Adding yeast at bottling

[anbowden]

I recently made a Weizenbock that sat in a secondary fermenter for 2 months and decided when bottling to add a half pack of dry champagne yeast. My process was to first add the corn sugar-water mixture to the bottling bucket, followed by the hydrated yeast solution, and finally I racked the beer into the bucket. After I was done bottling, I noticed alot of yeast in the bottom of the bucket:

I imagine I did one of two things wrongs:
1. I didn't stir everything up in the bottling bucket before bottling
2. Maybe I should've poured the yeast on top of the beer in the bucket?

The Weizenbock turned out OK, probably a little under-carbed. But I'm getting ready to bottle a Barleywine and after the time investment(6 months in secondary), I want to make sure there aren't any problems.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[william_shakes_beer]

The yeast at the bottom of the bucket is from the original fermentation. Perfectly normal. FYI, chanpagne yeast is more agressive and will likely eat sugars that the original ale yeast couldn't. I'd recommend you take precautions against bottle bombs, unless you've done this before.

 

[Cider123]

Generally there is always yeast still in suspension so that you only need to add the sugar to get bottle carbing. I was surprised to hear that you were adding more yeast at all.
Did someone give you that advice because your beer sat so long in secondary that the fear was that the yeast had separated out in all that time? I would think that if your beer didn't carb enough, it would be because of not enough priming sugar or not enough time.

 

[GrogNerd]

I usually add each part ⅓ at a time

⅓ priming solution, ⅓ beer, gentle stir, repeat 2x

if using additional yeast, combine it with the priming solution before adding

 

[anbowden]

The yeast at the bottom of the bucket is from the original fermentation. Perfectly normal. FYI, chanpagne yeast is more agressive and will likely eat sugars that the original ale yeast couldn't. I'd recommend you take precautions against bottle bombs, unless you've done this before.

I've never had yeast like this at the bottom of the bucket(except when I added additional yeast at bottling). From my research, the limiting factor on bottle bombs isn't yeast, it's sugar.

Did someone give you that advice because your beer sat so long in secondary that the fear was that the yeast had separated out in all that time? I would think that if your beer didn't carb enough, it would be because of not enough priming sugar or not enough time.

From my research on the forums, 2 months in secondary with a big beer(mine was 1.085) is about the borderline of whether it's necessary to add yeast at bottling, so I decided to add a little(1/2 pack) to be on the safe side.
I used a bottle priming calculator and it's been in the bottle for 3 months. Maybe my tastebuds aren't as calibrated to know the CO2 volumes, but I guess thats beside the point, haha.

if using additional yeast, combine it with the priming solution before adding

Now this is something I didn't think of trying! By the way, I've had good luck in the past, about 10 batches, racking the beer on top of the sugar solution and NOT stirring. I'll try stirring and staggering the sugar/yeast additions as the beer racks.

Thanks,
Andy