How Much Yeast Cake to Use for Bock?

[TRainH2o]

I have a yeast cake from a German Kellerbier I brewed a few months ago. I kept the entire yeast cake and have it stored in sanitized jars in the refrigerator. The OG was 1.046.

Now, I want to use the same yeast, White Labs German Bock, to ferment a Bock with an expected OG of 1.068.

Now, I know I need to make a starter to get the yeast going again but how large should it be, seeing how I have about 90% of my yeast cake from the Kellerbier batch?

I suppose I need to try and wash it at least once so I may loose a little more. Thoughts?

 

[kh54s10]

Check mrmalty.com. There is a tab for yeast slurry.
There is also a lot of information about proper pitch rates.

 

[osagedr]

Like the above poster suggested, consult Mr. Malty. Also consider your temperature--I pitch a lot more cells at 46 than at 51.

For your particular beer I would pitch something like 525 billion cells for a 5.25 gallon batch (1.5 million cells per ml wort per degree Plato) if I were fermenting on the cool side. A quick look at Mr. Malty suggests at least a litre (four cups) of slurry--it's doubtful you actually have that much!

 

[TRainH2o]

It's starting to sound like I should wash my yeast and still make a 4 liter starter. That's going to be a lot of yeast. And I thought I was going to be possibly over pitching.

 

[TRainH2o]

Mr. Malty says I need 493 Billion cells or 241ml of slurry.

 

[Darwin18]

It's starting to sound like I should wash my yeast and still make a 4 liter starter. That's going to be a lot of yeast. And I thought I was going to be possibly over pitching.

If you have a stir plate it might be a smaller volume or you can step it up.