Tue Aug 24, 2010 7:35 pm
Throw in the Champ. yeast after you see no more action in the airlock after all the candi sugar additions have been added. If your wl500 have went to sleep because they just can't convert any more sugar you don't know what your beer is going to finish at. Your recipe says a number, but you don't know for sure the conditions in your fermenter-carboy. If the yeast have died of because alcohol poisoning, or gone to sleep because they are spent, and you add priming sugar, you will make a sweeter beer in the bottle, and you beer will never condition.
If you add champ. yeast after the airlock ceases bubbling 2 things happen: 1) the 500 didn't finish, there are more sugars waiting to be converted to alcohol by the champ yeast, it begins bubbling, you wait until it ferments out again. (If you do not wait for this second ferment to kick up and you bottle, the sugar will be converted in the bottle, CO2 produced, and you will have overcarbonated if not very expensive bottle bombs.) Then bottle condition as normal- the champ yeast continues to work. 2) The 500 has eaten all the available sugars and the champ yeast and-or 500 eats the freshly added sugars during bottling- either yeast you probably won't be able to tell the difference.
Keep us posted on the process.