Wee Heavy bottling question

[jjpm74]

I have a wee heavy that's been bulk aging on oak for about 4 months now and as I've never had a wee heavy sit this long before, I was wondering which of these options are the best for bottling:

1. Simply adding some priming sugar (I doubt I'll do this as I'm sure the yeast's tired out at this point).

2. Smacking a smack pack of the same yeast strain and dumping it in about a week before bottling.

3. Throwing some champagne yeast in about a week prior to bottling.

If I go with options 2 or 3, should I also prime?

The specifics on this one:

ABV: 8.5% It was my take on Skullsplitter.

Tha main reason I'm wondering is that usually when I am bulk aging something it is around 10-12% ABV. I've never bulk aged something this low in alcohol for this long before and I don't want the beer to start fermenting again as I like it where it is.

[mookow]

Originally posted by jjpm74
I have a wee heavy that's been bulk aging on oak for about 4 months now and as I've never had a wee heavy sit this long before, I was wondering which of these options are the best for bottling:

1. Simply adding some priming sugar (I doubt I'll do this as I'm sure the yeast's tired out at this point).

2. Smacking a smack pack of the same yeast strain and dumping it in about a week before bottling.

3. Throwing some champagne yeast in about a week prior to bottling.

If I go with options 2 or 3, should I also prime?

The specifics on this one:

ABV: 8.5% It was my take on Skullsplitter.

Tha main reason I'm wondering is that usually when I am bulk aging something it is around 10-12% ABV. I've never bulk aged something this low in alcohol for this long before and I don't want the beer to start fermenting again as I like it where it is.

How is your attenuation? Do you suspect that your yeast crapped out before it finished off the available sugars? If so, adding the same yeast strain might set off additional fermentation. Adding some champagne yeast will almost certainly ferment off more sugar. Either way, you'll need to prime before bottling.

That being said, my friend who is a brewer at Great Lakes has advised me not to pitch more yeast for bottling circumstances since when you throw the fresh yeast into your beer, the alcohol may shock and kill some of the yeast, producing off flavors. However, if you make a starter and thus minimize the difference in alcohol prior to pitching the fresh yeast into your fermenter, you can get around that.

[HogieWan]

Maybe rack to tetriary and scoop some of the slurry and make a starter with that. It'll make sure the yeast is still viable or at least wake it up. Also, you won't have to buy another smack pack.

[Trogger]

I would start with a gravity measurements. What was the OG and current gravity?