I have to bottle a saison with brett that has been in a carboy for over 6 months. I believe I read that after this much time, yeast should be added to the bottling bucket before bottling (not sure how much). But I am not sure if this is true of a beer that has brett in it. So, if I need to add yeast, which kind should I add. I would rather use something I have on hand. (Safbrew s-33, Danstar Belle Saison, or US-05) If those 3 arent ok, I will go out and get something else. Thanks again for the advice.
At only 6 months old, it should carb up OK by itself. If you plan to save this beer for tastes over a few years, remember the Brett activity will continue (albeit slowly). If the beer's acidic or especially strong, you can throw a couple grams of a neutral yeast in there . . . US-05 won't be bad. I usually use cheap champagne yeast and dump the whole 5 gms in the bottling bucket without rehydrating.
What gravity is the beer at now? I would highly recommend not bottling unless you're around 1.008 or less. At 6 months, the brett should still be able to carb the bottles just fine, but it might take a few months to reach the level of carbonation you desire. Brett works slowly, both in fermentors and in bottles.
You'll get insurance, but you will also get a different flavor than if you let the brett carb the beer.
Brett will hang in there for a while, but I would expect a quicker and more efficient result by re-yeasting with your priming sugar in the bottling bucket. You can expect the bottles to be uniformly carbonated in a couple of weeks, vs not really knowing with the brett-only option. I have had issues with getting some beers to carbonate, so I am a little sensitive about that.
