Dumping a new wort on top of a 2 type yeast cake.

[Rominken]

I'm about ready to move my Barley Wine to secondary...I started my Barley with Safale US-5, then when I think that apparently stalled I added WLP - 099 to finish and hopefully have that for the bottling (this is my first big gravity beer - so I'm new to the process). So, in short, I have a big yeast cake, and I was wanting to put a high gravity Russian Imperial Stout on it.

My questions are...
1. Will the amount of suspended yeast WL-099 be enough when moved to secondary to use it for bottling?
2. Should I wash the yeast that will be left in the fermenter after I move the barley wine.
3. Will the two yeast strains cause off flavors, or since the WL099 is such a tolerant yeast will that just beat out the US-5?

I want to be thorough with the process of high gravities since where I live (South Korea) ingredients, Malt, and yeast are expensive as hell.

Thank you for any help you can provide for a newb.

 

[autonomist3k]

A guy I work with poured his wort strait onto the yeast cake from his previous beer and that thing blew off all over his garage, I don't know a lot about brewing, just getting started, but it's my understanding that an entire yeast cake is way over pitching.
If you decide to do it, definitely use a blowoff tube, but I don't know if it's a good idea to do it in the first place.

Maybe harvest all the yeast, clean the carboy, and use the correct pitching rate?

this might help http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html#"

 

[Foosier]

I just pitched a porter with slurry from a previous batch and Mr Malty only called for a 1/2 cup. My porter got started very quickly off this amount of yeast from the previous batch. Pitching onto the full cake is grossly over-pitching and can lead to other issues.

On the flavor, I do not know what impact there would be but I would imagine you should have enough yeast in suspension to bottle your barley wine.

 

[Uziyahu]

I have no experience with this, but everything I've read says to not reuse yeast that's been in a high gravity brew. Lots of alcohol puts a strain on the yeast and causes problems when reused. In addition, over pitching skips the early parts of the yeast cycle, which can cause problems in the beer. I'm not at home so I can't reference my yeast book to des ribs it accurately.

 

[dcp27]

1) plenty left for bottling
2) if you're set on re-using this yeast (I wouldn't recommend it), I would think it'd be better to wash it and make a starter. typically you don't want to re-use yeast from a big beer as they aren't as healthy, but making a starter from it may re-invigorate it. at worst, you're only losing a starter if its off instead of an expensive RIS
3) no off flavors, and it's anyones guess which would dominate. i'd prolly give the nod to S-05 since there would be more and its not as much of a nutrient hog

 

[bacchusmj]

If you pitch on a cake you should pitch up, rather use the cake from a weak beer then step up to a stronger beer. Its still better to just wash the yeast.

Best plan is to buy a vial. make a weak beer blonde/bitter/pale and then wash that yeast cake. Then use that yeast (after starter) to pitch into bigger beers.