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You are here: Home --> Forum Home --> Brewing Forum --> Brewing Discussion --> Re-yeasting vs. not (short term observation)

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chino_brews
Charter Member
Eden Prairie, MN
301 Posts


So I bottled up a batch of saison and a batch of dark mild on Saturday. I had frozen both batches solid, so I planned to re-yeast with CBC-1, properly rehydrated.

Anyway, come bottling day, both FGs came in where expected. Per usual, I bottle up one PET coke bottle for each batch, and squeeze out half of the generous headspace, so I can test carbonation.

The dark mild was primed for 1.7 vols. and bottling went off without a hitch.

I primed the saison for 3.2 vols. and filled bottles. As I grabbed my capper, I spotted my rehydrated yeast for the saison still sitting there. I decided to just cap and roll with instead of trying to individually yeast bottles.

Come Sunday (18 hrs.), the dark mild is already firm, while the indentation has popped out on the saison but it is still squishy. By this morning, I am convinced the dark mild is ready to drink, while the saison is going to need the full three weeks to fully carbonate.

Note: I re-suspended the sediment in each PET bottle every 4-6 hours, just because.

TL;DR: the batch that got re-yeasted with CBC-1 carbed up much faster than the one that didn't, even though the batch with CBC-1 has less priming sugar per unit.




Posted 34 days ago.

Matt
Charter Member
Normal, IL
341 Posts


Interesting, though I guess that is to be expected. Good to have some confirmation! How do the frozen batches taste? Did you sample at all? For some reason I think I remember reading that freezing can result in some off flavors. 



Posted 34 days ago.

mchrispen
Bastrop, TX
485 Posts


I have, begrudgingly, started adding new yeast to any bottling I do, especially the longer conditioned or barrel aged stuff. I keep a packet of S-04 or 05 in a vacuum sealed bag for that purpose.

I have fixed some bottles by uncapping, taking a sanitized chopstick and dipping a wet tip into some dry yeast and rinsing that off in the bottle - then recapping with fresh crowns. I should do the same with some cork/caged beers, but decided to let them just do for a while (6 months at least) - those have brett anyway.




Posted 34 days ago.

ingoogni
nl
314 Posts


So far it's only been needed for a forgotten Barley Wine (13%) that hadn't build up any pressure 6 months after bottling, CBC-1 did its job in a week.




Posted 34 days ago.

chino_brews
Charter Member
Eden Prairie, MN
301 Posts


@Matt, yes we had a chance to try the frozen beer. It was actually multiple batches. I noticed a faint yeastiness when I first opened the fermentor in each batch, but that smell dissipated as soon as the beer went in the bottling bucket and was not apparent in pre-bottling tasting. Hopefully it stays that way. I don't think freezing affected the beer at all.

The other thing was that the batch made with WLP004 did not flocculate well at all. The bottom half of the fermentor was filled with loose, floating sediment. It was so bad that we got 9 clear bottles out of a 2.6 gallon batch, and four acceptable ones (13 bottles!). I left a ton of beer in the fermentor and another bunch in the bottling bucket. It was the weirdest thing, and I've never experienced that before. All of the other batches were fine. And the batch with WLP004 basically sat in the cold for a couple months, including the time it was partially frozen -- so it was effectively lagered. I can't explain it.




Posted 34 days ago.

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