hyper clear beer

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anderj

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I have a kolsch that I brewed a month ago, 8 days primary and about three weeks secondary. All of the fermentation was at about 58 except the last two days of primary were at 68.
I bottled it three days ago and it was crystal clear, still is today. When I look at the bottles there is no sediment on the bottom.
Do you think that there is still some amount of yeast lurking about? Enough to carbonate?
I never thought that I would worry about a beer being too clear but yet here I am.

just in case you are curious here is the recipe:
Extract
5lb pale LME
2lb wheat extract
.5lb 10l crystal
willemmette and saaz hops
Wyeast kolsch 2565

thanks
-ander
 
I'm not really experienced with the style, but three days seems early to start worrying about carbonation. I once kept a Belgian dark strong ale in secondary for eight months, and bottled it without any additional yeast. It carbonated just fine, but it took about six weeks.
 
I wouldn't worry. Yeast gets around. Chances are enough sneaked in there to carbonate your beer. If not, you may be able to sell your secret of totally yeast free beer to some big breweries.
 
If you're worried about carbonation after a while - eg if you crack one at two weeks and it's dead flat - you can try agitating the bottles to get yeast in sediment back into suspension. I've had to do this with conditioning 1968 ESB yeast because it's so damn flocculant. Although, Kölsch yeast is supposed to be low-flocc. . .
I still think it'll be fine. RDWHAHB.
 
Get those bottles warmed up to around 72F for the next two weeks to help the tiny population of yeast left in solution to get the job done. I'm sure they're in there, but they are definitely few. It's gonna take some time, but pushing the temp up to the very top of the range for that strain will help to keep it as short as possible. If they are sitting at 65F it could take months.
 
yes, make sure you're bottle conditioning at 70F/room temperatures. 3 days is not enough time to gauge sediment formation due to bottle carbing.

as long as you did not filter the beer when bottling, there is yeast left to carbonate.

Patience is a must.
 
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