Belgian style, adding more yeast prior to bottling

[Beau Diddly]

I was reading (can't remember where) that some Trappist abbeys will pitch more yeast prior to bottling. This is why you should use thicker European bottles because of higher carbonation. If I were to add more yeast, I think I would repitch. However, how much yeast and how would I do a starter?

I've been AG brewing for just over a year, so I'm still in the learning phase.

 

[Rob2010SS]

I was reading (can't remember where) that some Trappist abbeys will pitch more yeast prior to bottling. This is why you should use thicker European bottles because of higher carbonation. If I were to add more yeast, I think I would repitch. However, how much yeast and how would I do a starter?

I've been AG brewing for just over a year, so I'm still in the learning phase.

Im a newbie so i could be way off the mark here. I don't think adding yeast at bottling will do anything to be honest. There's no sugar left for the yeast to consume. There's no oxygen for them to reproduce. And the alcohol already present probably won't help things either.

Like i said, could be way off the mark as im still learning but i don't see a benefit to adding yeast to an already fermented beer at bottling.

 

[Beau Diddly]

Im a newbie so i could be way off the mark here. I don't think adding yeast at bottling will do anything to be honest. There's no sugar left for the yeast to consume. There's no oxygen for them to reproduce. And the alcohol already present probably won't help things either.

Like i said, could be way off the mark as im still learning but i don't see a benefit to adding yeast to an already fermented beer at bottling.

Belgian beers present a unique set of challenges, particularly if you try to use many of the traditional techniques. Many of these styles require the use of added sugars, some do so at the end of the boil, others during secondary. The later will provide the sugar for the added yeast. A good example is Duvel, the benchmark of what a Belgian Golden Strong should be, and they do add yeast/sugar during secondary.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

The thicker bottles are for the extra carbonation, which comes from extra sugar, not extra yeast. Adding extra yeast won't change the level of carbonation. Adding a more attenuative yeast strain at bottling will increase carbonation, but could be quite dangerous. Belgian brewers are known to use different strains at bottling, but, except in the case of sour beers, the effect is likely to be subtle. IMO there are so many other things to try in Belgian brewing (syrups, candi sugars, yeast strains and ferment profiles, spices etc.) that introducing a bottling strain is not necessary. If you do want to try it, make a starter and pitch then bottle when the starter is at high krausen. The ideal starter would simply be some wort from a fresh batch of the same beer, or frozen (and re-boiled) from the original batch. Use a 'krausening' calculator to work out how much you need for carbonation and try to use a yeast strain with similar attenuation.

 

[couchsending]

Belgian brewers add bottling yeast for various reasons.

Some will add bottling yeast because they filter out their house yeast first to protect their primary yeast from being cultured from bottles. Some don’t filter but do add bottling yeast so you would at least need a lab to isolate the different strains.

Often they will add additional yeast at bottling (sometimes their primary strain, sometimes a bottling strain) because the primary beer has been aging for so long there isn’t enough yeast for a successful refermentation in the bottle.

Some will also add Brett at bottling for additional complexity.

Some will also add fermenting beer and Krausen the primary beer instead of adding sugar. Although this is more of a German technique.

The key is successful refermentation in the bottle. The best part of refermentation in the bottle is it helps to preserve the beer for much longer than filling a bottle with force carbed beer.

If you want to add additional yeast along with your sugar use dry yeast. CBC-1 or T-58 are great options as they will only consume the sugar you add and not residual sugars in the beer. You only need 1-2g of dry yeast per 5 gallons.

Belgians use heavy glass cause their beers are ge really carbed to 3-5 volumes of Co2 and normal glass bottles would explode at the Co2 level. Those volumes of Co2 are integral to the style. There’s nothing worse than drinking a Saison carbonated like an IPA.

 

[filthyastronaut]

For the home brewery, I don't think there is any reason to do this unless you have been bulk aging for a long time, especially with a high gravity beer. Unless, of course, you want to experiment with the use of secondary bottling strains. Unless it's Brett, the effect would likely be subtle. I'm skeptical that it would do much at all unless the beer was centrifuged or filtered first, as the new yeast would still need to compete with the original strain otherwise. Plus, it's a small fermentation, under pressure, which is known to suppress esters.

I have considered adding yeast to priming sugar around 30 min. before adding it to the bottle to let it activate and scavange more oxygen, but I'm not sure if it would have a significant effect. Got the idea from the lodo technique of using yeast to lower dissolved oxygen in brewing water.

 

[specharka]

There’s 3 reasons (in my mind) for adding fresh yeast at bottling time:
1) to arrest oxidation from oxygen ingress due to the packaging process
2) to ensure successful carbonation of high gravity brews
3) to scavenge diacetyl and other off-flavors from fermentation

All of these things can be addressed by adding fresh yeast at high krausen (krausening) and are more than applicable for homebrewers. A substantial element to the classic Belgian mouthfeel and head retention is due to refermentation in the bottle to a high carb level—often 3+ volumes.

Brewers Friend has an excellent calculator for krausening. The general rule is to reserve 20% of the wort from the brew day (or use a priming sugar solution), pitch a small amount of yeast and wait until high krausen to pitch to your packaging vessel. It does add some work to the packaging process but can drastically improve the packaged beer quality.

 

[nrjones89]

There are quite a few techniques you can use, and yes, there are strains specifically designed for bottling that have minimal aroma contribution and produce more CO2. German brewers often employ a technique called krausening with lagers.

IME, after doing 5 Belgian style ales, I have found that it usually isn't necessary to use packaging yeasts for bottle conditioning. You have to remember, trappist breweries are doing things on a much larger scale than 5ish~ gallon batches, so that has a lot to do with why they operate in a particular way. You probably won't need to accommodate for this unless you go outside of the range for a particular style, like high ABV.