To reuse yeast cake or not?

[codyjp]

I'm brewing a Russian Imperial Stout and I'm about to bottle Edworts Haus Pale Ale.

Should I re use my nottingham yeast cake or go with the original plan of using 2 packets of Safeale us-05?

If I do re use, should I use the exact same bucket and all, including all the smootz on the sides or just drain off a few cups?

If it matters the Pale Ale has been crash cooling for a week at 34*.

Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

Yes, do it! You can reuse yeast, although I usually "wash" the yeast first. But to go from a lower OG to a great big RIS on the yeast cake would be ok if your sanitation is great. If in doubt, you can just add the yeast cake (or a large portion of it) to the new fermenter.

 

[codyjp]

Whats the best method for getting the yeast cake out? Just tip the bucket and drain it out?

Thanks for the quick answer!

 

[S0meB0dy]

I just pitch on top of the yeast cake. I brewed a dopplebock with a 1.078 OG today that I pitched on the yeast cake from a munich helles and after 4 hours @ 52F I had to add a blowoff tube. The munich helles that I brewed 3 weeks ago took 3 days to show any signs of fermentation and took almost 5 days before any signs of vigorous fermentation. Just make sure you have a blowoff tube handy because you are going to need it pitching onto that cake.

 

[Calder]

To get the cake; when you have taken the original beer off it, just swirl the container. There should be enough liquid to get it into a slurry. Then pour it into a sanitized container. Keep in fridge until ready to use.

Provided the original beer is OK, there is no need to wash it. You can if you want, and with practice you will probably want to, but for now it is not necessary.

Do not re-use the whole cake. If you over-pitch, the yeast will not reproduce as much as they should and you will have a majority of old yeast doing the work. This could lead to a stuck fermentation. Also, the reproduction phase is where a lot of the yeast flavors are made or started and if you don't get too much, it will affect the final flavor.

For a like gravity beer, I recommend using only a quarter of the cake/slurry. If the next beer is 2X the gravity (going from 1.040 to 1.080 for example) you need to use twice as much (or half the cake). The amount of yeast you need is directly proportional to the starting gravity of the beer.

 

[kappclark]

Do not re-use the whole cake. If you over-pitch, the yeast will not reproduce as much as they should and you will have a majority of old yeast doing the work. This could lead to a stuck fermentation. QUOTE]

Try to harvest the cake, rinse/wash, then repitch a portion (maybe half?)..you can reuse the yeast many more times with care. Consider how small the vials of White labs are (although they are PURE yeast) ..

 

[sweet_corn]

I almost always reuse my yeast cake, bucket and all. I will do 4 batches in a row, right on top of one another.

 

[Unibrow]

I just reused yeast for the first time. I bottled my wit (made with WLP400) and scooped up 1 cup of the slurry at the bottom of the bucket. I was VERY cautious with sanitation during this process.

Since I was brewing the next day, I mixed the slurry into a 500ml starter (2 cups water + 1/2 cup DME) and the starter took off like a rocket.

I pitched the entire starter (bubbling krausen, slurry and all) about 14 hours later into another wit and the fermentation kicked in big time in about 4 hours. Very quick and vigorous start with the 1 cup of slurry into a 500ml starter!

 

[eltorrente]

Just pour the wort right on top of the yeast cake. I've done this several times and had great results every time.

 

[solbes]

Just did this for the first time last night. I removed (and harvested) about 2/3 of the yeast cake from my Patersbier with WY3787 (1.048 OG). I transferred over a Tripel at 1.080 OG right on top of the remaining 1/3 cake. Shook it for 3 minutes to get some oxygen and get the yeast into suspension.

I missed exactly when the activity started, but it was bubbling away furiously less than 3 hours after start of ferm. This on the low side of fermentation temp too (63F)!

 

[Unibrow]

Hey Solbes - do you know how much the remaining 1/3 yeast was? Was it 1 cup worth, less or more?

I'm just curious because I just did it for the first time as well, using 1 cup of cake into a small starter.

 

[Beernewb]

I recently poured a nut brown ale on top of a mild, but 48 hours later, I'm just starting to see some activity in the carboy...i really had to shake the carboy to get the yeast back into suspension as it was really compact. I wonder if i damaged some yeast, because i have pitched onto a cake before and had fermentation in hours.
Shold i jut pitch another packet? or is it too late?

 

[Bewbzout]

If more yeast is better and some have good results pitching onto the yeast cake why only use half of the slurry? I do understand you can have too much yeast but i have heard it is really hard to do. Just wondering...

 

[solbes]

To answer the question on top, it was about a cup of slurry left I would estimate, mabye a tad more.

I didn't want to pitch on the whole cake because I still wanted some esters. And I wanted to harvest the yeast from the lower strength Patersbier for a Dubbel later on this winter, so it made more sense to grab it here than after a long primary in a Tripel. I still have 2 weeks to go on the Tripel primary, so no info on how it turned out.