Your carbonation won't get better.
And here's a tip. With every batch of beer, bottle one beer in a brown plastic (PET) bottle so you can squeeze it to check carb levels. No need to uncap.
Your carbonation won't get better.
Long story short, I've had carb issues on a couple big beers. Reydrate a $1 packet of champagne yeast. I use EC1118. Using 2oz of water let's you squirt 1mL into each of the 12oz bottles.
And here's a tip. With every batch of beer, bottle one beer in a brown plastic (PET) bottle so you can squeeze it to check carb levels. No need to uncap.
I had a couple of friends over and pulled out a special bottle of a highly-aged tripel to share. It was dead flat. Fortunately I had started experimenting with modifying soda siphons to work with my Kegging Part invention and decided to give it a try. The beer carb'd instantly but came out as a glass full of foam. I still haven't worked the kinks out of that but in a pinch, putting your beer into a modified soda siphon will carbonate it. Once the foam settles, the beer that remains is carbonated.
</shameless self-promotion>
If I were going to reintroduce yeast into the bottles, I'd use the same yeast I brewed with. The reason is simple. Not all yeasts eat exactly the same thing. If they did, we'd probably brew with only one or two yeasts. Here's a practical example and one that I know from experience:
Ferment 5 gallons of Motts Apple juice with Nottingham yeast. OG starts at about 1.048. FG is about 1.004
Ferment 5 gallons of Motts Apple juice with Red Star Champagne yeast. OG starts at about 1.048. FG is about .995.
Champagne yeast could conceivably turn an unprimed beer into a bottle bomb because what wasn't a primer for your original yeast could be more than sufficient for champagne yeast. I realize that the gravity left is not likely to do so, but the potential is there. More importantly, why let another yeast eat something that you intentionally left there by using the other yeast.
If you decide to reintroduce yeast to the bottles, just make a yeast starter from your original yeast and use something that the yeast will stick to as a dipstick. Dip in starter, then in bottle, repeat until you run out of bottles. I'd probably use the handle of a wooden spoon that I'd soaked in star san. Wood's porous so there's still a bit of a risk of infection, but you're dealing with individual bottles and not the whole batch at once, so each bottle rolls individually against the probability of infection which should be pretty small.
I recently had a similar issue with a big barely wine that I made last year. It is a mini-mash clone of the JW Lees Harvest Ale from the Clone Brews book. I followed the recipe almost exactly, I did use a time bit more grains in the mini-mash, and started with an OG of 1.126. I pitched the Irish Ale yeast that was recommended without thinking twice about it. Primary lasted about 6 weeks then I dry hopped in secondary for about 2 weeks if I remember right and the gravity was down to about 1.036. I bottled last November and the book stated that it would be ready to drink 9 month after bottling. I tasted it here and there knowing that it wouldn't be ready until mid-August and it was still dead. I decided to add a yeast that would tolerate the higher alcohol so I carefully poured all bottles back into a sanitized fermenter and pitched some dry wine yeast to it. Fermentation started up again immediately then quickly tapered off. I still have it in a carboy and agitate it frequently. I know the complaints about oxidizing the beer so I was very careful not to splash as I pour all the bottles. Wouldn't re-pitching new yeast need at least some O2 to start fermentation back up? I will let this sit for some time before I take another gravity reading. I opened them all and re-pitched because I felt like the FG wasn't where it should have been and also in hindsight I feel like there is a possibility I may have forgot to put priming sugar in this batch though I did get a small hiss with each bottle opened. I am hoping that I can salvage this batch as I have been looking forward to it for a long time.
buy some cheap beer pour 6 oz of the cheap beer in a cup and pour the flat one on top of it.
I have the same problem and have some Lalvin D47 in the fridge from 11/12 (I'll check to make sure it's not expired) do you think this would work as good as the EC1118? I checked the d47's datasheet and it says it's good to 14%... just don't know if it ill have even close to that sparkling effervescence that the ec1118 would being champagne yeast...
Update: Well on 6/14 I went ahead and used the d47 and followed looneybomber's directions above. Since I bottle in 22oz and 16oz bottles in addition to 12oz I just adjusted accordingly (I did 1.5mL in the 16oz bottles and 2mL in the 22oz bottles). We'll see how it works out. I am thinking to leave them to sit for a month and then crack one. Will post results.
Hello! I tried searching for suggestions, but have not found anything solid (If there is a thread that exists, I apologize in advance)
I brewed a big beer (O.G. 1.10). I ended up leaving it in the primary for 3 months, after which I bottled it (F.G. 1.02). In hind site I should have probably pitched more yeast prior to bottling, but thanks to my inexperience, I did not.
Anyway, It has been bottled since 2/17 and has not carbonated at all. I read through the forums and tried some things, such as moving it to a warmer room (It has been there for about a month now), and occasionally shaking the bottles to try to re-suspend any yeast.
I am convinced that it will not carbonate now, so I am wondering what I can do with it, save for dumping it.
I do not have any kegs or Co2, but if that is my only option, I can procure them.
IS THE BEER WORTH IT? GET A KEG
I am wondering what I can do to end up having it in the bottles, and carbonated nicely (I am trying to avoid buying any new hardware right now).
I saved some of the yeast I used to brew it, but I am unclear on what process I would have to go through to help it.
Would I just make a starter with the yeast I have, slowly pour it in the bottling bucket, pitch some yeast, then re-bottle, or is there a better way? Should I let it sit in a fermenting bucket for a day or so after I pitch more yeast in it?
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