Barley Wine Rescue

[mykafone]

I brewed and bottled at huge barley wine about 6 months ago. I guess I should of, but, didnt pitch extra yeast at bottling. Now its flat. I still plan on aging for as long as possible but I like to sample every month or so. How should I go about carbin my flat ass barley wine?

[Mylo]

I remember that somebody (Danny?) posted a story about somebody "running their CPF in reverse" to get it back into the keg with minimal oxydation. I think that you should probably just uncap them, sprinkle some dry yeast, and recap. If you do it quick enough in a draft free environment then you shouldn't get too much oxygen in there - and hell, some folks say that a Barley Wine should have a touch of oxidation anyway.


Mylo

[DannyW]

Yep, that was me. i tried adding a couple of grains to each bottle of a big flat barleywine and it did nothing. Perhaps rehydrated would work better, or even a couple ml of actively fermenting yeast would work even better yet. Running the bottles through the filler into a purged keg works for sure, though. Then you can adjust to your liking and rebottle later if you want.

[beerocracy]

Before you give up on it, what conditions have they been conditioning under? If they've been in a cool place like a closet or basement, try moving them somewhere warmer. Also, try shaking them once a week to resuspend the yeast in solution. I had a big Belgian Dark Strong that was sweet and undercarbonated after 2 months. Shaking the bottles once a week for a few weeks got the yeast going and it eventually carbonated fully.

[Brew Engineer]

I had a similar situation with a Russian Imperial Stout. I CAREFULLY poured them back into a keg and carbonated it. Then I've bottled as needed. This beer won me a silver medal!

[mykafone]

Before you give up on it, what conditions have they been conditioning under? If they've been in a cool place like a closet or basement, try moving them somewhere warmer. Also, try shaking them once a week to resuspend the yeast in solution. I had a big Belgian Dark Strong that was sweet and undercarbonated after 2 months. Shaking the bottles once a week for a few weeks got the yeast going and it eventually carbonated fully.

I live in the desert - They have been fairly/too warm 70-80. No cool storage within a hundred miles of here..