Re-pitch yeast after long(?) secondary

[DaRabman]

Hi Guys,

I brewed a Biere de Garde-ish beer about 5 weeks back, and after 7 days' primary, it was racked off into glass demijohns for a month's secondary. I'm going to package in bottles in the next day or two, and then leave them to condition for another 4-6 weeks.
I used SafLager S-23. The producer's spec sheet says high sedimentation, although I don't know how tightly it flocculates, and that's where the quandry lies.

Will it be necessary to repitch some yeast along with my priming solution to develop the necessary condition? I haven't had experience with secondary periods this long before, but if the bottles are going to be sat for the best part of 6 weeks, will that suffice?

Many thanks,
Sam.

P.S. If I were going to repitch, it would be with some S-04 ale yeast harvested from another brew. Would this be appropriate, or do you think it might counter the lagery character of the beer?

[boingy]

There is almost certainly enough yeast still in suspension to condition the beer.

[crafty john]

There is almost certainly enough yeast still in suspension to condition the beer.

+1 to that

[gregorach]

Will it be necessary to repitch some yeast along with my priming solution to develop the necessary condition? I haven't had experience with secondary periods this long before, but if the bottles are going to be sat for the best part of 6 weeks, will that suffice?

It's very hard to say for certain without doing some microscopy... I know people usually say that it'll be fine, but I've certainly had lager with no detectable yeast in suspension after a decent lagering period with a highly flocculent yeast, and I have heard of people having trouble with conditioning after long periods in a secondary. Short of microscopy, the only way to know for sure would be to extract a sample, add some sugar, and see it it starts fermenting again.

P.S. If I were going to repitch, it would be with some S-04 ale yeast harvested from another brew. Would this be appropriate, or do you think it might counter the lagery character of the beer?

At this stage you can use whatever yeast you like without having to worry about the character. It shouldn't make any difference at all.

[crafty john]

Will it be necessary to repitch some yeast along with my priming solution to develop the necessary condition? I haven't had experience with secondary periods this long before, but if the bottles are going to be sat for the best part of 6 weeks, will that suffice?

It's very hard to say for certain without doing some microscopy... I know people usually say that it'll be fine, but I've certainly had lager with no detectable yeast in suspension after a decent lagering period with a highly flocculent yeast, and I have heard of people having trouble with conditioning after long periods in a secondary. Short of microscopy, the only way to know for sure would be to extract a sample, add some sugar, and see it it starts fermenting again.

P.S. If I were going to repitch, it would be with some S-04 ale yeast harvested from another brew. Would this be appropriate, or do you think it might counter the lagery character of the beer?

At this stage you can use whatever yeast you like without having to worry about the character. It shouldn't make any difference at all.

Trust you Dunc, you make us all look like amateurs