Re-using yeast

[powderbock]

I spent last Thursday reading up on washing yeast and using them for 4-5 more generations as I was trying to decrease the Wyeast cost of $7 a batch. When brew day came around, being a little lazy I remembered something I had heard at one of our brewclub meetings of just racking the wort right into the primary, just after racking what was in the primary to secondary. Hopefully this hasn't confused anybody. Basically I didn't clean out the primary and used the left over yeast immediatley for my next batch.

Just wondering if anyone has tried this before. I racked a Porter to the primary after racking the Pale ale (originally in the primary) into the secondary. Fermentation took off rather quickly. So much so I ended up putting the fermentation bucket in the shower and closed the door. The yeast was a Wyeast American Ale 1056.

I'm assuming the Porter may take on some of the aroma of the Pale, but considering in retrospect I fudged the Porter recipe a bit it shouldn't really matter. (didn't put in enough chocolate malt, missed my color by quite a bit.

 

[Parker36]

People do it all the time, expect fermentation to begin quickly.

 

[Yooper]

Sure, we do it all the time. Usually, it's suggested to go from a lower OG to higher, and lighter colored/flavored beer to darker. Sounds like that's exactly what you did.

I've heard that you can easily do this up to three times before the yeast might mutate and cause some issues. I've never done it more than twice, though- that's a LOT of yeast and I usually wash it if I'm hoping to reuse it again.