Dad was a Dunkel, will his son be dark too?

[cornelius]

Hello homebrewers. Before I ask my questions about reusing yeast I want to give proper thanks for all the good advice! This forum is a great wealth of knowledge. In general, most hombrewers I have met have been friendly and helpfull to answer my noob questions. I use the search feature religiously to find information. I have read the "yeast washing illustrated" sticky by Bernie Brewer. It is awesome! here it is, a great resource...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

Instead of searching, this time I am posting to ask you about the pros and cons of the different methods of reusing hefeweisen yeast.

Today I want to brew a Hefeweisen. I have a Dunkelweisen that I brewed 3 weeks ago. It is in the primary, a bucket. My plan was to keg the Dunkel, then brew and pour the regular hefe wort right onto the yeast cake from the Dunkel. My concern is possible discoloration of the second batch.
If I rack most of the Dunkel off first, will the Hef be a nice golden color, or will it have a brownish tinge? Should I wash the yeast first, like in the "yeast washing illustrated" sticky?
I am also concerned that I will be overpitching, using too much yeast, if I pitch directly onto the cake.
Will this pose a problem for this style, since hefs sometimes have a delicate flavor?
I get mixed information here about autolysis.

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

Meanwhile some brewers dismiss autolysis as a "boogeyman".
Has anyone experienced off-flavors or undesired colors from pitching a Hefeweisen wort onto a dunkelweisen yeast cake?

 

[AmandaK]

1) Hefeweizen and dunkelweizen. Just sayin'.

2) I don't see why you wouldn't just wash the yeast and pitch a proper amount. I do it every time I consider reusing my yeast. It's a short and easy process, so why not take the care with the yeast as you did with the rest of the brew?

3) But honestly, if you're worried about color only, there wouldn't be a noticeable color difference if you rack like I do and barely leave any of the original beer on top of the cake.

 

[beninan]

I would NOT pitch straight onto the yeast cake, especially for a Hefe. The yeast reproduction does make a significant difference in a Hefe, and with a giant yeast cake, no reproduction is needed=no yeast influence.

Take mason-jar samples of the yeast cake and wash it. Then pitch the proper amount of yeast.

If you don't want to take the time to wash the yeast, I would just scoop up some so it half-way fills a pint-size mason jar, and pitch that. It's not accurate and as clean as new yeast, but it's a lot better than using the entire cake.