Advice on Pitching yeast for Bottling Conditioning a 7-month Carboy aged Russian Imperial Stout (19l batch)

[jameswatsonuk]

Hi brewers. Subject sums it up, but I’ll add context:

This is a bit of an experimental brew for me, so I’ma little daunted. I am ready to bottle this big, dark beer (around 10% ABV) and since I didn’t have a spare keg or the time to bottle straight away, I’ve racked this one and let it age since it finished generation in November.

I’m looking to bottle condition this ale batch, but I’m aware that there may be a need to pitch additional yeast. I’ve read up on how from various sources about how etc but this is my first time bottling such an aged beer so have some concerns:

The yeast I have to hand is the same I fermented it with, Wilko Gervin English Ale Yeast (11g) dried sachet.

From what I’ve read, a starter is a good idea. But I’m worried about how long I’d need to leave the starter to ferment for before pitching it, given that additional priming sugar will be added to the batch at bottling.

I’ve never had a bottle bomb before, but then I’ve never added yeast for the sole purpose of carbonation/conditioning, so this is uncharted territory for me.

Also… Is this really necessarily after all? I suppose the only way to tell would be in hindsight, I guess…the batch seems to have have really cleared out while aging so it might be a big gamble to skip the priming.

If it is, could I get away with just mixing the whole sachet in with the priming sugar and crossing my fingers? At least I’d know then that I’d be certain that I hadn’t introduced too many fermentables that way.

Anyway, any thoughts or shared experience welcomed.

 

[VikeMan]

If you decide to add some insurance yeast, you won't need anywhere near a whole pack. Maybe 2-3 grams per 5 gallons.

 

[jameswatsonuk]

If you decide to add some insurance yeast, you won't need anywhere near a whole pack. Maybe 2-3 grams per 5 gallons.

Yeah, cheers. I figured as much. It’s whether it’s worth doing a starter for it or not that gets me. I’ve never really bothered with starters (or even rehydrating) for main (primary) fermentation, and always just tipped dry yeast straight in without any noticeable issues.

Seems the only benefit of the starter is to increase cell count, so if I just added, say, 5-6g dry yeast at bottling time, I’m kind of doing that already in my mind.

 

[VikeMan]

Seems the only benefit of the starter is to increase cell count, so if I just added, say, 5-6g dry yeast at bottling time, I’m kind of doing that already in my mind.

You could add that much, but it's at least twice as much as you'd need IMO (assuming 5 gallons). You don't need a lot of yeast, because the amount of sugars is very small. The more yeast you add, the more will end up in sediment. OTOH, carbonation will probably happen a little fatser.

 

[jameswatsonuk]

You could add that much, but it's at least twice as much as you'd need IMO (assuming 5 gallons). You don't need a lot of yeast, because the amount of sugars is very small. The more yeast you add, the more will end up in sediment. OTOH, carbonation will probably happen a little fatser.

Think I’ve convinced myself that skipping the starter and chucking in about 5g is the dry yeast should suffice. Either way, it’ll be a good experiment, and I’ll report back what I find 4 weeks after bottling

 

[jameswatsonuk]

Ok, so I added around 5g dry yeast into the bottling bucket whilst siphoning in with 80g priming sugar solution, stirring gently to mix in well. Sitting bottled at 25C, coolest I can manage at present but should be fairly consistent temperature. Will chill and crack one in a month and see what happens

 

[jameswatsonuk]

Ok, so obviously I didn’t wait a full month…standard home brewer practice. However, pleased to report that the same I opened last week WAS carbonated. Don’t think it was full carbed yet, but another couple of weeks should yield better results.

I did find, however, that aging in the Carboy didn’t really mellow it out much, if at all. Lots of alcohol heat. I expect that aging under pressure will produce much better results without the worry of whether yeast is still viable. So in future, I’ll aging in keg/bottle instead.

I’ll update accordingly in a couple of month to share findings of bottle aging. All in the spirit of shared experience for the community

 

[jameswatsonuk]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/dry-hopping-options-in-a-borderline-imperial-stout.704134/
For reference. This was the beer in question

 

[jameswatsonuk]

Update: popped another couple of bottles and it seems that the stronger the beer, and the darker (anecdotally) the longer it takes to carbonate (so confirming common wisdom), and the better the result.

This beer has a nice even carbonation now. The yeast lives!!!! This beer is stronggggggg tho ‍♂

On a serious note tho, I would definitely not bother dry hopping an imperial stout though. Totally lost any real high-level hop aroma/flavour. Waste of hops by my estimation xxxx

 

[DBhomebrew]

On a serious note tho, I would definitely not bother dry hopping an imperial stout though. Totally lost any real high-level hop aroma/flavour. Waste of hops by my estimation xxxx

Dry hops in big beers under long aging have purposes other than aroma. They're antiseptic. They have some diastatic properties. Etc.

Glad your beer came out great!

 

[easttex]

When I bottle condition led the last Imperial stout I made, made a small, quick starter using US-05. Then decanted the starter into a keg with priming sugar solution and racked the beer on top of that. Then I used my bottling gun to transfer the sugar-and-fresh yeast charged beer into the bottles. I let it sit up a month and it carbonated perfectly.

If I had not allowed the beer to oxidize while aging it would've been fantastic but that's a story for another time.