no yeast

[stargaz97]

I bottled an amber ale 2 weeks ago after cold crashing for a week at 34F. I noticed the other day that I had no sediment at the bottom of any bottles. Obviously not getting any action out of or a complete lack of yeast. I opened a bottle just to check, just as flat as the day it was bottled. I used coopers in every bottle. So I picked up some yeast yesterday. Going to inoculate each bottle and recap. We shall see what happens...

I am curious what happened here. I hit my final gravity just fine. Did the cold crash kill the yeast? If that is not it...I do use the same tools that my father uses to make wine. I wonder if I didn't clean something with potassium metabisulfate accidentally and kill the yeast like that? Any ideas??

 

[Special Hops]

Just asking the obvious. But did you perhaps forget the priming sugar?

 

[PT Ray]

I crash chill (2-3 weeks at that) and bottle condition on a regular basis, haven't had to add any yeast. When I've crashed chilled it's not uncommon for it to take several weeks before it starts to carbonate and even longer to get fully juiced.

 

[stargaz97]

Yeah, I used coopers carbonation drops. Oh and the bottles are being stored in a basement room that is always between 68-71F.

 

[stargaz97]

So PT Ray, do you think I am jumping the gun here?

 

[Yooper]

I know you didn't ask me, but I think so. I'd just warm them up, even to 75 or so if you can.

I've done lagers, where I've lagered in secondary for 6 weeks or more, and the beer still carbed up just fine.

If there is no yeast sediment on the bottom, it just means that the yeast is still in suspension. Even with a highly flocculant yeast, a week of cold crashing wouldn't get rid of all of them.

 

[stargaz97]

okay...so this brings me to ask, with my concern that i might have used a bottle containing potassium metabisulfate instead of star san when i sanitized at the time of checking my final gravity before i cold crashed, would I do harm by reinoculating the bottles?

 

[Yooper]

okay...so this brings me to ask, with my concern that i might have used a bottle containing potassium metabisulfate instead of star san when i sanitized at the time of checking my final gravity before i cold crashed, would I do harm by reinoculating the bottles?

no, you won't do any harm. It'd just be a bit of a pain to open each bottle, add a grain of yeast, and then recap with new caps.

 

[PT Ray]

Ride it out for a couple more weeks. You haven't mentioned anything that I would be alarmed about.

Are you saying you may have sanitized with a sulphate solution instead of Starsan? If you used an overly strong sulfate solution you should have picked up on the sulphur odor. If you didn't notice anything I wouldn't worry.

 

[stargaz97]

Looks like maybe just trying to rush things. Opened a bottle last night and had a little head. Still a bit to go.