Beerbeque

Recipes 

I just brewed batch #30 and picthed it onto the yeast cake and trub of batch#29. This is the first time I've used this technique and WOW in just two hours the beer is bubbling wildly and the kraeusen is 3" high already. With a OG of 1.072 I'm expecting a big blowoff on this beer. Maybe I should do this more often instead of pitching a new dry yeast each time. I still love the simple pleasures of this hobby.

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Give us this day our liquid bread

Nurmey

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I like to pitch on a yeast cake sometimes just for the fun of watching the wild fermentation. I'm such a geek!

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Batch 1 Brewing
The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.

llazy_llama

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Yep, that s*** will happen. I trust you have a blowoff tube installed.

In the end, you'll have some awesome beer, and you'll have saved ~$6 on liquid yeast.

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BA_from_GA

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planning on trying this out in a few weeks. going to rack a porter on to vanila and burbon in secondary, and then put a Belgian quad on the yeast cake. Hopefully the quick vicious fermentation will do the high gravity Belgian well.

SumnerH

Recipes 

Note that it is worth checking the numbers on a yeast calculator (e.g. mrmalty) and decanting some of the cake to avoid overpitching by too much. You basically have a 5 gallon starter.

With a 1.072 you've got 5-6 times as much yeast as you should; that's enough extra that I'd decant some (if it's only 2-3 times as much or less I wouldn't bother, unless it were a Belgian or hefe or something similarly yeast-important).

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On deck: Little Bo Pils, Bretta Off Dead (Brett pale)
Secondary: Oude Bruin, Red Sky at Morning (Sour brown ale)
On tap: Saison Duphunk (sour), Amarillo Slim (IPA), Earl White (ginger/bergamot wit)
Bottled: Number 8 (Belgian Strong Dark Ale), Eternale (Barleywine), Ancho Villa (Ancho/pasilla/chocolate/cinnamon RIS), Oak smoked porter (1/2 maple bourbon oaked, 1/2 apple brandy oaked)

Bigbens6

Recipes 

whats the risk of over pitching exactly?

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Coming up: IPA
Fermenting: NADA grrrrr....
Bottles: American Amber, ESB, Pilsner, Choc Stout, Boch

Tonedef131

Recipes 

The risks are many, Dave Logsdon of Wyeast was quoted saying:

“I try to stay within 20% of my ideal pitch rate and I prefer to slightly under pitch rather than over pitch. This causes more cell growth, more esters, and better yeast health. Over pitching causes other problems with beer flavor, such as a lack of esters. Changes in the flavor profile are noticeable when the pitch rates are as little as 20% over the recommended amount.”

MacBruver

Recipes 

I don't think it will. Everything that I've read says that you're better off to under-pitch belgian beers. I'm about halfway through "Brew Like A Monk", and they say that proper pitching rates are critical to get the right character from belgian brews. I heard the same thing from the head brewer of a local micro that specializes in belgians. They re-use yeast for 8 generations, and measure out slurry and pitch the proper amount for each batch.

I just did this when I re-used yeast... I added about a quart of water, shook everything up really well, and poured it into a gallon jug. After the trub settled out, I racked off the yeast still in suspension, and then let it settle again for a bit. Once another smaller layer of trub had settled out, I scooped out about a cup of slurry and pitched that.

I basically followed a simplified version of the "yeast washing howto".

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Primary:
Secondary: Bee Cave Robust Porter (with coconut)
Kegged: Cascade/Citra Amber Ale

SumnerH

Recipes 

+1 on this; Belgians and hefeweizens and other beers that depend on yeast esters for a huge proportion of their flavor are the ones where you're most likely to notice bad results from overpitching.

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On deck: Little Bo Pils, Bretta Off Dead (Brett pale)
Secondary: Oude Bruin, Red Sky at Morning (Sour brown ale)
On tap: Saison Duphunk (sour), Amarillo Slim (IPA), Earl White (ginger/bergamot wit)
Bottled: Number 8 (Belgian Strong Dark Ale), Eternale (Barleywine), Ancho Villa (Ancho/pasilla/chocolate/cinnamon RIS), Oak smoked porter (1/2 maple bourbon oaked, 1/2 apple brandy oaked)

TampaTim

Recipes 

Forgive the noobish que here?

But how do you store the yeast between batches? More specifically, do you rack a fresh beer right into a dirty bucket? What if you are not going to brew for a week or two after you rack the beer off the cake? Do you still rack into a dirty bucket? Or do you store the yeast elsewhere?