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Author Topic: Refermentation in the bottle  (Read 1387 times)

Offline joe6pack

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Refermentation in the bottle
« on: October 22, 2011, 04:31:39 pm »
I have a dubbel conditioning at 46*F, and will be bottling next weekend.  I made the 1.030 starter slightly larger volume than mrmalty's recommendation, and saved a half pint when I took it off the stir plate.  I plan on making a small starter with this and pitching with the priming sugar at bottling.  The yeast will have been in the fridge for 5 weeks.  How much of the starter should I pitch?  Has anyone done this?  Is it worth the trouble?  I'm thinking the Belgains have the right idea about pitching fresh yeast at bottling.  Thanks.

Offline andyi

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Re: Refermentation in the bottle
« Reply #1 on: October 22, 2011, 07:28:42 pm »

There are many factors to consider including temp, time conditioned, yeast floc characteristics, gravity, level of carb desired, your comfort level, etc.

I brew with Belgian yeasts all the time and have cold conditioned at 40F for up to 2 wks still only priming with sugar and getting the results i wanted (1.060 and under).  If I do add yeast its dry yeast

Offline tygo

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Re: Refermentation in the bottle
« Reply #2 on: October 23, 2011, 05:59:02 am »
You should only need to pitch around 20-30B cells so you can play around with the math and figure out how much of a starter you would need to make/pitch.  But you won't need much.  I agree with andyi that you probably don't have to pitch any additional yeast in this situation as there still should be plenty in suspension to carb the beer.

I think you'll probably find this is not worth the trouble as opposed to the suggestion to just use some dry yeast if you think you need it.  But you could always take this batch and bottle half of it with no yeast additions and half with some extra slurry and see if you can tell the difference.
Clint
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