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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:
  Re: bottle conditioning/refermentation (Fred L Johnson)
  bottle conditioning/refermentation (Scott Birdwell)


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Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2011 07:35:48 -0400
From: Fred L Johnson <FLJohnson52 at nc.rr.com>
Subject: Re: bottle conditioning/refermentation

Keith Busby asks how much yeast to add to his five-gallon batches to bottle
condition his beers. I heard (indirectly from Sierra Nevada) that you should
add yeast to achieve one million cells per milliliter. A Wyeast Propagator
pack supposedly provides about 30 billion cells. (I'm not even sure one can
still purchase a Propagator pack. It doesn't show up as a product on the
Wyeast web site. Can someone confirm whether or not these are still
available?) Pitched into a 5 gallon batch, this pack would provide about 1.6
million cells/mL--more than you need (especially since the unfiltered beer is
unlikely to be free of living cells), but easy to perform. 

The Wyeast Activator pack supposedly contains about 100 billion cells--many
more cells than you need. To achieve one million cells/mL, you would only
need to pitch 19 percent of the pack. If one goes this route, I recommend
pouring the contents into a sterilized or sanitized graduated cylinder and
pitching about 20 percent of that volume. (Make a starter for your next batch
with the remainder.) Alternatively, if you don't have a graduated cylinder,
you could pour the contents of the pack into a larger known volume of boiled
and cooled water and then pitch about 20 percent of that larger volume.

Of course, you can make a small starter from stored yeast, count the cells
in the starter, and pitch the appropriate volume of that. And you may be able
to get by without adding any fresh yeast. If you can stir up a small amount
of the yeast from the bottom of your carboy, that will probably be plenty,
assuming it is still viable. With this method you won't know exactly how many
viable cells you are transferring unless you count them--use a hemocytometer
and a stain such as methylene blue that is excluded by the viable cells. 

I personally always pitch fresh yeast when bottle conditioning to ensure
consistent results. I do this by counting the cells in my starter and
pipetting an appropriate volume of cells into each bottle. I also add the
sugar to each bottle in the same manner after making up a solution of a known
concentration.

Fred L Johnson

Apex, North Carolina, USA

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Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:25:37 -0500
From: Scott Birdwell <defalcos at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: bottle conditioning/refermentation

> Keith Busby <kbusby at wisc.edu> wrote:

> Subject: bottle conditioning/refermentation

> 

> 1) I have a tripel in a 5-gal carboy that has been in secondary for about
5

> weeks now and would like to bottle condition it as per Westmalle
procedures.

> Assuming the normal amount of priming sugar, how much yeast do I add? I am

> going to use Wyeast 3787. One swollen smack pack? Half? Stepped up?

Like most homebrew shop owners, I would love to sell you another pack of
Wyeast for this purpose, but frankly, I think it's a waste of money.  You've
already obtained the flavor profile with your original yeast and switching
yeast strains or even adding more of the same for bottling will have little
impact on flavor IMHO.	All you need at this point is a yeast that will
tolerate higher alcohol levels, eat sugar, produce carbon dioxide, and then
settle out and pack down when it's done.  I would contend that a decent
quality dried yeast will do nicely for this purpose.  Nottingham, Safale
US-05, etc. should do the trick.  Keep in mind that the typical amount of
priming sugar will only raise the gravity maybe two points, so that's all
you're really fermenting at this stage.  Other folks may have different
opinions, but that's the way I see it.

Scott Birdwell

DeFalco's Home Wine & Beer Supplies

sales at defalcos.com

www.defalcos.com

P.S. After "only" five weeks in the secondary, I'd be willing to bet that
there is still enough viable yeast left suspended in the beer to carbonate
without the assistance of an additional yeast charge.

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