Bottle Conditioning Issues - Belgian Quad

“Looking back maybe I should have gone with the double pitch option with this high gravity beer." The minimum you should have done was pitch two liquid yeast packages. For the case of a Quad I would personally recommend a BIG starter.

“Anyway I think the yeast got stressed out.” High gravity (high alcohol) beers will stress out the pitched yeast.

When I homebrew my Quad beers I always add a packet of dry yeast (rehydrated) to the bottling bucket (an entire packet is not required but I just use the whole thing).

As you detailed the best option for you is to add some dry yeast (I don’t know how much per bottle) to your bottled beers and give it time to carbonate.

“I'm thinking of uncapping all and pouring into secondary fermenter now and maybe pitching with champagne yeast and maybe some more fermentable sugar, let it ferment out and then re-bottle with some priming sugar.” This process is not a good idea since by pouring the bottled beers into the secondary you will oxidize your beer.

Cheers!

 

this.

you did the right thing when you uncapped, added stuff then recapped. i would try that with champagne yeast. rehydrate it, then use an eye dropped to put a squirt into each bottle. sounds like there is already priming sugar in there from the last round, so no need to add more. i would store these bottles in a plastic-lined box or crate, in case the beers become over-carbonated.

at what temp are you letting the bottles carb up?

 

66°F is a bit too cool. Try keeping them above 70° for at least a couple more weeks before even considering opening them all up again.

 

Patience.

 

yup, that'll work. give the beers 2 weeks at that temp before doing anything else. there is a good chance the yeast will wake up and carb your bottles.

if they're still flat after 2 weeks, do the rehydrated yeast + eye dropper thing.

 

Also, it couldn't hurt to gently swirl your bottles, to rouse the yeast. Hold it by the cap and spin on it's vertical axis, and you should be able to get the yeast off the bottom without exposure to O2.

 

I would find a friend with a spare corney and dump them all in there and O2 it. I had a friend use one of mine for a Pliney clone that did the same thing.