Where did all the yeast go? Thoughts please!!

[FirebladeAdam]

I recently fermented a pale ale for three weeks at 18 degrees C. I bottled it with about 10g brewing sugar in each bottle. it was all ok until I noticed a week into bottling the sugar was just swirling around the bottom of the bottle and there was very little yeast deposit in the bottle bottoms. I'm guessing all the fermentable sugars and starches have been used up, and after three weeks the yeast is all at the bottom of the ferm vessel. Not in suspension and therefore not in the bottle! I reopened the bottles and put a pinch of yeast in each, then I produced a decent ale.
But what happened to my original yeast? It was a wet yeast, Escarpment labs Pale Ale 1, no starter.
Help please!

 

[MickDundee]

Are you sure it was sugar swirling around the bottom and not yeast? Sugar would dissolve eventually and not swirl about.

 

[An Ankoù]

10 g a bottle is a lot of priming sugar. How big were your bottles?
It can happen. The yeast drops out before bottling or just goes dormant. I had to wait 7 months for one batch to prime. It's not common, though.

 

[MickDundee]

10 g a bottle is a lot of priming sugar. How big were your bottles?
It can happen. The yeast drops out before bottling or just goes dormant. I had to wait 7 months for one batch to prime. It's not common, though.

Can’t imagine it’s particularly common at all - an anomaly more than anything. I’ve lagered in the FV for 12 weeks before and still bottle carbed no problem.

 

[FirebladeAdam]

So maybe more patience was required on my part? Completely agree I had assumed it was sugar that hadn't dissolved, maybe the yeast lacked nutrient and that is what was visible?

 

[FirebladeAdam]

Can’t imagine it’s particularly common at all - an anomaly more than anything. I’ve lagered in the FV for 12 weeks before and still bottle carbed no problem.

500ml. I have in the past used 1 corn drop, and found beer a bit flat, so I used 10g this time around.

 

[foxbat]

I haven't bottled in quantity for a while but wouldn't 10g dextrose in a 500ml bottle be a recipe for exploding bottles?

 

[samale]

I haven't bottled in quantity for a while but wouldn't 10g dextrose in a 500ml bottle be a recipe for exploding bottles?

I was thinking that myself. I batch prime but it works out around 2.2g per bottle for 2.0 vols

 

[Slid]

Ten grams of priming sugar in 500ml is bordering on dangerous, especially with glass bottles. PET bottles you get away with in the sense that it just gushes everywhere. If you have used crown caps on glass bottles, I seriously suggest you get a nice clean fermenter and remove the caps from the bottles one by one, pour back the beer and leave it to gradually settle and ferment out. Then a few days later, it can be safely re-primed at 3g per 500ml.

Glass beer bottles can often be "one trip" in the modern world and may not tolerate pressure well.

I have been guilty in the past of bottling early in swing top glass bottles and have had to resort to this approach twice. Soonest done, least damage likely!