Reusing yeast in primary carboy with hops on walls of carboy?

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brewinginct

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I'm aware that you can pitch wort directly on the yeast left in the fermentation carboy with great results.

But do you have to worry about infection from hop particles stuck to the inside rounded top of the carboy?

If there's no downside (ie increased risk of infection) then I'd prefer to keep those hop particles in the carboy to see what effect it will have.
 
As long as your next beer is darker and has a higher IBU you should be fine. I try not to make a habit of reusing yeast cakes (do a search for yeast washing), but when doing a 'big' beer it works great. As far as sanitation goes......shouldn't be a problem. If the beer that came out of the carboy wasn't infected .....than the carboy is fine. I usually rack the beer off relatively close to the time to add the next. You don't want the cake sitting around for days IMHO.
 
+1 for Hammy71: you want to go darker & hoppier with each use of the yeast cake. I sometimes will try to make the SAME beer each time, and it definitely is darker & a little hoppier with each successive generation.

As for infections. . . No. Hops are antimicrobial, so they won't give you an infection.
 
Downsides:
1. You are most likely overpitching your yeast, resulting in a less pronounced yeast flavor profile
2. You are risking flavor transfer form one batch to the next.
 
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