I've been having issues with bottle carbonating my high alcohol beers recently, even at 70+ degree temps, over several weeks to months. I'm using what I've calculated to be enough cane sugar for the size of the batch to reach 2.5-3.0 Volumes CO2, depending on the batch, so I think my priming process is sound.
I'm considering buying some dry lager yeast, rehydrating a bit and adding it to the priming bucket with my sugar to aid carbonation. Should this be sufficient? Do I need to worry about the lager yeast eating more than just the priming sugar and therefore winding up with overcarbonated beers?
Also, I'm a tight wad and was wondering if there was a safe method of storing the extra dry yeast for another batch, if I only used half a package per 5 gallons at bottling. (Would this be enough in the first place?)
Finally, am I on the right track with dry lager yeast, or should I use dry ale yeast, make a small starter...?