Racking Onto The Cake

So I had one of those grand revelations yesterday where I remembered what yeast I had used for a beer that was going into secondary and how it was the same kind called for a beer I was brewing that day.

I figured I would give it a shot so I racked onto the cake in the fermenter whose contents went into the secondary.

The results are good. Under 5 hours and I needed a blow-off tube! It also meant I didn't need to leave the house to buy more yeast which feeds into my low-grade agoraphobia.

Anyway, it got me thinking....how many times can I do that? Is there a set number of times where the yeast just shouldn't be re-used past? I'm assuming this also applies to washing yeast, something I would have done instead if I'd been more inclined.

Thanks!

Look at the sticky at the top of this forum about Yeast Washing .

From one cake you can wash 5-6 jars of yeast that you can use in the future. That way you will always have yeast to use.

Pitching on the cake is overpitching. It works but you don't need that much yeast.

I'm brewing up a marzen on bavarian yeast lager this weekend and I'm going to pitch a Dark Lager wort right on top of the cake. I figure this will work out well since I'm going darker and lagers benefit from a ton of yeast. Any reason you think I shouldn't go this route and build a starter during primary fermentation?

I'm planning on doing the same this Sunday, but even for a 1.081 tripel I'm going to remove 2/3 to 3/4 of the yeast cake. It might still be overpitched, but probably not overly so.

I'll keep what I remove and wash for a Dubbel later on this year.