flat imperial stout... re-yeasting?

I have re-yeasted in the bottling bucket. I also had a beer that I eventually gave up on carbonating, that might have benefited from re-yeasting, but in the end I decided to enjoy them as still beers. It blends well with a carbonated beer, or drinks like a cordial.

I did have a Belgian strong dark carbonate over the course of 2 months, and then carbonate some more by about 6 months. But I think Belgian style ale yeast strains are just powerhouses that way.

If you try this, I would be interested in knowing how it ultimately turns out.

 

You could certainly do this, though I'm not sure I'd pull the trigger on a big beer after only 2 months. My concern though would be... if your beer (the ABV) actually killed your yeast, there might be some maltose still left in the beer. AFAIK, the yeast you are contemplating using can eat it, so you might overcarbonate to whatever extent there was leftover maltose sugar. If you do this, you might at least consider using a true champagne yeast, because they are bad at eating maltose, but are great at eating simple (priming) sugars.

 

I done it in the past with a big Belgian. I rehydrated dry yeast and then used a dropper to add some yeast slurry to each bottle. Worked like a charm.

 

I think I like this idea better than the tweezers. Yeast hydration will double the proof and will help get this going. Popping 50 caps and recapping will be enough work on its own that I wouldn't want to leave anything to chance.

@SFACRKnight Not to belittle you, but you did remember to add priming sugar too, right? I'd hate to hear that that one got past you, past this thread, and you'll be out another 50 caps. Just double checkin.`

 

I am of the camp to swirl each bottle and give it more time. Good luck!

 

Wow! Thanks for the update! I just bottle a 9.5% stout last week that I am a bit worried about. A single grain of yeast in each bottle????

 

I've had to do this recently to a RIS. First beer I've had that didn't carbonate properly. My strategy has been to reyeast as I want to drink them. I'll reyeast 2 or 4 bottles at a time, they seem to be ready in about 4 weeks, then I drink them all within 4 weeks. Doing it this way I'm hoping to avoid any issues with over carbonating and contamination. And my reyeasting process can be more laxed, just pop open, drop in a little yeast and recap - done. So far so good.