re-pitch in secondary?????

[brewmebaby]

i just opened my first bottle of my latest batch. it is a pale honey ale, and it is the first batch that i have put into a secondary fermenter. the clarity is great, and the trub in the bottom of the bottle is almost non-existent, however, it is lacking the amount of carbonation that i have been used to in my previous batches. my question is, should i re-pitch some yeast when i rack to the secondary, and what amount would be advisable??

thanks in advance fellow zymurgists, future batches are counting on you

 

[FlyingHorse]

Unless you're doing a really high-grav beer (where the yeast might be too tired to do the carbonation) or you're doing a really long secondary (especially lagering), you shouldn;t need to repitch yeast at bottling.

How did you prime this batch, and how long has it been since you bottled?

 

[McKBrew]

There may be several other reasons why you are experiencing low carbonation on this batch.

1) You didn't wait long enough for it to condition. 3 weeks is normally the absolute minimum bottle conditioning time.

2) You didn't mix your corn sugar well enough in your bottling bucket (this happened to me). You'll know if you open bottles and see different carbonation levels.

3) One or more of your bottles might not have got a tight seal at capping.

The point of secondary fermentation is for clearing. There should always be enough yeast in suspension to carbonate your bottles with out adding more.

 

[malkore]

typical rule of thumb is 1-2-3
1 week in primary
2 weeks in secondary
3 weeks in the bottle (or keg) to carbonate and condition/age the beer

as already stated, if it wasn't a real heavy beer to start with, and if your yeast was of average ability, then there should've been enough still in suspension when you bottled, to convert the priming sugar to CO2.

when i bottle my wife assists by handing me bottles, capping while I fill, and about every 10-12 bottles I have her gently stir the beer to keep that sugar water mixed in. It *should* be mixed in well enough from just racking the beer onto the boiled & cooled priming sugar water mixture, and the swirling action that creates...but a few gentle stirs will ensure it.


if you did have a really long secondary, yes some people re-pitch a small amount of yeast when they bottle.

 

[brewmebaby]

thanks to all who replied, i do practice the 1-2-3 method, and i fear, based upon opening a couple other bottles that had what i would call normal carbonation levels that i did not mix in the priming sugar water thouroughly. live and learn, and thanks again