Advice please - getting ready to bottle BW

[Jeeperforlife]

My barleywine has been in secondary for about 8 weeks and im going to be bottling it soon. Maybe worrying too much, but im wondering if i will get enough yeast transferred to the bottles to carb properly. I used WLP001 and it appears to be a pretty firm cake in the secondary.
Thanks

BTW- Dont know if it matters but the OG of this brew was 1.086

 

[weetodd]

I would consider throwing some new yeast in for bottling. Usually the barleywines put a pretty good hurting on the yeast. You probably are not trying to get it super carbonated but it would suck to go through that work and not have it carb up.

I think you could use dry yeast, maybe a portion of a packet. Perhaps some others may have a better sense of how much to use.

 

[Jeeperforlife]

Anyone else have opinions...please?

 

[android]

i'm sure there's still enough yeast in suspension to take care of things, but it definitely wouldn't hurt to add a little to the bottling bucket when you bottle. you don't need much, maybe like 1/5th of a packet of safale us-05 will be plenty. just sprinkle it in, let it hydrate, stir gently to mix it up and bottle... it might even be wise to hydrate it in the priming solution and then rack on top of it once it hydrates to ensure even mixing.

 

[14thstreet]

I made a weizenbock @ 1.081. Okay, different yeast, but not as floculant as WLP001. I should have pitched some fresh yeast at bottling because 1) I never got the high level of carbonation I wanted or 2) I wasn't patient enough to allow whatever viable yeast there was to carbonate. I did end up with yeast sediment in the bottles, so the yeast was there, but even on rousing and keeping it at a warmer temperature didn't add much carbonation after 2 months. Some here would say for a strong beer more time than that is needed, maybe even up to a year (if not repitched). I'd rather add the yeast than take my chances once it is bottled.

 

[Jeeperforlife]

Ok all thanks for the replys. I guess at this point its better safe than sorry so ill toss in part of a packet of US-05. Just out of curiousity, is there any way to preserve whats left of the yeast packet for future use?

 

[nealf]

I wouldn't bother trying to salvage a partial pack of dry yeast. I have tried it before and ended up getting an infection, once you break the seal all bets are off. On a side note, expect the barleywine to take quite a while to carbonate... maybe up to a couple of months. Big beers just take longer to bottle condition.

I see you have my Kolsch in the primary, let me know how it turns out!

 

[Jeeperforlife]

Nealf - thanks for the tip i will TRY to be as patient as possible and give the BW time to carb up good. And I will certainly try to remember let you know about the kolsch. I had a screwup in the brew causing me a high OG and too dark a color but i think itll still be good. Its "lagering" now so itll be a bit til i know for sure.

 

[moosetav]

You could always whip up a quick extract brew or something to use the rest of the yeast. A nice session beer with a low OG would be ok with 75-80% of a dry yeast packet.