Enough live yeast in my hef to bottle?

[ShawnNelson]

I've been bottling for almost two years now, and usually I don't have any problems with bottle conditioning. My process is basic: extract brewing, then after primary fermentation is complete I rack to secondary, stays for a few weeks then bottle with a cup of priming sugar (boiled with water).

However, usually when looking at the beer in my secondary, I can see small bubbles rising to the top, indicating live yeast still doing their thing.

On my current batch, a lightweight hef (6lbs of LME) I let it stay in the primary for two full weeks, it finished nicely, at 1.013. I racked to secondary but there are NO bubbles rising to the top. Now that I've racked, and I see zero activity, do you think I still have enough active yeast to bottle condition? Or should I hydrate a new packet of something at bottling?

Thanks!

 

[jdauria]

Just because there are no bubbles doesn't mean the yeast are completely dead. If they have already down their job and converted the sugar to alcohol and CO2, they could be just dormant. Once you add priming sugar it should wake them up. However, saying that, it can't hurt to add some yeast at bottling. When I do lagers that have sat for months, I usually had half a pack of dry yeast (after hydrating) for carbonating.

 

[TyTanium]

Bubbles/activity don't tell you anything about suspended yeast.

You have enough yeast. No need to add more.

PS: 1c of priming sugar? What size batch?

 

[ShawnNelson]

Bubbles/activity don't tell you anything about suspended yeast.

You have enough yeast. No need to add more.

PS: 1c of priming sugar? What size batch?

Thanks!

5gal batch. 1cup is the recommended does of my local brewing store, seems to do the job well.

 

[sweetcell]

Thanks!

5gal batch. 1cup is the recommended does of my local brewing store, seems to do the job well.

and i've seen people recommend a half cup... a full cup does sound like a lot. are we talking dextrose (corn sugar), or sucrose (table sugar)?

personally, i recommend weighing your sugar. several factors affect how much sugar can go into a given volume. using weight is much more reliable.

 

[ShawnNelson]

and i've seen people recommend a half cup... a full cup does sound like a lot. are we talking dextrose (corn sugar), or sucrose (table sugar)?

personally, i recommend weighing your sugar. several factors affect how much sugar can go into a given volume. using weight is much more reliable.

dextrose.

how much sugar do you put in?

 

[TyTanium]

Let's see...1 cup of dextrose is ~6-7 oz, so at 5 gallons that's ~3.5 vols. Definitely fine for the styles, but you're pushing it for the pressure limits of standard 12 oz bottles. Personally, I try to stay at or below 3, but I've gone as high as 4 (before I knew better) without issue.

Check out this calculator:
http://tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

 

[sweetcell]

dextrose.

how much sugar do you put in?

depends on the style. stouts should have less carbonation than wheats & belgians, i like my APAs/IPAs between the two, etc. great thing about using calculators is you can choose how many volumes of CO2 you want and then weigh out the corresponding amount of sugar.

along with the tastybrew calculator linked above, i also like to use:
http://kotmf.com/tools/prime.php
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

 

[ShawnNelson]

Woohoo! Carb was successful! Popped the first bottle tonight (15 days after bottling)