Hi Everyone,
I apologize if this question has been posted before but I am new to this forum business!
I am planning on trying to get some oak flavor into one of my brews by placing oak chips into my secondary and leaving for 6- 8 months, so my question is after this extended period of time will the yeast still be "active’ enough to give me carbonation at bottling or will I need to repitch?
Any thoughts on this subject would be very appreciated.
Yeah, I would repitch more yeast if you are bottle conditioning. You will get much more predictable results. Just a pack of US-05 will work perfectly. Be sure to rack onto the yeast in the bottling bucket to be sure it gets distibuted evenly.
+1
Plan on adding yeast to the bottling bucket for this one to be sure.
In all likelihood there will be enough yeast left to bottle carbonate. It may take a little extra time, but it should work.
That said, it is much safer to add some additional yeast, look at a recent brew that you have done or add some from a pack of dry yeast, 1/4 pack should be more than enough but a full pack won’t hurt.
Fred
I made tiny starters using yeast slurry I keep in mason jars in the fridge for carbonating beers in the past.
Works great, a little like krausening but I still use priming sugar.
Night before I plan on bottling, 200 ml or so of wort and a scant 1/2 teaspoon of the thick slurry
The next morning its a nice and active ready to carbonate bottles.
Sounds more difficult than it is
6-8 months on oak chips? My initial thought would be: oak juice. Someone with experience with this will have to chime in.
6-8 months is pretty long. With chips I usually go about 2-3 weeks. Cubes 2-3 months. Hopefully it will be fine.
Thanks for the advice everyone.
I have never used Oak Chips before and after hearing that 2-3 weeks may be long enough I think I may sample every couple of days or so until the flavor is to my liking.
Thanks again!