Pitching on Yeast Cake

rondemay · May 13, 2018

So, despite knowing better, I had extra ingredients around and I decided to brew a new batch the day I was racking over my Saison. For the Saison I used the WY3711 (I washed and saved this too, because it is the most fantastic strain). After racking into the secondary and adding my Brett I decided not to waste all the glorious trub and I just put the new brew on top. The new brew is a Kolsch style, some carapils, wheat, munich, lightly hopped early in the boil... but it definitely has a lower gravity than the Saison. What problems should I expect from this? The Kolsch is fermenting quite vigorously, as it is probably way over-pitched. I was thinking about racking it over after a few days to get it off the slurry as soon as possible. Thoughts? Thanks for the advice!

waldoar15 · May 13, 2018

Never used that yeast, but I'm guessing it's not going to be very "kolschish".

rondemay · May 13, 2018

waldoar15 said:
Never used that yeast, but I'm guessing it's not going to be very "kolschish".

That’s for sure!

ericbw · May 21, 2018

Style aside, it should be fine to just let it finish up. There is yeast in the beer even if you try to rack it off the cake.

rondemay · May 21, 2018

ericbw said:
Style aside, it should be fine to just let it finish up. There is yeast in the beer even if you try to rack it off the cake.

Yeah, this is what I ended up doing. It fermented vigorously for 6 days and then just came to a screeching halt. So I primed and kegged it. Taste tests revealed that it is actually more Kölsch like than expected, maybe more of a blonde ale though.