Why pitch on a cake?

[ChshreCat]

I'm doing a pale ale for my first beer and pitching an Arrogant Bastard clone for the second. They'll go well together.

 

[bakersbrew]

So if you stick to generally the same flavors as well you should be fine, right? Like a pale ale and an IPA

 

[ChshreCat]

So if you stick to generally the same flavors as well you should be fine, right? Like a pale ale and an IPA

The general rule is lighter to darker and lower to higher IBU. If you wash your yeast (check the stickies, there's a great tutorial up there) you can get away with more.

 

[Ketchepillar]

The general rule is lighter to darker and lower to higher IBU. If you wash your yeast (check the stickies, there's a great tutorial up there) you can get away with more.

Lower OG to higher or same OG is also pretty standard.

 

[usurpers26]

My two cents, take the 5 minutes and figure out the proper slurry amount via mr malty. Pitching on an entire cake is pretty much like using a 5 gallon starter.

 

[khiddy]

khiddy,
So did you siphon off your ESB from the fermentor and then immediately add the EdWorts wort to the fermentor or was there a lag period in there? For instance, did you save the yeast cake in the fridge for a time and then add it to your wort?

I'm thinking the problem is either with yeast viability or maybe the EdWorts was too hot when added.

Anytime I have dumped a new batch on an existing yeast slurry from a previous batch, I have done it all on the same day and it has exploded into activity within an hour.

I actually took a couple of tablespoon-sized scoops of the previous Munton's Dry Yeast cake (perhaps 1/3cup total) and set it aside in a sanitized jar until I was ready to pitch. The total time from harvest to pitch was 2 hours or so, and the yeast sat out at room temp. I fully expected the next morning to wake up to a blown lid off of my fermenter. What a disappointment to find not the slightest bubble at that point.

Well, by the time I got home from work the second evening, it had developed a slight krausen, so I just let it go without adding anything else. By the next afternoon, I had serious rhino farts. All is well, if a bit of a slow start!

Definitely, however, I'll be letting this fermentation go a bit longer than would otherwise be necessary for Nottingham. Everything I've read about Munton's is that it's slow and steady, and finishes high on the gravity. I won't take a reading until day 10 or so, this Saturday. Then we'll see where to go.

 

[Tonedef131]

My two cents, take the 5 minutes and figure out the proper slurry amount via mr malty. Pitching on an entire cake is pretty much like using a 5 gallon starter.

I try to advocate this stance every time this topic comes up, but my posts get ignored by those fascinated by other brewers tales of 30 min vigorous fermentation starts. *sigh*

The risks of overpitching are many, and unless you are going from a very small gravity beer to a very high gravity beer you are overpitching by an unbelievable amount. Your biggest risk of pitching too much or right on the yeast cake is overtaxing the supplies of dissolved oxygen, simple sugars and nutrients available to the yeast. This can result in a lot of off flavors and autolysis. A lot of esters and yeasty characteristics are developed during the respiration and reproduction phases...if you give your wort the same amount or more yeast than it needs to ferment then it essentially skips these steps altogether and your beer will not be nearly as good as it could be.

 

[CharlosCarlies]

unless you are going from a very small gravity beer to a very high gravity beer

I think that's what most of us are talking about though.

A lot of esters and yeasty characteristics are developed during the respiration and reproduction phases

But if you're looking for a very neutral yeast profile, why is this a bad thing?

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

I usually wash the cake from the low-medium gravity batch...then save two or three mason jars for future use and pitch the rest that's 'clean'. The second beer is a big beer. The fermentations are what I would call fairly nominal...they start a little faster but seem to ferment normally after that.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

I pitch on a cake as often as I can. I brewed 4 batches this past weekend and I took the Notty cakes from 2 previous batches, split them both in half and BAM! 12 hours later all 4 were pounding away.

 

[Trubadour]

I have an IPA that I'm about to rack to transfer so I can dry hop it, and am planning on doing an IIPA or Barleywine onto that cake.

I've used slurry from BM's Centennial Blonde for a gallon of my ESB (long story) and it was going strong an hour later.

Yesterday I pitched washed yeast from an ESB to my Porter and it's not doing anything yet. So as it stands now, I prefer the cake, but not enough time to make a reasonable call.