Adding yeast at bottling

[breuller]

I hope this is the right place to post this. I have an Imperial Stout that was in the primary for 22-23 days and has been in the secondary since 9/18. I'm worried that there isn't enough yeast to carb up the sugar...last gravity reading was 9/18 at 1.03...OG 1.09. I have US-05 and S-04 just wondering how much to use or if to use it at all. Any help appreciated...oh yeah extract brew...

 

[chuckcomm]

I am not an expert but there should be enough yeast left over to just prime as usual and it will carbonate just fine.

 

[breuller]

I am not an expert but there should be enough yeast left over to just prime as usual and it will carbonate just fine.

Thanks for the input. Have you brewed RIS and kept in fermentors that long and it carbed up fine? Never brewed RIS and have heard ppl say that I need to "just sprinkle a little US05 in the bottling bucket." Never done this before in my limited brewing experience but don't wanna waste money on flat beer either...thanks again...

 

[chuckcomm]

No I havent but from reading a lot I found that a couple months fermenting is fine and there should be more than enough yeast to prime the usual way.

 

[Calder]

I only think about adding yeast if the beer has been in the fermenter for over 6 months. Even at that time, I think there will still be enough yeast to carb. I always re-yeast yeast sours, but they are usually in the fermenter for 2 years or more.

The other reason to re-yeast would be if you have reached the alcohol limit of the yeast. In that case you would be thinking of using a high gravity yeast, such as champagne yeast. You had an OG of 1.090 and an FG of 1.030 = 8% abv.

As the beer has only been in the fermenter for 8 weeks, and your abv is not too high, you should not have any problems.

 

[breuller]

Ok so I'm with you no need...but is there any harm. I plan on leaving in the bottle for at least a month but if I toss a lil S-04 in the bottling bucket will I over carb or make bottle bombs? Just wanna make sure beer is carbes...oh yeah added a pint of bourbon to secondary so FG should be a bit lower...

 

[Calder]

Additional yeast will not hurt, or cause bottle bombs.

 

[pvault98]

Additional yeast will not hurt, or cause bottle bombs.

I agree, the only side effect really will be a bit more yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle. On a big beer that has gone through secondary, there will still be enough yeast to carb the beer, however it may take longer than you'd prefer to wait and there is a small risk it will not fully carb.

I recall making an RIS several years back and I swear it took several months to fully carb. I think the yeast mostly died off b/c back then I wasn't oxygenating, using nutrients, or making great starters. If you know you pitched a really healthy crop of yeast then you should be more than fine, if any doubt just add a little more at bottling. How much? That I don't know very well unfortunately, however my guess is if you hydrate a half pack and pitch it you should be fine.