To Repitch or not to Repitch

[Shawmerrill]

I am brewing my first lager. I have tried to be very diligent in following the lagering temp steps. Final step was for 28 days at 35 degrees. Will yeast (saflager s-23)still be viable for carbonation? Planning on 3 week bottle conditioning at 60 degrees or so but need advice on that part as well as whether or not to repitch fresh yeast. LHBS says to repitch some champagne yeast at bottling but i dont want bombs. If it takes so long to lager, and requires repitching every time, i might stick to ales in the future...just sayin.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

If your beer is really really clear from the lagering stage, then there is not a whole lot of yeast left in suspension and you may have issues with carbonation. Adding a little bit (1/4 packet) of rehydrated yeast slurry into your bottling buket (and make sure it is stirred in well) is a good safeguard just to make sure you have plenty of yeast to do the job of carbonation. It really does not matter too much what type of yeast you use. You can use basic ale yeast, champagne yeast, lager yeast, etc. Dont worry about having bottle bombs, that is not the strain of yeast that makes that happen, it is the amount of priming sugar you add prior to bottling. If you do use an ale or champagne yeast, you will want to keep it a bit warmer than 60.