Salvaging an unbottled ale?

[backdrifter]

Around November of last year, I brewed a 5 gallon batch of BierMuncher's OktoberFAST Ale. I try to make a true Marzen each year, but got too late of a start last year. It was ready to bottle in early December..... and has sat in my secondary fermentation vessel (a 6 gal glass carboy) in a dark corner of my basement ever since. A tragedy, I know! Life got busy, excuses, excuses.

The beer still looks and smells good. I plan to taste it this weekend, and if it doesn't have any off-flavors, I'm going to bottle it. My question is, do I need to add additional yeast before bottling, or will the original yeast become active again once the beer is mixed with some priming sugar?

Thank in advance!

 

[jrgtr42]

Just to be safe, I would probably say to add a half-pack of a neutral yeast.
Your original yeast may still wake up with new fermentables, but there;s no way to be certain on a homebrewing scale.

 

[mrgrimm101]

You could bottle as-is with the appropriate amount of priming sugar and see what happens..give it a couple weeks and see if it starts carbing..

If that doesn't work, you can try opening them up and adding a tiny pinch of dry yeast and then recapping. I know people who do this in each bottle in situations like this and it seems to do the trick..although I have no personal experience so I cannot tell you exactly how much yeast to use.

 

[kh54s10]

I would add the yeast. It is a step that will not hurt, if unnecessary, and could save you the steps of bottling then opening all the bottles to add yeast....

 

[The_Bishop]

Re-yeast at bottling with the same yeast it was brewed with. A higher attenuating yeast might cause overcarbonation and bottle bombs.

 

[backdrifter]

Thanks for all of the replies! I'll add some of the original yeast with the priming sugar before bottling. Thanks again!