pitching yeast at bottling

[Blindnil]

So I have a RIS that I brewed in early March, 2013. I want to bottle it soon.

It started at 1.109 and finished at 1.026. I want to bottle it but I think I need to add yeast after 7 months of aging. (It was racked twice because my yeast flubbed out after 3 weeks at 1.040, so I racked it to a washed cake of -05 and it finished at 1.026)

From what I've read, adding yeast and priming sugar to aged beers seems relatively straight forward, however, I have never read anything about a finished gravity this high and priming sugar/yeast ratio.

Do I worry about adding priming sugar to a final gravity beer that is this high in residual sugar? Would the fresh yeast simply eat the remaining sugar in the final product and become carbonated without additional food for the yeast? Is there a reason to add priming sugar? Should I just bloom the yeast, add to the bottling bucket a third of the way through transfer from the carboy, give a very gentle stir and bottle as normal?

Or do I add the normal amount of priming sugar (I like them stouts at a low 1.6 vol. co2) to the bottling bucket and the yeast, hoping I will not have any bottle-bombs?

I've heard some friends say that my yeast will still be viable and to just prime at bottling. I'm not convinced or comfortable with this idea as its the biggest and most complex beer I've made to date and I don't want to open a bottle next year and have flat brew. Any advice? Thanks in advance!

 

[BigFloyd]

After that long of an aging period, I'd be inclined to pitch about 1/4 packet of Notty or US-05 on it in the bottling bucket.

Considering the OG, at 1.026 I'm thinking that you're done with the fermentables. Prime with sugar as you normally would. If you don't, you're going to end up with a very flat batch of RIS.

 

[sweetcell]

use a wine or champagne yeast. any residual sugars at this point will be long-chain sugars that wine yeast can't consume. the only thing they'll have to eat is your priming sugar.

i'd aim for slightly higher than 1.6. after 7 months, the CO2 will have almost all escaped from your beer. priming calculators assume that your beer is relatively fresh and that CO2 hasn't completely off-gassed.

 

[Blindnil]

should I go about adding a champagne yeast differently than an ale yeast? Would montrachet or a champagne be better, or does it matter?

Thanks!

 

[sweetcell]

should I go about adding a champagne yeast differently than an ale yeast? Would montrachet or a champagne be better, or does it matter?

Thanks!

nope, add it in the same way. to be certain, i'd add 1/5 of a packet (a gram or two is plenty), rehydrated, to your bottling bucket.

you can also add a bit more (maybe 1/3 of a packet) to you fermenter 48 hours before bottling. that will give it time to eat up any residual sugars, if that's a concern. you want to add a little more than you would to the bottling bucket, because some of that yeast will settle out in the fermenter.