Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

I brewed a Belgian ABT 12 and it is has been in a secondary fermenter for almost a year, my guess is that all of the yeast is dead by now and I would need to repitch yeast to get it to bottle condition. Has anyone ever done this and how big of a yeast starter would i have to pitch to get it to naturally carb in the bottles?

i'm interested in this too for my cider.

You don't need a starter. A single 11g package of a very clean or neutral yeast will work fine. I sometimes use champagne yeast or Safale 05. I've heard (and read) that you can add additional character by using a Belgian strain but I would want to make sure I used one that flocculates very well. It would be a shame to cloud -up a beer that has been clearing for a year.

I'd be careful using a different strain of yeast as they have different attentuation rates, or at least a dry yeast with a similar attenuation rate. Wouldn't want to make a bottle bomb.

Overall, I wouldn't think you will need too much, 1 pk should be more than enough

so a add a new packet of yeast and the normal boiled priming sugar/water mixture?

I typically would just add 1 pack of yeast since the package is opened anyway, but there may be a lot of sediment in the bottles.

If you had something else to make you could just take a small sample (off of another starter). If you do this some people recommend anything more than 1/10 the initial quantity pitched.
http://www.addisonhomebrew.com/forums/v ... f=7&t=1977

I reopened each of my porters after they refused to carbonate. I just sprinkled a little yeast in them and recapped them.

I have not tried this yet but this is a new yeast made just for bottle conditioning those big beers that have sat for a long aging process.

http://www.danstaryeast.com/products/cb ... beer-yeast

I'd go with CBC-1 from Danstar. It's specifically designed for bottle and cask conditioning, and will tolerate a decent amount of alcohol.

Specs can be found at http://www.danstaryeast.com/products/cb ... beer-yeast

do you have the cbc-1 in stock joe?

Looks like this is only available in 500g vacuum-sealed packages. That's a ton of the wee beasties.

Per the data sheet

• CBC-1 will lose activity rapidly when exposed to air. Opened packs must be resealed airtight, if
this is not an option do not store for more than 3 days at 4°C.
• Do not use the yeast after the expiry date printed on the pack.

I do have CBC-1 in stock here at the shop in the standard 11gm sachets.