5% Belgian Tripel

Can I bottle this beer using priming sugar and the yeast that is still in suspension or will I need to use some dry yeast? I don't plan on opening the first bottle for at least a couple of months, so if priming sugar alone will work given enough time I'm happy to wait.

I used Wyeast 1214. I racked it onto some Knox last night after 4 weeks on the yeast.

I am no expert but you may need champagne yeast when you get to that level of alcohol.

I bottled a pretty big dubbel on priming sugar and a small amount of Notty.

I was also told you could use US05 or any clean-fermenting yeast (not a full pack, maybe 1 or 2 grams depending on how big your batch is)

(I was planning on leaving the dubbel for a few months as well).

It is highly, highly likely that you have viable cells ready to munch your priming sugar. A couple of months, though, may not be enough regardless. I have a 9.5 dark Belgian bottle conditionting now and it took almost ninety days to see ANY carbonation. I don't expect it to be fully carbed for another thirty to sixty, after which I'll leave it conditioning for another ninety just to rub off the rough edges. BTW, I did reyeast this beer at bottling, but it had been over ninety days in secondary.

Mermaid said:

I bottled a pretty big dubbel on priming sugar and a small amount of Notty.

I was also told you could use US05 or any clean-fermenting yeast (not a full pack, maybe 1 or 2 grams depending on how big your batch is)

(I was planning on leaving the dubbel for a few months as well).

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If I do go this route, what's the process? Weigh out a couple of grams of dry yeast and sprinkle it into the bottling bucket? I've never used dry yeast before - always brewed with liquid.

Rehydrate up to 4 grams (your priming sugar is the much more sensitive variable). Add it to the bottling bucket while siphoning to get complete dispersion.

Pilgarlic said:

Rehydrate up to 4 grams (your priming sugar is the much more sensitive variable). Add it to the bottling bucket while siphoning to get complete dispersion.

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This is exactly what I did. Prepared priming sugar, dumped in yeast, racked from secondary on top of sugar/yeast, swirled gently with sanitized spoon, covered bottling bucket, bottled.

My dubbel wasn't in the secondary for all that long (14 days), but I was planning on a long bottle conditioning phase.

I gelatin out my primary yeast on my big belgians as well. If you can get some Safbrew T-58, it's a great bottling strain. Good alcohol tolerance, good flocculation. My Tripel carbed up nice and fast.

Side note, and just my opinion, if you had good fermentation practices you don't need to sit on this beer for months. My recent Tripel was very good after two weeks in the bottle, nice little noble hop aroma to complement the citrusy ester character. If you used any late hop additions, the aroma will be pretty faded after a couple of months and you'll miss out. That being said, do age some, my Tripel is picking up some interesting notes from oxidation and aging.

I recently made a 10.5% Belgian Golden. It conditioned for three months before I bottled. I crashed it and used gelatine before bottling. Bottled with priming sugar only (no yeast) and it carbed well. Its been my most highly carbed beer yet with 7oz cane sugar for 5 gallons.

It depends on the yeasts alcohol tolerance and how long it's sat bulk conditioning. If it hasn't sat in the carboy for 6+ months, I wouldn't bother adding more yeast. If you are having issues with carbonation once it's bottled, put them in a warmer room and gently shake the bottles to get that yeast back in suspension.