How do YOU bottle aged big beers?

[Jupapabear]

I've done some searching to no avail.

So recently I brewed a Russian Imperial Stout. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/russian-imperial-stout-2011-hbt-competition-category-winner-238807/ I have some questions about bottle conditioning this one. I pitched the 2L starter into 6 gallons of 1.094OG on 4/9/14, and will move it over to my 5gal sanke for bulk aging after about a month in primary, depending on constant readings. I have read several post suggesting that bulk aging before bottling (vs bottling after fermentation and then aging in the bottles) leads to more consistency from bottle to bottle.

If I age this one out for 3-6 months then bottle, are there enough yeasties to eat up the priming sugars? Or would I need to pitch some yeast (and if so please go on and tell me how to go about that :what: )? I wont be kegging this time because me and two of my pals are splitting this batch up. Thanks for any help offered, and hopefully this can be a the place for anyone to turn to when looking for advice on aging big beers.

Cheers and brew on.

 

[trevorc13]

I'm always afraid of yeast dropping out, so I'll bottle after 4 weeks, then age as long as necessary. If you go over that, I'm sure there will still be enough yeast to carbonate your beer, but adding some yeast to your bottling bucket wouldn't hurt. Probably half a pack of US05 yeast would be okay. The longer you go, the more likely you'll have to do this. Did this answer what you asked?

 

[orangehero]

I like EC1118 for bottle conditioning. Neutral flavor, high alcohol tolerance, high flocculation.

Use a simple sugar for priming and about half of a 5 gram packet of the dry yeast. Although optional, I like to rehydrate as the dry yeast tends to settle and needs to be stirred up several times during bottling to ensure even distribution.

Very simple and inexpensive to make sure you have rapid and even carbonation instead of relying on whatever tired, stressed yeast is still present. No reason not to do it.

EDIT:
With wine yeast there is no worry of it attenuating further, as they generally lack the ability to ferment maltose and maltotriose (and more complex polysaccharides)...hence my point about using a simple sugar for priming rather than DME.

 

[DSorenson]

I have never done this, although I may have to with my current barleywine (1.100). I would be hesitant to use a different yeast strain than what was originally used, and here is why:

Every strain reaches a certain attenuation and stops. If you used a strain that attenuates well enough, and then used one that attenuates better at bottling time, you have the potential for bottle bombs. If you feel you might want to pitch more yeast, pitch the same strain you initially used.