Racking onto yeast cake

If I have two brews that I want to use the same yeast with, and plan on racking the second beer onto the yeast cake of the first, do I need to do anything special? There is a green krausen ring composed of hops/trub that worries me a little, but I'm not sure how I would clean it off without compromising the yeast cake.

Is there a guide somewhere?

You do not need to do anything. I rack out of a primary into a secondary or keg, while brewing and tehn rack from my brew kettle back into my carboy with the yeast cake. The carboy is still sanitized from the first batch.

Ed

Look into the bottom of your bucket, say hello to the yeasties and congratulate them on a job well done. Then give them a little pep talk and dump in the next batch.

You may want to consider a blow-off tube instead of an airlock. You should get a vigorous fermentation.

Sorry to hijack your thread, but I have some related questions:

Is it better to rack onto a yeast cake from a primary or a secondary, or does it not matter?

Also, does it matter if the styles of beer are different? I'm going to culture yeast from a 6-Pack of Oberon to make a clone. I was thinking about using the cake for a batch of Two Hearted, but I wasn't sure how well that would turn out. Would it be better to wash the yeast and then make a starter? Thoughts?

Another question, can I skip the aeration since my yeast population is already so large and healthy? Or should I aerate in the kettle before racking onto the yeast?

They need some oxygen to stay healthy so yes aerate.

hopvine said:

Another question, can I skip the aeration since my yeast population is already so large and healthy? Or should I aerate in the kettle before racking onto the yeast?

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Aerate once you have it in the carboy/bucket. You will want all the air you can get and it will get the yeast back up into suspension.

You will want a 6+ gallon vessel for a 5 gallon batch if you are using an airlock and even then you have a chance of the krausen clogging it. As mentioned already a blow off tube is the best bet.

FWIW - Be aware that the last thing the yeast did in your previous batch was clean up. If you had issues with the first batch's fermentation ( high temps, stuck fermentation) or brewed a very flavorful beer, stout or IPA, the yeast cake you are pitching onto will carry with it some of the flavors of the previous brew.

beerkrump said:

FWIW - Be aware that the last thing the yeast did in your previous batch was clean up. If you had issues with the first batch's fermentation ( high temps, stuck fermentation) or brewed a very flavorful beer, stout or IPA, the yeast cake you are pitching onto will carry with it some of the flavors of the previous brew.

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Good point. I fermented the last batch (an American style wheat beer) at about 60F, and this is American Ale yeast (chico), so I should be alright.

Also, I'm thinking I'll use Fermcap-s to keep the krausen down.