Dead yeast cells, carbonization and bottling

[brew starter]

Hi,

I was interested to know about the community's thoughts. I have recently made another batch of Hefeweissen (my favourite beer), but I am still finding that I am tweaking the processes every time I am making in order to make a better and better tasting beer. Here's the question...After about 2-3 weeks of fermentation, the beer is now rather clear and very little obvious fermentation is taking place. Most of the yeast and gunk have not settled to the bottom of the fermenter in what appears to be a half inch of white cake. In all cases I would very gently transfer this clear liquid to another vessel, add my glucose and then bottle it from there, leaving the yeast cake at the bottom. Here is the trouble I am having. I would like to think that not all the yeast at the bottom of the fermenter is dead. At least some percentage just dropped out due to insufficient sugars left and drop out of solution. Shouldn't I stir up some of this cake, then add the glucose and then bottle. Surely I would get a slightly higher alcohol% or better carbonization? Or possible better taste profile? If all the yeast is out of solution before bottling, how can I expect the final stage of carbonization to occur sufficiently?

 

[HM-2]

There will be enough yeast in suspension to allow bottle carbonation without rousing, especially with Hefe yeasts which are generally very low flocculators. Getting too much yeast in your bottles for conditioning is just going to increase your chances of getting certain off-flavours, especially if you're storing.