How well do I need to clean my fermenter between batches?

Going to rack my first batch into secondary this weekend assuming the gravity is alright.... Planning on putting more wort into it immediately. How well do I need to clean it?

may as well clean it really well, no real reason not to.

What do you mean how well do you have to clean it? You have to clean and sanitize it just like you need to for your primary.

Unless introducing spices / fruit or some other addition there is no need to even put it into a secondary. (unless this is a beer that is going into extended aging) Leave it in the primary for three weeks and call it good.

OR - perhaps I am reading your question wrong. Are you planning on pitching on the previous yeast cake? You can pitch right onto it if you like, just sanitize the top / neck of the fermenter and your transfer equipment. This is of course assuming that nothing went wrong with that first batch.

Do you mean you're using the same yeast cake?

I am asuming you are going to rack what is in your primary fermeter to your secondary and imediatley put another batch directly onto the yeast cake in your primary. You are asking if you have to do anything to clean your primary out before you put your next batch in correct?

The short awnser is you do not have to do anything at all to your primary fermenter as long as you are happy with the results of the original beer in the primary. By that I mean there are no off flavors or aromas and your beer tastes and smells like success.

Also make sure your new batch is similar to what you just took out. You dont want to be putting say a light pale ale on top of a stout yeast cake. you can however go the oposite way with no problems.

I was wondering if I can use the same yeast cake.... Both beers are IPAs. Need secondary for dry hopping

Yes you can your second batch will be very happy with the large amount of yeast

Good deal, when you do this try to swirl the yeast cake with a little bit of wort to get it off the bottom. Then go for it.

Mchophead said:

Yes you can your second batch will be very happy with the large amount of yeast

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the yeast might be happy but you may not be with the resulting beer. rather than pitching on a whole yeast cake it's probably better to scoop all but 1/4 to 1/2 cup out for any beer under 1060-70.

eastoak said:

the yeast might be happy but you may not be with the resulting beer. rather than pitching on a whole yeast cake it's probably better to scoop all but 1/4 to 1/2 cup out for any beer under 1060-70.

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Interesting I have never done that please elaborate with your reasoning.

Thank you

eastoak said:

the yeast might be happy but you may not be with the resulting beer. rather than pitching on a whole yeast cake it's probably better to scoop all but 1/4 to 1/2 cup out for any beer under 1060-70.

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it will be fine. NBD. beer will turn out fine. thought process on that, is all the extra sediment may or may not cause some off flavors. never had a problem with it personally.

eastoak said:

the yeast might be happy but you may not be with the resulting beer. rather than pitching on a whole yeast cake it's probably better to scoop all but 1/4 to 1/2 cup out for any beer under 1060-70.

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Expecting an original SG of 1.061

eastoak said:

the yeast might be happy but you may not be with the resulting beer. rather than pitching on a whole yeast cake it's probably better to scoop all but 1/4 to 1/2 cup out for any beer under 1060-70.

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https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/why-not-pitch-your-yeast-cake-166221/



If you don't want to clean you shouldn't be brewing. Just clean the damn thing WELL and sanitize it. You alternative is to put hours of work into something that has a higher likelihood of becoming undrinkable or useless.

One of the vendors in the forum wrote up a wonderful article on using slurry instead of washing the yeast. He has the ability to count cells and ascertain the health of the cells as well and has pretty much concluded that with average batches a pint of slurry is more than enough to pitch on.

So before I rack the beer off my yeast cake I boil 4 pint jars and lids. I leave about a cup of beer on the yeast cake and then shake the crap out of the fermenter breaking up the yeast and getting it into suspension. I pour it into the boiled pint jars and seal them up and put them in the fridge. Come brew day when I mash in I pull one jar out and let it warm up while I brew and then dump the whole thing into the fermenter.

It may seem like a royal pain in the butt and it is a pain but with one pouch of yeast I can get 16 batches of beer easy. I could get more but I figure 4 generations is plenty of times and that I have got my money out of the yeast. With the 2 strains of yeast that I use doing this I spend less than 10 bucks a year on yeast.

Xpertskir said:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/why-not-pitch-your-yeast-cake-166221/



If you don't want to clean you shouldn't be brewing. Just clean the damn thing WELL and sanitize it. You alternative is to put hours of work into something that has a higher likelihood of becoming undrinkable or useless.

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Well I asked for elaboration and I most certainly got it spades. Thank you very much for that link it was a very informative read. I was I no way suggesting that one should not clean but I believe the op was not actually asking about cleaning and or sanitizing but more about pitching onto a yeast cake. That being the case if its ok with you I'll keep brewing

In all my years of homebrewing I have never done this but I plan on giving it a try when my next batch goes into the secondary.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

oldstyle69 said:

it will be fine. NBD. beer will turn out fine. thought process on that, is all the extra sediment may or may not cause some off flavors. never had a problem with it personally.

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actually it has to do more with too much yeast and too little food for them to eat. over pitching can cause problems like thin, insipid beer. when the alternative is simply pitching on a smaller portion of the yeast cake there really is no reason to pitch a small/moderate beer on a whole yeast cake.

After some more reading on the subject, I will clean and sanitize my fermenter and just pitch new yeast. Maybe once I get a bit more under my belt I will try the yeast washing..... Plus my fermentation at the beginning was a bit warm and I'm worried that might affect the quality of both beers.