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Author Topic: Bottling yeast left in bucket, am I screwed?  (Read 1578 times)

Offline mypenguin

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Bottling yeast left in bucket, am I screwed?
« on: September 11, 2014, 12:26:42 pm »
I had a Belgian Quad/Dark Ale aging in a carboy since Feb, and decided to bottle it.  I used a pack a cuvee yeast (the blue pack) along with the corn sugar to make sure there was viable yeast to carbonate.  I put the dry yeast in my bottling bucket, added my sugar syrup, and then racked on top of this.
When bottling I stirred it and could see the yeast suspended in the beer, but after bottling was done, there seemed to be quite a bit of yeast left in the bottom of the bucket.  Should this still be ok?  Not sure how much yeast needs to make it in the bottles to carbonate properly.  I figure since it was at the bottom at least some should have made it through the spigot for each bottle.
I guess it is now a waiting game as it has only been a week.  Will test it out in three weeks to see if anything is happening.

Offline erockrph

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Re: Bottling yeast left in bucket, am I screwed?
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2014, 12:30:25 pm »
Honestly, you only need 1/4 pack (maybe even less) for bottling a 5-gallon batch. And that's if every last cell of your initial yeast was dead or filtered out. Even if it was in the carboy that long I'm willing to bet it will be just fine, even without the additional yeast. Just be patient and give it plenty of time to carbonate.
Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer

Offline mypenguin

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Re: Bottling yeast left in bucket, am I screwed?
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2014, 12:35:02 pm »
Thanks.  Makes me feel better about all that leftover.  It's a tasty beer so hopfully it works out.  I've never added new yeast to the bottling process. 

Offline Stevie

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Re: Bottling yeast left in bucket, am I screwed?
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2014, 12:41:52 pm »
Did you rehyrdate the dry yeast first? If not, maybe it would have mixed in a little easier. And no, you are not screwed.


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1 - Yadda yadda yadda, am I screwed
2 - Blah blah blad, did I ruin my beer
 
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Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Bottling yeast left in bucket, am I screwed?
« Reply #4 on: September 11, 2014, 12:45:21 pm »


My two favorite subject lines;
1 - Yadda yadda yadda, am I screwed
2 - Blah blah blad, did I ruin my beer
 
RDWHAHB  ;)

Yep.  Charlie P nailed that one. Of course there are things that can detract a bit, but rarely is it really 'dump down the drain-worthy'.
Jon H.

Offline slarkin712

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Re: Bottling yeast left in bucket, am I screwed?
« Reply #5 on: September 11, 2014, 01:21:58 pm »
You'll definitely be OK.  The other thing that may work in your favor is that when you racked into your bottling bucket you probably picked up some yeast sediment from stirring things up at the bottle of your carboy.  At least that usually happens to me.  At worst it takes 2-3 months to carb up.  If you want to speed the carbing up a little put the bottles some place warm.