Yeast Cake

[petrostar]

Wondering what your opinions are and personal experiences are with pitching on top of a yeast cake? How many batches of beer have you tossed on a previous yeast cake before you were finished with the yeast? I ask because I made a new years Pale Ale with US-05 about a month ago, finished that beer in the primary and then threw my stout wort on top of that yeast cake. That beer is going to sit in a secondary for a while with some oak chips. I am brewing ten gallons of a breakfeast stout on monday and was wondering if I could use that same yeast again. I know there is enough active yeast in there to start another batch. This is essentially what big breweries do any way isn't it? Sorry about the rambling paragraph, I'm in a hurry and want to go buy some supplies for monday. Thanks.

 

[hopsalot]

I have done this more times than i can remember, but there is a problem with over pitching.
Yeast washing is really the way to go:
Washing yeast - Home Brewing Wiki

 

[BendBrewer]

You don't need to use the whole cake. I normally use a sanitized spoon and scoop out 1/2 - 2/3 of the cake and dump my new batch right on top. It' Up To You on how many times you want to use an uncleaned fermenter over and over again. Yeast is cheap and there are better meathods if you want to actually harvest your yeast and be more accurate with pitching rates. That being said, I like the ease of racking out on brew day as it saves me from having to clean a couple of fermenters.s

 

[RJS]

I over pitched once, just to see for myself. The ipa came out thin and bitter, pretty much lost all I was going for.

 

[osagedr]

Don't re-use the whole cake; just pitch enough slurry to ferment your new batch. You can use the pitching rate calculator at Mrmalty.com to get an idea of how much to pitch. When re-using slurry I usually use 1/2 up to 1 cup (rarely as much as one cup).

 

[petrostar]

Well, I have been harvesting yeast for a while now and have a stir plate and typically do starters. I'm just curious about the amount of times you have used your yeast cake. I will be separating this cake into two fermenters and it will be a fairly high OG beer. I just don't feel like doing a starter and would like to try this. The beer in the primary now is a house stout recipe and the beer going in after it will be a breakfeast stout style beer. Thanks for the quick replies.

Peter

 

[BendBrewer]

you can do it up to 6 or 7 times if you want. You'll like it. It will be the best starter you've ever made. Should take off like a rocket. I don't think you want to push the limits but a couple/few times should be just fine. Has alwalys been for me.

 

[RJS]

I just don't feel like doing a starter

Peter

I make a starter every week, and i love those little guys. Stirplate makes it fun

 

[RJS]

and easy. i did the whole walk by and shake thing, didnt take long before the stirplate came.

 

[R2-D2]

I always try to brew a Dunkelweizen on top of a Hefeweizen yeast cake. It's never failed to be awesome.