Pitching onto a yeast cake
- Thread starter Landocota
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
jester5120
Well-Known Member
Some people will say not to. They'll tell you to wash the yeast first but i do it all the time. As long as your going light to dark (red ale to porter is fine but not the other way around) and you don't want to pitch onto anything that was really hoppy (don't pitch wheat beer onto IIPA yeast)
thepartsmancometh
Well-Known Member
I just pitched a mild onto an esb cake (the mild is a little darker). Never done it before, I just wanted to try it and see.
There was NO lag time. I saw activity within 30-40 minutes
There was NO lag time. I saw activity within 30-40 minutes
a full yeast cake is over-pitching - you really only need like a quarter of it. use the search function to learn about overpitching and if it's anything you want to care about.
Sure does. That's exactly what the washing does, it gets rid of any hop particles and any other trub that has formed.
solbes
Well-Known Member
Just boil up some water, cool it, and fill a pickle jar half ful. Scoop in a cup or two of the top most slurry. Swirl it up real good and let it settle for 15 minutes. Clean up the fermenter, pour in your wort, and pitch the liquid portion of the yeast slurry, avoiding the trub that dropped out. Adds maybe 10 minutes of time if you boil and cool your water beforehand.
My next three brews are going to sequence this way. Bells yeast starter now to get the Irish Red going. I have 2 fermenters now, so that makes it even easier. One will be all sanitized and ready for wort.
My next three brews are going to sequence this way. Bells yeast starter now to get the Irish Red going. I have 2 fermenters now, so that makes it even easier. One will be all sanitized and ready for wort.
Iqbal624
Well-Known Member
My primary is in a carboy so it's hard to scoop the yeast out. I was going to repitch onto the cake of what's in my primary this weekend. However, I was wondering if the old cold break proteins will have any ill effect on the new beer.
solbes
Well-Known Member
You can do a similar thing in the carboy. Rack the beer off of the trub for packaging. Add 2 or 3 cups of boiled and cooled water. Swirl well and let it settle. The upper liquid portion will have the best yeast and least trub. Transfer to another vessel or pitch into another fermenter with fresh wort.
Iqbal624
Well-Known Member
Hmm. That seems like a pretty good idea. Seems like I need another primary... 
permo
Well-Known Member
I would expect an overattenuated Mild for sure.......
Typically, I am not a fan of this method. It is drastically over pitching. The lone exception is for big lagers. Doppelbocks and such. You might as well make a smaller lager and use the cake.
For ales, alot of the character comes from the yeast, I have found overpitchin to eliminate these flavors for the most part and also to yield crazy attenuation.....thin beer.
thepartsmancometh
Well-Known Member
permo said:
Yea, thats what I expect to happen. I have read up on this topic; this was just a cheap, easy experiment to see the effects firsthand.
dbrewski
Well-Known Member
Using this method really makes the brew day easier. I often try to schedule brews based off of what I have coming off of primary, because I know I'll have access to the yeast. I have pitched before on a full yeast cake, and it came out fine. However now I do the above, I rack off the beer and add previously boiled water. The shape of a carboy is actually good...sludge will slide forward however it will collect at the "shoulders" of the bottle if you hold it at a roughly 45 degree angle allowing the lighter liquid to pour right out. Doing this, you will get more than enough to pitch your current beer and set some aside for the next batch too.
wow awesome, im going to try this
I'd like to try this for my next brew-day, coming up soon. I have a Chimay Red clone that will be ready for bottling with Wyeast 1214 (Belgian Abbey I), and I'd like to re-pitch this yeast directly into an Ommegang Abbey clone.
How much of the "lighter liquid" should I pitch? I'd like to get it as right as possible, to avoid overpitching.
A related question: down the road, could I do something similar from the Ommegang clone (expected OG of ~1.07) into sag's Westy 12 clone recipe (expected OG of ~1.09)? In other words, does the OG of the target brew affect how you can re-pitch the yeast, other than requiring a higher pitch rate?
Edit: Realized that Wyeast 1214 and WLP530 are quite different strains, but would the principle work?
yes, yeast washing will work regardless of the strain.
do a search for "yeast washing" on this board, there are some excellent illustrated "how to's".
Quantity is hard to determine exactly because of variability in the yeast cell counts, but you want about 1 floz. of washed yeast slurry per gallon for a beer under 1.060, and about 1.5 for a beer over 1.060. That is a gross oversimplification, but better than getting 1/2 gal of trub in your next beer.
The industry standard is 1 million cells/mL/Plato for ales. Dense, well settled, washed yeast cake usually has a cell count of between 1 billion and 2 billion cells per mL. This gives you a ratio of roughly 1:500 - 1:1000 parts yeast per Plato. So if you're pitching 19L at 12P, which is 5 gal at 1.048, then you need at most 19 mL/P *12P = 228 mL, which is about 8 oz, or a cup.
