Bottle condition problem

Hi fellas, so recently I did an experiment by brewing up a 5 gallon batch of wort then after the boil I split it between two carboys.  I then pitched two different Belgian style yeasts.  After 5 days of lagering I have 2 carboys at a little over 2 gallons each of clear beer.  I now want to bottle condition both of these beers using Safale US-05 dry yeast but I am at a lose as to how I should proceed.  I am thinking of re-hydrating 1 packet with some priming sugar and then just splitting that between the two carboys, but I want to insure that both have enough yeast to produce co2.  Is it a good idea to make a small yeast starter and let it sit overnight?  Or is it ok to pitch right after the re-hydrating is complete?  Safale says that their dry yeast is ready to pitch after re-hydration with no starter necessary.  I am probably going to pitch right after re-hy6dration but any suggestions will be helpful.

James

Berkyjay said:

Hi fellas, so recently I did an experiment ............then pitched two different Belgian style yeasts.  James

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How long have they been in secondary?  Since you say 'recently,' I suspect you have plenty of yeast in suspension and need not worry about adding more yeast at bottling.  Despite the clarity, there is usually plenty of microscopic yeast still floating around.  If you want more, just siphon up some of the Belgian yeasts from the bottom of the secondaries into the bottling bucket, and you'll be fine. 

I would agree with ML. But you can just pitch the re-hydrated yeast if you want. If it is a "big" beer you may want to use the Belgian yeast because of the alcohol tolerance native to the yeast. I always try to stay with the yeast that I fermented with when possible.

Cheers
Preston

Well, with the cold weather this brew has been in secondary for at least 2 weeks.  The I put it in my freezer for another week at 45 degrees to drop the yeast out of suspension.  My goal is to clear as much of the old yeast as possible and to bottle condition with a neutral yeast....hence me using the US-05.  Also, the dry yeast is cheaper.  I have a suspension that the yeast left over in my brew when I bottle is pretty worn out due to the high gravity nature of my beers.  I believe that this is giving me a slightly bad after taste so I want to try bottle conditioning with some fresh yeast.

So that being said, I just bottled today and I split a pack of dry yeast and a I did half doses of priming sugar.  I'll update the thread when I get results.  My last beer that I did this too is still aging, but that one I used champagne yeast.  I got good carbonation from that but my brew was left with a slightly sour flavor.  I'm hoping that aging will dampen the sourness.