Bottling barley wine

[Metsbrew]

Getting ready to bottle a barley wine that has been sitting in the secondary for 3 months. I'm going to add champagne yeast to help prime since it's such a big beer and it sat so long. Do I need to add it and leave it sit or can I add it right before bottling?

 

[Veinman]

First off you may not need to add any yeast at all. How long was it in primary before the 3 month secondary? My last Barleywine was 2 month primary and 4 month secondary and it bottle carbed fine without any additional yeast, it took a month but I had planned on 6 months of bottle aging so no big deal.
If you do add the yeast I'd rehydrate it as per the instructions on the pack, let it proof, give it a stir and then dump it into the bottling bucket racking your beer on top to "swirl" it in, maybe give it a very gentle stir if you want to make absolutely sure it's mixed in well.

 

[bknifefight]

If it's under 6 months, I wouldn't add more yeast. You've got enough little buggers in there that are still hungry. Just don't freak out when it's not carb'd at 3 weeks. Remember, this is a big beer and takes a long time to carb up.