Using yeast cake!?

[mandobud16]

Hey guys I plan on bottling my dry Irish stout today and reusing the yeast Wyeast Irish Ale 1084) for my India Red Ale (Hoppy ass red). Should I just pour the new wort right onto the old cake with the stout residue in it or should I scoop some of the yeast out and pitch it into the new wort? How would you go about doing this?
Thanks!

Also how long can the yeast sit in the old fermenter before the new wort is added?

 

[theonetrueruss]

do a search on how to rinse yeast on google. you really want to rinse it to clean out all the trub etc. before reusing. I just did this for the first time last weekend and it is easy.

 

[mandobud16]

Thank for the reply. I'm going to give this method a try. A friend of mine says that he just dumps the new wort in the yeast cake... How does that affect the beer? Too much trub? Will the stout flavors come out in the red ale?

 

[homebrewdad]

Pitching right on to the cake may result in some off flavors. If doing the same style, this would be less noticeable, but if doing a different style, you should really wash the yeast.

 

[flushdrew42]

i think there's a discussion to be had here. i have a homebrewer coworker who absolutely swears by racking immediately atop the yeast cake. he says with the size of brews we are doing (unless above 20 gallons) the chances of "off flavors" or over pitching is negligible.

in fact, he brews entire batches just to rack the fresh wort right on top the yeast cake that has had finished beer racked off it.

now. all of this is subject to discussion b/c i have not tried it myself.
i have, however, tried the beer produced from this method... and it's freaking delicious.