Late bottle conditioning

Sat Jul 17, 2010 8:55 am

I had brewed a beer for the Long Shot, but in the bottle it failed to carbonate (via bottle conditioning). I recently cracked one open and has the slightest hint of bubbles and is just way to sweet, from the priming sugar. I have some American Ale yeast I've been saving in the fridge, and I was thinking about making a starter with it and popping all my caps from the bottles, adding some active yeast and then re capping.
Has anyone done this before? I need some advise about how much yeast to add to each bottle. I don't want any bombs or overly yeasty beers, I would just like to save this batch of almost 8% honey blonde ale.
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Re: Late bottle conditioning

Sat Jul 17, 2010 3:18 pm

Here is my recommendation which I have done before when my monster gravity brews failed to carb in the bottle. It is also a cheaper way than using liquid yeast and making a starter.

Buy a pack of lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast (1$). Rehydrate it properly using sanitary methods. Sanitize a medicine dropper. Pop a few caps off of a few bottles and quickly and carefully add 1 mL of the rehydrated yeast into each bottle. Recap with new sanitized caps and keep warm for at least 7 days. Your beer will be carbonated in about 1 wks time (at most). Champagne yeast is the best for this job for several reasons

1. its cheaper than anything else
2. it works well in low pH enviromnents (fermented beer)
3. it is very alcohol tolerant

In the future any time you bottle a beer that has either been aging for awhile or is stronger than 7-8% ABV, then always rehydrate a pack of this yeast and add it to your priming sugar to ensure a full carbonation in the bottle. Good luck brother and hope you do well with the Long Shot!
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