Bottling Yeast (adding with priming sugar)

[mister704]

So I am bottling on Sunday. I brewed a Belgian golden strong and wondering can I use any type of yeast when bottling?

My reason I ask is I have some non used yeast from a previous brew sitting in my fridge. I used WLP570 for my Belgian. What I have left is from the lager I made. I added a little bit of yeast to my bottling bucket with the priming sugar and it conditioned really really well.

Wondering can I do the same for my Belgian? I only add a dab to the bucket but I don't want that yeast to change my Belgian. Can this be used to help condition because I don't have any WLP570 left over.

 

[ColoHox]

I would recommend using a neutral yeast such as US-05 if you can't use any of the original yeast. Really though, chewing through priming sugar for conditioning is nothing compared to the entire fermentation, and should not change any characteristics of your beer as long as all the fermentable sugars are gone.

 

[mister704]

Thanks man. Yea its definitely not any left over yeast. I racked this brew 2 times. Racked to secondary to add orange zest and honey then again to a 3rd to clean up and cold crash since the honey created a new yeast cake.

Its nothing at the bottom now but a small amount of honey malt dust that has dropped out.

 

[FarmerTed]

I've never used it before, but I'd go with Champagne yeast. Boulevard uses it for all of their Smokestack beers. It's supposed to work fast, an. it's really the original yeast used for bottle-conditioning.

 

[ColoHox]

Champagne yeast is a good idea too. It is also cheap and easy to find. But a toss up, really, with other neutral dry yeasts like US-05, as the alcohol tolerance is pretty similar.

 

[robopp]

Champagne yeast is a good idea too. It is also cheap and easy to find. But a toss up, really, with other neutral dry yeasts like US-05, as the alcohol tolerance is pretty similar.

Not exactly. EC-1118 is rated up to 18% ABV. I know US-05 can go pretty high but on paper it's only rated to around 12% ABV. In most cases this isn't an issue but, the alcohol tolerance isn't the same. Also, a 5g packet of EC-1118 is only around $1 whereas a 11.5g packet of US-05 is around $3.50.

 

[mister704]

Picked up us-05. Will definitely be ordering some with my next purchase. Cost me dang $5.

 

[Calder]

Why do you need to add any new yeast. I only do it for beers that are over 6 months at bottling time, or are close to the abv tolerance of the yeast.

Champagne yeast is far cheaper than S-05, has a higher abv tolerance, and less likely to further ferment any complex sugars left in the beer.

 

[JusBiz]

How much Champagne yeast do you usually add? Do you do anything prior to adding it (ie hydrate, etc.)?


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[mister704]

Why do you need to add any new yeast. I only do it for beers that are over 6 months at bottling time, or are close to the abv tolerance of the yeast.

Champagne yeast is far cheaper than S-05, has a higher abv tolerance, and less likely to further ferment any complex sugars left in the beer.

Well I was worried that I may of dropped a good amount of yeast with all the moving and racking. Just wanted to ensure it would be right. Basically my mind got the best of me. Plus its a Belgian....I don't mind that bubble. That's what its supposed to be.

 

[Calder]

Well I was worried that I may of dropped a good amount of yeast with all the moving and racking. Just wanted to ensure it would be right. Basically my mind got the best of me.

When racking, you still carry over whatever yeast is in suspension.

Some would argue that racking actually helps keep yeast in suspension. Yeast slowly drop to the bottom, so the lower part of the liquid will have more yeast than the rest, and some of that yeast would have been ready to drop out. When you rack, you mix everything up again, and the yeast have to start the long drop to the bottom again.

 

[Calder]

How much Champagne yeast do you usually add? Do you do anything prior to adding it (ie hydrate, etc.)?

A quarter pack is enough. I usually go to half a pack in a 7 gallon batch. Seems a waste to me, as I never get around to using the rest of the pack on anything ....... I end up tossing it in the boil of another beer as food for the new yeast. At about $1 a pack, it is plenty cheap.

 

[ColoHox]

There are likely plenty of yeast still in suspension to work fine, but adding yeast will certainly not hurt anything, whichever yeast you choose. Usually, a small amount of dry yeast with sugar makes a very reliable conditioning process, and relieves the worry that there might not be enough healthy yeast to do a good job.

 

[mister704]

So one more question. Since this is a Belgian Strong and I am sitting at about 5 gallons to get the real CO2 for Belgian, I calculated at 3.5 CO2. This comes out to 6.46oz of dextrose. Seeing that I am going to add that US-05 packet of yeast, should I cut down some on the dextrose?

 

[mister704]

Bottled and used 4.5 oz of corn sugar and the packet of US-05. I believe now that spring is upon us finally, this should get a room temp of about 65F-68F daily. My last was in the basement which got hot and cold as the fireplace ran.

I got to enjoy quite a bit of it while bottling. Really like it. Hoping it carbs up nice and produces no bombs (that would be bad).