Bottling an Imperial Stout / what are your technique

[Garage12brewing]

Hi guys,

First time I made an Bourbon Imperial Stout that aged about 6 month into a secondary at cellar temperature I never had any carbonation in my bottles so I opened them all and added some hydrated CBC-1 yeast and after 2 months the beer was good to go ( and a year after the beer is much better !! ) ! I guess the new yeast eated all the sugars that the ''dead'' London Ale yeast left behind so I got my bubbles !

I would like to get it right this time...

OPTION #1 : to bottle the beer lets say when the fermentation is done so about 3 weeks or so... add the regular amount of sugar into the bottling bucket and THEN age the beer IN THE BOTTLE ? I guess the yeast would be healty enought at this point to make his job into the bottle.

OPTION #2 : AGE INTO A SECONDARY for a few months but use CBC-1 yeast in the bottling bucket so you dont have surprise with flat beer after a few months of bottle conditioning ?

I would tend to think that OPTION #2 is better... but its only a feeling that aging into a secondary or a barrel would be better...


Thanks for sharing your experience.... it takes so much time making a good Imperial Stout that I think I need some advices.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Under pressure in the bottles, yeast start to contribute off-flavors after about 9-12 months in my experience.

When bottling, put the priming sugar solution in the bucket, start racking, and then when halfway through racking add your properly rehydrated and attemporated yeast. This avoids shocking the yeast with the concentrated priming sugar but still allowed good mixing.

Cheers

 

[Garage12brewing]

Great ! I will do it right this time. Cant wait to taste it in about a year lol