I have a Northy 12 Belgian Quad ready to bottle in a month. After looking at reviews there are brewers adding yeast with the priming sugar due to little or no carbonation on prior batches. They say due to the long three month secondary fermentation all the yeast was used up and thus the reason for lack of proper carbonation. Has anyone else experienced this issue? I was also told to give it more time to condition and if there is still no or little carbonation one can add yeast to individual bottles. This sounds like a nightmare to me and contamination issues. I am new to homebrewing with a year of experience and to date have not had any carbonation issues when bottling. Thanks for your help.
To Add or Not Add Yeast
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Even with five years experience I'm still not sure about whether I need to do this or not for any individual batch.
I generally won't until I've had a few batches in a row with a recipe where it's under carbonated. I'm yet to have one, but a bottle bomb seems worth avoiding.
The other reason not to do it until you're sure your process leaves you undercarbonated is that many of these aged imperials taste pretty good with very low carbonation.
When I've done it I just add a small amount of US-05 or similar to the sugar solution prior to bottling, rather than adding it to each bottle.
I've also got a bunch of bottles aging with brett in them at the moment and they're even less predictable and more likely to over carbonate. So I've bought a big plastic tub for storing those 'at risk' batches. May be worth it if you really want to avoid under carbonation.
I generally won't until I've had a few batches in a row with a recipe where it's under carbonated. I'm yet to have one, but a bottle bomb seems worth avoiding.
The other reason not to do it until you're sure your process leaves you undercarbonated is that many of these aged imperials taste pretty good with very low carbonation.
When I've done it I just add a small amount of US-05 or similar to the sugar solution prior to bottling, rather than adding it to each bottle.
I've also got a bunch of bottles aging with brett in them at the moment and they're even less predictable and more likely to over carbonate. So I've bought a big plastic tub for storing those 'at risk' batches. May be worth it if you really want to avoid under carbonation.
Th
Thanks Mark for your help. I think your suggestions to leave it age and then see what comes of the carbonation is the safest way to handle the potential issue.
Yep just because it happened to another brewer doesnt mean itll happen to you.
Adding a second yeast will not hurt. The carbonation level is determined by the quantity of fermenter sugar available. With something like a Quad, you might have approached the alcohol tolerance level of the yeast. You can always try a champagne yeast. Very dry and neutral with a high alcohol tolerance.
To avoid the bottle bomb, add the yeast to the secondary, and see if fermentation picks up. If there is no activity after a few days, the beer is completely fermented and you can transfer to the bottling bucket and add the priming sugar.
To avoid the bottle bomb, add the yeast to the secondary, and see if fermentation picks up. If there is no activity after a few days, the beer is completely fermented and you can transfer to the bottling bucket and add the priming sugar.
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I brewed a Wee Heavy a couple of years ago. One month primary and four months secondary, then bottled. I was terribly disappointed when month after month, almost every bottle had virtually no carbonation. I still have some left and a few months ago I hit one that had a little bit if carbonation. It tasted awesome! Oh what might have been...
. Lesson Learned: This summer I brewed a W00t Stout and added Lallemand CBC-1 to the bottling bucket and it is carbing up nicely. I added the whole yeast packet to 5.25 gallons of beer. If you want to play it safe you could start with a 1/2 pack of yeast. Bottle bombs are no joke but, as long as your FG is where you expect it to be and you are priming with the proper amount of sugar (or other fermentable) you should be fine adding yeast prior to bottling.
. Lesson Learned: This summer I brewed a W00t Stout and added Lallemand CBC-1 to the bottling bucket and it is carbing up nicely. I added the whole yeast packet to 5.25 gallons of beer. If you want to play it safe you could start with a 1/2 pack of yeast. Bottle bombs are no joke but, as long as your FG is where you expect it to be and you are priming with the proper amount of sugar (or other fermentable) you should be fine adding yeast prior to bottling.
