Pitching onto yeast cake with "spent" blueberries

So, I've got a blueberry blonde ale that's about to come out of primary and I was thinking about finally reusing a yeast cake for a second beer, a very bitter IPA. Mostly this is because I have all the ingredients on hand for the IPA, except for the yeast, and I'd like to avoid the 30 minute drive to LHBS for a $4 pack of yeast if I can.

I understand the basics of reusing a yeast cake, but I'm curious if anyone thinks the "spent" blueberries will be a problem. It's 5.5# of frozen blueberries that I heated up to 155F for a few minutes to sanitize before throwing into the primary of my 5 gallon batch.

I won't mind if my IPA has a hint of blueberry, I'm just worried that something weird will happen, like the blueberries will somehow turn sour.

Has anyone ever tried this before?

BTW, the yeast in question in Safale US-05.

i've done similar. no problem. you won't even notice them. it might make it a little more reddish, but if you don't care about color (i don't), you'll be ok

Awesome, thanks!

Have you given any thought to washing the yeast cake so you at least get rid of the trub and dead fruit? Doodle to do and takes little time. I agree with reusing yeasts but not straight pitching onto a prior cake.

I've heard of it, but always assumed it was rather involved.

This tutorial (Washing Yeast - Here's How ) sounds pretty easy, though. Sounds like it'll take about an hour or two to wash the yeast. Maybe I could do that tonight and then immediately pitch a starter tonight, so that I'm ready for a brew day tomorrow afternoon....

Thanks for the idea, I'll be sure to report back.

So, I washed the yeast. Pretty sure I messed it up, but that's part of homebrewing. I spooned most of the blueberries of the top before racking, since most were floating.

The few that had sank to the bottom made it into my first mason jar. I got a good amount of beer with my slurry, but had a harder time telling where the trub and yeast separation was.

In hindsight, I didn't leave nearly enough time for the slurry to separate out. But, I've got what I think is some decent yeast (and a little bit of purple beer) pitched into my yeast starter, and I'll do it better next time. We'll see if it's viable enough for a brew day tomorrow or Sunday.

Thanks for your help & suggestions.

No worries, probably blueberry source not the easiest for your first time! Still, if you've got it done then no more worries about yeast washing! I use an Erlenmeyer flask(because its cool) and a 1/2 ltr glass jam jar to wash between the two. As with everything in brewing there is doing enough to get by and over trying. I usually wash mine three times in total. Leave in the fridge between washes. Doesn't take long at all and hopefully this keeps me in the enough to get by brewing camp. I always end up with a HUGE amount of yeast. My latest wash has been for W30/70 lager yeast.

Washed and ended up with two 50ml phial in the fridge for future use and a third 50ml phial which i will be mixing in with a cooled sucrose solution to prime my bottled lager(10 uk gallons) with when i get home on the 11th Jan. First time trying this as i normally just leave enough in suspension but in this case its been lagering for a couple of months so will be crystal clear. I mention this as its another scenario when it is useful to have some washed source yeast.

P.S Liking the Blueberries. Also, trubs heavy, It settles out and sits on the bottom in seconds, few minutes at the most.The next washes should take longer as its lighter particles you are trying to get out and the final wash should be live yeast only. I don't look for the layer, on my last wash i assume(!) that live yeast will float whereas dead yeast will sink. Final transfer takes place and i let that settle properly in the fridge before transferring most of the beer on top to a sterile jar. I then pour the yeast samples in mixed up slurry/minimal beer form into the phial and top up with the sterile beer if need be. HUGE samples. Hope this helps.