Re-worting the bucket

[poggor]

So Im fermenting a batch at the moment and for my next batch I want to do something very similar (identical but slight changes to the grain bill). My question is this: when I rack the current batch into the bottling bucket, can I just pour my new fresh wort onto the old yeast cake? Will this work?


cheers



g

 

[sp0rk]

if there is no hop matter in the trub and it's not a vastly different beer, it should be perfectly fine
some people say to remove all but a cup or 2 of the yeast cake, but it's up to you

 

[manticle]

Whole cake is probably an overpitch but you can certainly reserve half a cup or so. Rough and ready method that works.

 

[poggor]

what problems would overpitching cause? i actually deliberately underpitched on the first batch (3076)

 

[manticle]

Lack of esters, yeasty flavours. Possibles, not definites.

 

[thedragon]

I've done it on occasion without issue. However as manticle says, it's not best practice.

 

[indica86]

I have done it and it works.
Have not noticed the presence or lack of ezters in any brews but I have only been brewing AG temp controlled for a year.

 

[poggor]

sweet sounds great! i'll give it a go: regarding the presence of hop material- i use hop pellets and even when they're in a sock there is still quite a lot of hop material that makes its way into the fermenter. the second batch im planning on brewing will use very similar hop regime as the first batch- will this really be expected to be a problem?


g

 

[thedragon]

Give it a crack and see how it turns out. I reckon that you'll be ok.

 

[Bomber Watson]

I do it all the time, as i mostly use US05.

Just pitch in a "starter" beer, say 1040 OG, then for the next brew i will either tip a few litres of cold water onto the cake after transfering the beer to the bottling bucket, then split it between two fermenters, and tip in the fresh wurt, or like last time if im doing a big beer just tip the fresh wurt on the full cake.

Have to get rid of some of the trubb each time after this though, as it gets higher than the tap if you try to go to many brews...

Replace it every six brews or so....

Cheers.

 

[poggor]

just to follow up on this: i did it and it worked very well. no issues. haven't tried the second beer yet (first one was great!) but everything about the fermentation proceeded as planned.

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