bottle carbing a 9mth fermented Old Ale

[megavites]

I have an Old Ale that's been in primary for 9mths now and i'm ready to bottle.
I left it in a ported better bottle so I could draw from the bottom as the
Brettanomyces looks "funky" sitting on top, but normal according to others.

I assume that this should be bottle carbed via carb tabs? I assume the yeast
is shot.

What would you suggest as far as tabs are concerned?

Here is the recipe:

Amount Item Type
11.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal MALT-90L (90.0 SRM) Grain
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain

Mash In: Add 16.82 qt of water at 167.8 F
60 min - Hold mash at 156.0 F for 60 min
2 min Step: Add 10.00 qt of water at 196.9 F
10 min - Hold mash at 170.0 F for 10 min
-- Drain Mash Tun
-- Batch Sparge Round 1: Sparge with 2.11 gal of 168.0 F water.
-- Add water to achieve boil volume of 7.00 gal
-- Estimated Pre-boil Gravity is: 1.056 SG with all grains/extracts added
Boil for 60 min Boil Ingredients
Boil Amount Item Type
60 min 2.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops
30 min 1.00 oz Challenger [7.50 %] (30 min) Hops
10 min 1.00 lb Brown Sugar, Dark (50.0 SRM) Sugar
10 min 1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (10 min) Hops
2 min 1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (2 min) Hops

 

[godofcheese]

Now, I could be wrong . . . but the carb tabs that I have used were just DME and sugar. They still required some yeast.

I thought that the yeast would still be good. If nothing else, wouldn't the brett still be active and eat up whatever sugars you put in there?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I've never seen a carb tab that contains yeast. If you're worried about the viability of the critters, add a few grains of neutral dry yeast (Nottingham, for example) to each bottle before capping.

 

[megavites]

If I added some neutral yeast like Nottingham, couldn't I just mix in a bottling bucket with priming sugar and bottle like a typical 3 wk ferment?

From what I've read, Old Ales should be carbed in the 1.5-2.3vol range.

I'm not sure a lower carb level is possible with the tabs. What do you think?


Also, after letting it age in the bottle for a month or two I may brew up a Mild Ale or Bitter so that I have the option of mixing the two like they did back in the day.

 

[Bensiff]

I'd do everything in the bottling bucket for consistency of dosing and leave the carb tabs at the LHBS.