Should I add yeast to bottling bucket?

[Okie_brewer]

I have a Russian Imperial stout that has been on secondary for about 5 months. I've read a couple of different threads on the subject of adding yeast to the bottling bucket to help carbonate high gravity beers that have been setting in secondary for a while and have found some conflicting information... Maybe differing opinions is a better way to phrase that. So, a) should I add yeast? And, b) what harm will it do if I do add yeast?

I feel like there is really no fear of bottle bombs by adding more yeast, so long as I add the proper amount of sugar since the yeast will only eat what they have available to them.

The only fear I have is the possibility of off flavors. On that note, if I use the same yeast that I used in the beer, will it really be noticeable?

Thanks for the help.

 

[SilverZero]

Should be fine.

http://***********/stories/techniqu...212-on-the-yeast-guide-to-bottle-conditioning

 

[theonetrueruss]

my opinion in short: a) yes, b)no harm

I'm planning to bottle a triple in a week or two and will be adding yeast at that time. Unlike the article I do not do a starter for it, I just let my vial get to room temp for a few hours and pitch into my bottling bucket as the wort is draining into it. I've done this on a couple high gravity beers and didn't on a couple others. My experience is that the conditioning happens much faster this way.

 

[user 4295]

I didn't do this when I bottled a 6 month old RIS and I ended up with 5 gallons of flat RIS after several months in the bottles!

 

[Okie_brewer]

Thanks a lot, guys. I will be bottling next week. I think it's going to turn out pretty well.

 

[Bradthoc]

I didn't do this when I bottled a 6 month old RIS and I ended up with 5 gallons of flat RIS after several months in the bottles!

Did you go back at all? I mean, did you try to carbonate what bottles you had left by opening them up and maybe adding dry yeast to each bottle? I'm considering doing this with my RIS that has been bottled for almost 4 months and is still flat. I've read suggestion on adding dry champagne yeast to each bottle to get carbonation going. I am a little nervous about bombs though...

 

[FatsSchindee]

I'm wondering the same thing...
I have a RIS I brewed mid-May, was in primary til 7/3, and then has bulk aged until now. Just last week I added some bourbon-soaked oak chips to it, and the time is near to bottle.
I have both a dry champagne yeast and a dry ale yeast (Munton's Gold) in my fridge (I used WLP001 for the RIS), but both are about 6-8 months old - are they still at all viable (neither have been opened and have been in the fridge the whole time)? Also, I only have 2 gallons to bottle, so was thinking of just pitching the whole pack...
Think this'll work? Or is it worth it to make the hour-long trip to the LHBS to get some fresher yeast? And what's a good pitch rate for this (it's a 10% beer)?
Thanks!


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