bottle conditioning question

[LlewellynBrewHaus]

Citizens,
quick poll to ask a question.. "Do you use a bottling yeast at packaging?"
If so:
1. when do you consider it necessary
2. do you have a go to strain

Cheers !
Matt

 

[jeffpn]

I have never pitched yeast at bottling time.

 

[Head First]

I never pitch yeast at bottling time. Most of the time if I want bottles I force carbonate in a keg and fill bottles with a counter pressure filler from the keg. Very little sediment that way.

 

[Basquebrewing]

I bottle condition after two weeks in primary and never needed to add yeast. I have heard you could if you have had a long fermentation time say a few months. What sort of time are you talking about? I think the thing to remember is that even relatively clear beer after a few weeks fermenting still contains enough yeast in suspension to carbonate a bottle

 

[Nosybear]

I've never added yeast even for the clearest of lagers and my beers have always carbonated.

 

[MrBIP]

Had the same question just within the past few months as I've started doing some lagering. 3-4 weeks at near freezing temps, crystal clear at bottling time, no extra yeast, bottles carb up just fine. VERY limited experience on this subject, but so far, I'd say why risk over-carb or bottle bombs, there's apparently enough yeast in there to get the job done.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

yes it really depends on what yeast you use, high, low or medium flocculating, anything other than high and your fine and will carb great

 

[Nosybear]

Schwarzbier, crystal clear after 2 months lagering, carbed in seven days, no yeast added. Point is, it doesn't matter how clear the beer looks, there's yeast suspended in it unless you filter. Carbonation doesn't need much.

 

[LlewellynBrewHaus]

Thanks for the great input guys

 

[Hogarthe]

I've never added yeast at bottling. The only time I can see it being needed is if you did a very high alcohol beer. The stress from fermenting so much sugars and the high level of alcohol could make the original yeast too worn out to carb, but I haven't done a brew that strong.

 

[Basquebrewing]

I know a few commercial breweries that bottle condition do add yeast at bottling but that is after filtering the old yeast out. Hefeweizen brewers also add yeast but I am not sure if they filter or not, my guess is they do. They do it because the visible yeast in the bottle is a desirable quality for the style.

 

[Nosybear]

That's what's happening - they're filtering out their proprietary yeast and conditioning with something off-the-shelf.

 

[EbonHawk]

I feel like, that if I've done everything right, adding yeast at bottling time will never be an issue. With that being said, there are sometimes when you have to adjust on-the-fly and do what needs to be done. Unless for some reason I didn't trust the yeast I used in primary, I'd just use the same yeast at bottling to keep the variable as low as possible.

 

[Nosybear]

Well said, Mike.