Will I need to add additional yeast at bottling?

[batesjer]

Hey everyone, this is my first post and would appreciate any input.

I'm currently brewing a La Fin Du Monde clone. I used Wyeast Trappist yeast and utilized a starter. Starting OG was app. 1.090. Plan to ferment 10 days in primary, 4 weeks in secondary, then bottle for another month (if I can wait that long). I know that carbonation will probably take a while, but should I be concerned that my yeast may be very inactive at bottling because of the high alcohol content, and should I consider pitching a small starter at bottling to ensure proper carbonation. Wouldn't want to put in all this effort and end up with flat beer. If I should pitch a small starter should I use beer yeast or champagne yeast?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Passload]

No you should not need to. Also it might create a bottle bomb.

 

[Richard]

I have the same question as the thread title, except I am brewing a lager. It is AHS's Octoberfest, and after a couple of weeks in primary it was at 1.014 - the FG called for in the recipe. I've been lagering it for about a month at 34 - 40 degrees. Should I add yeast?

I was thinking about cultivating some yeast from a few bottles of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for this purpose. Has anyone else done this before?

 

[Passload]

I have the same question as the thread title, except I am brewing a lager. It is AHS's Octoberfest, and after a couple of weeks in primary it was at 1.014 - the FG called for in the recipe. I've been lagering it for about a month at 34 - 40 degrees. Should I add yeast?

I was thinking about cultivating some yeast from a few bottles of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for this purpose. Has anyone else done this before?

Nope no need to add yeast.

 

[bradsul]

For a big beer like that I would do 2-3 weeks primary and then secondary for a couple months. Then bottle for 6 months or so. That beer will need a lot of aging time before it is drinkable.

At that point you probably wouldn't need any yeast at bottling time, but you can add a couple grams of dried yeast if you felt it necessary.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

No you should not need to. Also it might create a bottle bomb.

While you are correct that there is usually no need to add yeast at bottling time, doing so WILL NOT typically result in bottle bombs. The presence of too much sugar at bottling time is what creates bottle bombs. A little (or even a lot of) extra yeast at bottling won't do much harm. So, make sure your beer is done fermenting before bottling.

Possible exception: adding a different, much more aggressive/alcohol tolerant yeast at bottling could result in disaster...but it's still not likely.

 

[Passload]

While you are correct that there is usually no need to add yeast at bottling time, doing so WILL NOT typically result in bottle bombs. The presence of too much sugar at bottling time is what creates bottle bombs. A little (or even a lot of) extra yeast at bottling won't do much harm. So, make sure your beer is done fermenting before bottling.

Possible exception: adding a different, much more aggressive/alcohol tolerant yeast at bottling could result in disaster...but it's still not likely.

Yes Yuri_Rage you are correct. But he was talking about pitching a small starter. Will that add the extra sugars?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Yes Yuri_Rage you are correct. But he was talking about pitching a small starter. Will that add the extra sugars?

That depends on whether the starter is completely fermented or not. It's my experience that starters ferment VERY quickly, so it's not likely that using a starter to build yeast for bottling will have any effect on the sugar content of the beer.

 

[Passload]

That depends on whether the starter is completely fermented or not. It's my experience that starters ferment VERY quickly, so it's not likely that using a starter to build yeast for bottling will have any effect on the sugar content of the beer.

Cool thanks for keeping me strait Yuri.

 

[Richard]

Nope no need to add yeast.

What if I lager it for another couple of weeks?

 

[bperlmu]

batesjer, just out of curiosity, is this an extract recipe? either way, how much malt was involved here? im just wondering because i have a trippel fermenting now that i was expecting to have an OG of around 1.090 but it ended up coming out to around 1.080...and i used 11 pounds of lME and DME and a pound of candy sugar...just curious how you got that OG. also, what kind of yeast did you use and how big a starter? La Fin Du Monde is a wonderful beer. Im also quite in love with the Unibroue 15. try it if you get the chance, if you haven't already!

 

[batesjer]

batesjer, just out of curiosity, is this an extract recipe? either way, how much malt was involved here? im just wondering because i have a trippel fermenting now that i was expecting to have an OG of around 1.090 but it ended up coming out to around 1.080...and i used 11 pounds of lME and DME and a pound of candy sugar...just curious how you got that OG. also, what kind of yeast did you use and how big a starter? La Fin Du Monde is a wonderful beer. Im also quite in love with the Unibroue 15. try it if you get the chance, if you haven't already!

I didn't have my log on-hand when I originally posted, but my OG was actually 1.085. I used 8 lbs dme and 1 lb candi sugar. I think one pound of dme is app 44 gravity points/gallon and lme is 36(?) gravity points per gallon. The pound of candi sugar adds about 8 gravity points for a five gallon batch. Did you substitute a small portion of dme for lme? Depending on how much of each type of extract you used you can figure out what the numbers say, and since it isn't likely you lost any of the sugars in transfer maybe your reading was just off. I used a two liter starter with Wyeast Trappist High Gravity. If I had to do it over I would have started with a smaller starter let it go for a couple days, then stepped it up to a larger starter. Fermentation started fairly quick, in about 12 hours and seemed to unexpectedly wane then stop four days later. Air lock was clogged with krausen, good thing I noticed (cut the end off airlock since I didn't really have material to make a blow off tube) and has been going strong for 5 more days. Its day 10 right now and am still getting activity every 10 seconds or so. If you just started this batch keep an eye on it, I've never had a fermentation this strong and I've brewed beers with OG's around 170 before.

I've only had La Fin and Blanch de Chambly. Friend of mine is from Montreal and all he talks about is Unibroue so I imagine I'll be trying the rest in the near future.

 

[bperlmu]

I didn't have my log on-hand when I originally posted, but my OG was actually 1.085. I used 8 lbs dme and 1 lb candi sugar. I think one pound of dme is app 44 gravity points/gallon and lme is 36(?) gravity points per gallon. The pound of candi sugar adds about 8 gravity points for a five gallon batch. Did you substitute a small portion of dme for lme? Depending on how much of each type of extract you used you can figure out what the numbers say, and since it isn't likely you lost any of the sugars in transfer maybe your reading was just off. I used a two liter starter with Wyeast Trappist High Gravity. If I had to do it over I would have started with a smaller starter let it go for a couple days, then stepped it up to a larger starter. Fermentation started fairly quick, in about 12 hours and seemed to unexpectedly wane then stop four days later. Air lock was clogged with krausen, good thing I noticed (cut the end off airlock since I didn't really have material to make a blow off tube) and has been going strong for 5 more days. Its day 10 right now and am still getting activity every 10 seconds or so. If you just started this batch keep an eye on it, I've never had a fermentation this strong and I've brewed beers with OG's around 170 before.

I've only had La Fin and Blanch de Chambly. Friend of mine is from Montreal and all he talks about is Unibroue so I imagine I'll be trying the rest in the near future.

yup im at day 12 now and its still bubbling...yeast hasnt started to settle yet. i figured that fermentation was going to be vigorous so i started out with wiuth a blowoff hose and was glad I did because the krausen was coming out te top for about 3 days before i put on a regular airlo....,did not substitute anything but i added an extra pound of dme....recipe called for 6 lbs lme and 3 lbs dme so i just addeed a little extra just for fun. 6 months or so down the road ill let you know how it turnesd out