Priming a beer after prolonged lagering

[Flan]

I have a beer currently sitting in secondary in my brew fridge for the last 2 weeks at 1°-2° and it will be there for around 6 weeks, i havent primed it yet due to an administrative cock up, i intend to bottle it after the 6 weeks but I’m unsure of how to prime it, I’ve screwed up part of the process and gone the long way round.
After such a long time at a couple of degrees will there still be active yeast if i bottle prime and condition for 2 weeks at around 16°-18° or will i need to add some more yeast with the priming sugar.
my thoughts are either
A. If yeast is needed then syphon to another bucket add yeast and priming sugar condition for 2 weeks then bottle
B. If no extra yeast is needed Syphon off to a bottling bucket with priming sugar and bottle then condition at same temp as A for 2 weeks
C. Prime in the bottle straight from secondary and condition as above.
thanks for any thoughts.

 

[Leon103]

When I bottled my lagers i never added more yeast and did a similar period of lagering.

I would increase the temp back up to18 before transferring to bottling bucket. I think this got some of the yeast off the bottom and into suspension

 

[nickjdavis]

Despite the long period in the cold it is quite likely that there is enough yeast in suspension....but if you have any doubts then there is nothing wrong with reseeding with a little yeast prior to bottling.

Option A is not necessary....if you let the yeast eat your priming sugar in a bucket then how is the beer going to carb up when you bottle it?....there will be no sugars left in the bottle for yeast to consume, therefore there will be no carbonation produced in the bottle. What is it you think might be benefitting from by adding priming sugar and yeast to a secondary bucket for 2 weeks before bottling?

Option B is all you really need to do, and you can follow this option whether you choose to add extra yeast or not.

However, If you prefer priming bottles individually then you could go for C.

Folks sometimes prefer to prime each individual bottle as it gives them confidence that priming levels will be consistent from bottle to bottle. However, batch priming (i.e. option B) has equally consistent results as long as you ensure that your sugar solution is well mixed with your wort.

 

[Flan]

Despite the long period in the cold it is quite likely that there is enough yeast in suspension....but if you have any doubts then there is nothing wrong with reseeding with a little yeast prior to bottling.

Option A is not necessary....if you let the yeast eat your priming sugar in a bucket then how is the beer going to carb up when you bottle it?....there will be no sugars left in the bottle for yeast to consume, therefore there will be no carbonation produced in the bottle. What is it you think might be benefitting from by adding priming sugar and yeast to a secondary bucket for 2 weeks before bottling?

Option B is all you really need to do, and you can follow this option whether you choose to add extra yeast or not.

However, If you prefer priming bottles individually then you could go for C.

Folks sometimes prefer to prime each individual bottle as it gives them confidence that priming levels will be consistent from bottle to bottle. However, batch priming (i.e. option B) has equally consistent results as long as you ensure that your sugar solution is well mixed with your wort.

Thanks Ric, re- option A I didn’t know how to go about it so it I didn’t think about it carbing up in the bucket then not being able to in the bottle. Looks like it may be option B is the best way, thanks.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I ferment to the correct FG then move it to a 2FV/bottling bucket, lager for 2-4 weeks, move to somewhere warm for a day to bring to room temperature and then bottle. i then carbonate for 14 days. I prime each bottle with dextrose.