Repitch at bottling?

I brewed a Belgian Dubbel about 6 weeks ago and it's been in secondary for about 5.

Do you think that enough yeast has fallen out of suspension due to the long time in secondary that I should pitch more at bottling?

I'm thinking about stirring a pack of Safale 56 dry yeast in at bottling to make sure the beer carbonates without leaving it for a really long time in the bottle. I figure the Safale 56 is so clean that it won't add any esters or flavors.

Opinions?

It's not necessary unless you filter your beer. Racking to the bottling bucket will pick up a few yeast from the bottom. No need to buy any additional yeast.

You'll pick up a few yeast from the bottom, like chillHayze suggests, but most of the yeast that will do the work are actually still in suspension. Beer can look crystal clear, but unless it's filtered and/or pasteurized, it will still have viable yeast in it.

If you did that, I'd be worried to death about bottle bombs. All that yeast and some corn sugar....ka-blooey!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ol' Grog said:

If you did that, I'd be worried to death about bottle bombs. All that yeast and some corn sugar....ka-blooey!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Just to be clear on this, the amount of yeast won't affect the amount of final carbonation. It will affect the amount of time it takes to carbonate, and if there is way too much it will affect the tast of the beer.
The level of carbonation when natuarally carbonating, is only dependant on the amount of sugar in the beer. That's why you have to wait until the beer is absolutley finished fermenting before you add the priming sugar.

Chairman Cheyco said:

Just to be clear on this, the amount of yeast won't affect the amount of final carbonation. It will affect the amount of time it takes to carbonate, and if there is way too much it will affect the tast of the beer.
The level of carbonation when natuarally carbonating, is only dependant on the amount of sugar in the beer. That's why you have to wait until the beer is absolutley finished fermenting before you add the priming sugar.

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Chairman,

Let's say, for argument's sake, that the original fermentation left a relatively high FG. Wouldn't adding yeast at bottling increase the likelihood of these sugars being converted, given the higher yeast count?

Evan! said:

Chairman,

Let's say, for argument's sake, that the original fermentation left a relatively high FG. Wouldn't adding yeast at bottling increase the likelihood of these sugars being converted, given the higher yeast count?

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If the reason for the relatively high FG is due to a stalled or stuck fermentation - meaning the yeast stopped working before it ate all the fermentable sugars, adding more healthy yeast would restart the fermentation. If the high FG is due to having many unfermentable sugars, adding more yeast will not have any affect. The yeast that were already in there ate all the good stuff and there is nothing left for the new yeast to eat.

The FG is telling you how much stuff didn't get turned into alcohol because the yeast can't eat it. That's why we add dextrose at bottling, we are giving the yeast more to eat and it is 100% fermentable so will not affect the FG of the beer once it's carbonated.