Adding Yeast to Carbonate Beer?

[SRJHops]

I've brewed several dozen beers and have never had a problem with bottle conditioning them... until now. My weizenbock has now been conditioning for 4 weeks and it has not carbonated much at all. I'll give it more time, but I am starting to worry it will never carbonate...

It was the first time I tried the style, and I did underpitch to try to force the esters/flavors, but I'd think there would have been enough residual yeast to carbonate the bottles. (I used 2 sugar tablets in each 22 oz bomber, which worked great for my other beers).

I am going to gently shake the bottles and move them to a warmer room, but if that doesn't work, I am thinking of adding some dry yeast to each bottle. (I usually make New England IPA's and that would be a really BAD idea for that style, but there are barely any hops in this style of beer.)

Does anyone have a recommendation or way for me to figure out how much dry yeast to add to a 22 ounce bomber? I am thinking maybe just a gram or two?

 

[brownni5]

I recommend just giving more time. Big beers, which I'm assuming your weizenbock qualifies as, sometimes take longer to carbonate.

It doesn't take much yeast to prime a 5-gallon batch (I do this with farmhouse ales and sours for a quicker carb), usually only a couple grams for the entire batch. If you chose to go that route, a few grains pet bottle would likely work, assuming the alcohol level isn't already too high. But again, I doubt you'll have to go that route.

 

[SRJHops]

I recommend just giving more time. Big beers, which I'm assuming your weizenbock qualifies as, sometimes take longer to carbonate.

It doesn't take much yeast to prime a 5-gallon batch (I do this with farmhouse ales and sours for a quicker carb), usually only a couple grams for the entire batch. If you chose to go that route, a few grains pet bottle would likely work, assuming the alcohol level isn't already too high. But again, I doubt you'll have to go that route.

Thanks! So maybe 2 grains per 22 oz bomber. Will wait another week or two then give it a try.

 

[Steveruch]

Thanks! So maybe 2 grains per 22 oz bomber. Will wait another week or two then give it a try.

Don't be in a rush to open them and add yeast. The more you handle it the more opportunities for something to muck up.

 

[SRJHops]

Don't be in a rush to open them and add yeast. The more you handle it the more opportunities for something to muck up.

Thanks. What do you think is a reasonable time to wait? It will be 4 weeks on Saturday. I'll probably open one to see how it's coming along. OG wasn't super-high: 1.060, more weizen than bock, but the FG was 1.009 with est ABV of 6.7%.

 

[Steveruch]

Thanks. What do you think is a reasonable time to wait? It will be 4 weeks on Saturday. I'll probably open one to see how it's coming along. OG wasn't super-high: 1.060, more weizen than bock, but the FG was 1.009 with est ABV of 6.7%.

Give it a week or two more. What temperature is the place where this batch is?
You said in your first post that this batch hasn't carbonated much which suggests that there is yeast there but maybe not enough priming sugar. You might want to try opening one and adding some more sugar and give it a week or two at room temperature.

 

[SRJHops]

Give it a week or two more. What temperature is the place where this batch is?
You said in your first post that this batch hasn't carbonated much which suggests that there is yeast there but maybe not enough priming sugar. You might want to try opening one and adding some more sugar and give it a week or two at room temperature.

It's at room temp around 70 degrees. Maybe I will test both by adding yeast to some and more sugar to some others..

 

[MikeCo]

Give it a few more weeks. Depending on the yeast strain, some beers take a long time to carbonate. I had a dubbel that took 6 weeks before I saw any carbonation; but it became very effervescent after a couple months.

 

[thehaze]

Personal experience with only 90 batches for the past 3 years:

I've brewed beers from 4.2 to 9.5% ABV and I do bottle ( not good for all styles ). I've never had beers that didn't have carbonation at 5 days in the bottle, even the higher gravity ones. At 4 weeks, I usually don't have a whole lot of beer left. So, at 4 weeks - for me - it means your beer wont carbonate, no matter how long you'll wait. Pitching more yeast is a good idea to try to create carbonation, but bad at the same time, as you could risk oxidizing it. Sure, there's not a lot of hops in a weissbier, but micro oxidations also occur for other ingredients in the beer, like the malt.

1 gram yeast per bottle is too much. For a 5-6 gallon batch you would need around 2-3 grams to have enough yeast for creating carbonation. I say try to add just a few granules to each bottle. Maybe rehidrate the yeast and make a slurry, which would be easier to dose in each bottle.

Good luck.

 

[MikeCo]

If you've put the right amount of priming sugar in, it's still possible they will carbonate just fine, especially if the beer was in primary/secondary for an extended period. If you're in a hurry, add yeast now. If you can wait 3 or 4 more weeks, do so and add yeast then if you don't see any carbonation developing.

 

[Kent88]

I've also had troubles getting beers to carbonate. I once opened and added sugar to bottles of a pumpkin beer that hadn't carbonated to my liking. I learned that sugar offers a nucleation site, so my beer fizzed like crazy while I added the sugar, and I ended up with basically the same thing.

These days, I add a tiny sprinkle of yeast if I think my beer will have trouble carbonating while I bottle. After that, I accept whatever I get.

 

[SRJHops]

Personal experience with only 90 batches for the past 3 years:

I've brewed beers from 4.2 to 9.5% ABV and I do bottle ( not good for all styles ). I've never had beers that didn't have carbonation at 5 days in the bottle, even the higher gravity ones. At 4 weeks, I usually don't have a whole lot of beer left. So, at 4 weeks - for me - it means your beer wont carbonate, no matter how long you'll wait. Pitching more yeast is a good idea to try to create carbonation, but bad at the same time, as you could risk oxidizing it. Sure, there's not a lot of hops in a weissbier, but micro oxidations also occur for other ingredients in the beer, like the malt.

1 gram yeast per bottle is too much. For a 5-6 gallon batch you would need around 2-3 grams to have enough yeast for creating carbonation. I say try to add just a few granules to each bottle. Maybe rehidrate the yeast and make a slurry, which would be easier to dose in each bottle.

Good luck.

Thanks. I am probably going to add some yeast next weekend if I am still not seeing enough carbonation. Might get a little oxidized, but no other choice other than dumping. I did shake them and moved to a slightly warmer place. We'll see...

 

[MikeCo]

I'd still wait a few weeks - what do you have to lose?

By the way, what is the ABV of the beer and how long was it in primary/secondary before bottling, and what yeast did you use?

As I said, my dubbel showed very little carbonation at 4 weeks, but really started to carbonate at 8. I'm not sure why, but I had that beer in fermenters for a total of about 8 weeks. Since then, I have added yeast at bottling for my Belgian style beers and anything that has aged for an extended period of time.

I add 4 grams per 5 gallon batch into the bottling bucket using CBC-1 yeast, which is about twice the rate recommended by Lallemand, so it's probably more than I need. You can do the math and figure out how much to add to the bombers. I have never added yeast to individual bottles, but if I did, I would likely take 2 to 4 grams and make a slurry with water for a known small volume, and then divide that volume by the number of bottles and put that amount into each bottle with an eye dropper, pipette or syringe.

 

[SRJHops]

I'd still wait a few weeks - what do you have to lose?

By the way, what is the ABV of the beer and how long was it in primary/secondary before bottling, and what yeast did you use?

As I said, my dubbel showed very little carbonation at 4 weeks, but really started to carbonate at 8. I'm not sure why, but I had that beer in fermenters for a total of about 8 weeks. Since then, I have added yeast at bottling for my Belgian style beers and anything that has aged for an extended period of time.

I add 4 grams per 5 gallon batch into the bottling bucket using CBC-1 yeast, which is about twice the rate recommended by Lallemand, so it's probably more than I need. You can do the math and figure out how much to add to the bombers. I have never added yeast to individual bottles, but if I did, I would likely take 2 to 4 grams and make a slurry with water for a known small volume, and then divide that volume by the number of bottles and put that amount into each bottle with an eye dropper, pipette or syringe.

You are correct, I don't have anything to lose from waiting... Of course, if I open one this coming weekend and still nothing (or next to nothing), I have to think something went wrong... Maybe I will consider just adding yeast to half the bottles or something...

I used Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Wheat. It was in primary for one week, then moved to secondary. (I never move my beers to secondary anymore, but I figured I could with the 1 ounce of hops in the recipe.) I also soft crashed to 55 before I transferred, which I now think was a mistake... I still thought there would be enough yeast, but it seems perhaps not...

OG was 1.060, more weizen than bock, but the FG was 1.009 with est ABV of 6.7%.

I have to admit that I didn't calculate the amount of sugar I needed. I bottle directly from the fermenter and skip the bottling bucket. I use one Cooper's sugar tablet in my New Englands (22 oz bombers) and they turn out great, so I figured I'd use two tablets for the weizen (also in bombers) and risk some extra carbonation, which would hopefully fit the style. So pretty surprised to have NO carbonation!

If I do add more yeast, I think I'd use dry yeast. The question is whether to just drop a few grains in each bottle, or rehydrate the yeast, which maybe seems like a better idea? Maybe I make 2 cups and put 1 ounce each in 16 bottles?

 

[MikeCo]

It sure doesn't sound like there was anything in your process to leave an inadequate amount of yeast for carbonation, and I don't think the 55 degree crash would really hurt much. You should have plenty of priming sugar in each bomber, assuming the tablets dissolved. All I can suggest before re-yeasting is to warm the bottles to the mid to high 70s for a couple weeks.

If I were going to open the bottles and add yeast, I would rehydrate it, not so much for the health, but just so I could control the amount added per bottle better than dropping dry granules in.

 

[TwistedGray]

I have to admit that I didn't calculate the amount of sugar I needed. I bottle directly from the fermenter and skip the bottling bucket.

Try this for future batches - 1/2tsp of regular of white sugar per 12oz bottle. I use the same ratio on 16oz flip tops without issue, and 1/2tsp + 1/4tsp for bombers and similar sized bottles.

Sugar -> funnel into bottle -> fill with beer -1" -> cap and repeat

 

[SRJHops]

Update: It carbonated! Thanks to all who told me just to wait it out. It took 5+ weeks, but it's carbed up and looking great.

It takes just one week for my New England IPA's to carbonate, so this is good learning. Apparently, beers with very little hops can take a lot longer? Dry hopping can cause hop creep, so perhaps the overall amount of hops can increase the rate of carbonation? I used just one ounce of hops for this wheat beer, compared to 15 ounces for my New Englands....

 

[MikeCo]

That's great news! Sometimes yeast just require some patience. I can't think of how the hops might affect the carbonation time; I've bottled non-hoppy beers before and had them carb within 2 weeks.