Adding yeast at bottling?

[Moezart]

Hello everyone!
So I have been practically idle as far as brewing goes sinve Covid hit.
But now, i am face to face with two ale batches that need to be bottled.
1st brew:
wheat ale: 40% wheat malt. 60% pale malt. S 05 yeast.
Brewed 6 months ago
Stayed in primary for 1 month
Transferred to secondary and it has been there for 5 months.
Temperature 1st few months: 64 to 67f
Past few months (summer) 74 to 82 f
I propped up the airlock and it does smell fine.

2nd brew.
90% pale malt
10% chocolate malt.
S 05.
It has been sitting in primary for 4 months. (no secondary)
1st month temp about 66f.
Past few months: 74 to 82 f


Now, questions:
1) are these brews ok "theoretically"?

2) i am thinking, should i add some yeast during bottling to get some carbonation (since it has been so long).
If yes, how do i go about it?
Just toss a few yeasties in each bottle? Or
should i toss the whole packet into the bottling bucket?
Or should i rehydrate?
Or should i just not any yeast at all hoping there is still some viable yeast in there?
Thank you all as usual for your tremendous help.

 

[Konstantianus]

In my opinion I would rehydrate a pack of yeast just for insurance and pour the slurry into the bottling bucket with the beer. I'd hate for you to bottle the beer and not have any carbonation due to dead yeast. As far as the beer itself goes it should be fine although the yeast may be autolysing which could give you off flavors.

 

[rsquared]

I'll second the reply from Konstantianus, a packet of dry yeast added to the bottling bucket along with the sugar (i.e. before the beer so it gets mixed in well) should do it.

I'd guess that both of them are going to be ok, probably even fairly decent still, but likely won't be as good as if they hadn't sat around in high temps for so long...

 

[Moezart]

In my opinion I would rehydrate a pack of yeast just for insurance and pour the slurry into the bottling bucket with the beer. I'd hate for you to bottle the beer and not have any carbonation due to dead yeast. As far as the beer itself goes it should be fine although the yeast may be autolysing which could give you off flavors.

Thank you.

 

[Moezart]

I'll second the reply from Konstantianus, a packet of dry yeast added to the bottling bucket along with the sugar (i.e. before the beer so it gets mixed in well) should do it.

I'd guess that both of them are going to be ok, probably even fairly decent still, but likely won't be as good as if they hadn't sat around in high temps for so long...

Thank you.

 

[hottpeper13]

I do a fair amount of barrel aging and use 3 grams of CBC yeast per 5 gal. I rehydrate it and mix with the priming sugar pour in bucket then rack the beer on top. Some beers are in the barrel for 8 mos. and I always get proper carbing.

 

[MikeCo]

Definitely add yeast at bottling for a beer that has aged this long. Rehydrate and add to the bottling bucket. I use 2 to 4 grams of yeast for 5 gallons. I have used CBC as well as regular dry ale yeasts for bottle priming with good results.

 

[mashpaddled]

Unless these beers are high ABV they should carb just fine without more yeast but adding a little yeast at bottling would be a cheap insurance against problems. The bigger issue is probably that over time CO2 escapes solution so the beer might have enough yeast to ferment your bottling sugar but you haven't accounted for the CO2 that escaped during aging. Most bottling calculators assume a certain amount of CO2 in solution. For beers four to six months old I would probably adjust your desired carbonation up by two or three tenths to account for the loss. If your beers hung out in a warm environment (high 70Fs or more) I might consider another tenth or two. You can always stir out a little extra carbonation in the glass but you can't put more in at that point.