Check yeast activity when bottled?
Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 1:31 pm
by Swawl
I am just wondering if there are signs that could tell me if my yeast is still active after bottling. I have an Imperial IPA that I just bottle yesterday after it sat in the fermenters for about 3 months. I just need to know if there are any ways to tell. I'd hate to have bottled 10 gallons and it never become carbonated or bottle conditioned. Thanks in advance.
Swawl
Re: Check yeast activity when bottled?
Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 2:17 pm
by Bugeater
Simple. Just wait a week or so and open a bottle. If you have carbonation, your yeast is active. No other reliable way to check that I know of.
Wayne
Re: Check yeast activity when bottled?
Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:42 pm
by brewinhard
Depending on your OG, 3 mos is a long time for an Imperial IPA to sit in a fermenter. By that time, most of your yeast will probably have dropped out. Next time when you bottle a strong beer like that be sure to add some fresh yeast at bottling time to ensure a quick healthy bottle conditioning.
If you find that those bottles are not carbing up in a couple weeks, here is a quick solution (albeit a PITA).
Boil up 1 cup of water for 5 min in a small saucepan. The last 2 min put the lid on to sanitize. Cool the water to about 100 degrees (I just wait till it still feels warm on the outside but doesn't burn my hand or feel too cold). Sanitize a packet of lalvin EC-1118 dry champange yeast (less than 1$) and a pair of scissors. Add the yeast to the cooled water and put the lid back on (don't swirl yet). Let sit for 15 min. undisturbed. Then swirl yeast into suspension. Open a few bottles of your uncarbonated beer. Carefully add 1 mL of yeast solution with a sanitized dropper into a bottle and quickly cap with a new sanitized bottle cap. (Be prepared for some foaming due to nucleation sites so be ready to cap immediately). Keep these warm for 1 week (70 deg or so) and then check one for carbonation. Should be fine!
Good luck and hope you don't have to do this, but if you do, you are ready to tackle it!
Re: Check yeast activity when bottled?
Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 6:08 am
by Thirsty Boy
No help for your current batch - but for future reference.
Bottle a single bottle of the batch into a clear PET bottle. You can see when the yeast is finished fermenting the priming sugar, you can see when the beer has cleared out properly, and you can squeeze the bottle to be sure it has carbonated up properly.
Just mKe sure the PET is the same volume as the rest of your bottles and its a great way to take a bit of the guess work out of bottle conditioning.