Adding Yeast

Adding "bottling yeast" is a very common practice, especially when bottling lagers that have lagered for extended periods, since the cold temperatures usually kills the yeast or makes it drop out of suspension.

You can still do this with ales that have been sitting around for a long time (such as in this case), since there's a good chance few active yeast are still buzzing around, so supplimenting with a little bottling yeast will not do any harm.

I'd recommend 1/4-1/2 tsp for a 5 gallon batch. Any more than this & you risk over carbonation & bottle bombs.

Kent

Thanks, I was pretty much thinking that. I ended up just adding 1/8tsp, just incase. Hopefully it will be carbonated enough. Thanks again, Michael Herrenbruck DragonTail Ale Drunken Bee Mead

blah wrote:

Adding yeast at bottling time won't hurt anything, but is rarely necessary. I routinely bottle lagers that have been sitting at 33F for months and have no problem carbonating. Unless it has been sitting for years, I wouldn't bother. (But again, it won't hurt).

Note, assuming *any* live yeast, adding more will not affect the carbonation level at all - you could put a bucket load in there. The carbonation comes only from the amount of sugar added - NOT yeast count. One yeast or one billion yeast ... either will *eventually* convert all the sugar to the same carbonation level.