Bottle conditioning after lagering

[ohad]

yesterday I bottled an oktoberfest lager. It was made pils, Vienna and Munich, OG = 1.055 , yeast was Fermentis W-34/70.

fermentation schedule was 2 weeks at 50F , then a day at 68F for diacetyl rest, then, over a week I slowly lowered to 35F. Then, I racked to a secondary carboy and left to lager at that temp for a month. finished at 1.011.
Yesterday I bottled it. It was crystal clear.
Now I'm afraid it doesn't have enough yeast left, so it won't carbonate...
I didn't have any problem with my previous two lager batches, but they were far from crystal clear when bottled.

 

[Revvy]

It will be fine, make sure it's at 70 degrees and the yeast in there will do their job. I've never had any problems with my lagers carbing up on the same tiemframe as you. THere is still enough yeast to do their job.

 

[stillwater]

I tend to lager (21 days minimum) all of the beer I make, ales or lagers, and have found some yeast strains will drop out enough as to not carbonate when left for three weeks at 70 degrees. Repitching one or two grams properly rehydrated dry yeast with bottling sugar is supposed to do the trick. But the technique is still new to me and I'm still dialing it in.
When I have a batch that only partially carbonated I put the flat beer in a plastic bottle and force carbonate with a carb cap and a party co2 gun fitted with the gas quick disconnect for a keg setup.

 

[Malticulous]

It probably will carbonate in time. I've yet to find any draw backs by adding some dry yeast. Fermentis recommends just 1/2 to one gram per five gallons. I don't rehydrate it or weigh it, just sprinkle some in as it racks and stir it well before bottling. My lagers carb in less than a week.

 

[ohad]

It probably will carbonate in time. I've yet to find any draw backs by adding some dry yeast. Fermentis recommends just 1/2 to one gram per five gallons. I don't rehydrate it or weigh it, just sprinkle some in as it racks and stir it well before bottling. My lagers carb in less than a week.

The obvious draw back of this process is that you need to open a pack of yeast. I don't think I like the idea of keeping an open pack.
Can I do that with washed yeast instead of dry? how much should I use?

I guess I could mix about a spoonful of slurry in a pint of water and add a teaspoon of that into each bottle...

 

[Malticulous]

You can add any yeast. Washed yeast would be better the trub. I keep a pack in a zip loc bag and it keeps just fine for numerous batches. Dry yeast has better heath and gets the samll job done quick.

Teaspoon per bottle? It's a lot less than that, maybe a tablespoon per five gallons.

 

[slackerlack]

ohad, how did your carbonation turn out? I am lagering a beer in the exact same way you did and was wondering if I was going to get carbonation out of it.

One difference, the instructions I have for this beer say to lager for a month then bottle and condition it for two months at 35F. If I have it at 35F, will the yeast carbonate this at all? I would think not.

 

[biggmatt]

when i lager i add a pack of yeast at bottling. If you can wait a month. It will be even cleaner if you carb at 47 to 59f. If not 65f will do. 70f will create esters

 

[Steveruch]

I've gone three weeks at 52 then three months at 34 (crashed from 52 to 34 overnight) and had no problem carbing.