I’m getting ready to brew NB’s Pliny clone, and I’m hoping to use the US-05 yeast cake from an IPA I’ve got fermenting now. However, there’s a pretty thick layer of hop matter along with yeast in the bottom of the carboy. Can I just pitch the Pliny in on top of all that yeast and hop matter, or will that cause problems? I’ve never pitched onto a yeast cake before…
It’s best to wash the yeast as you will not want all of the old dry hop material in your fermenting beer.
An added benefit to washing would be that you could pitch the desired amount of yeast.
I have reused yeast from an IPA before with no issues. I would not pitch it on a “lighter” beer; but I would use it on another IPA and definitely on a brew like a Pliny.
I sanitize 2 wide mouth mason jars and pour the yeast into the mason jars. I honestly do not worry about the hop material
From a 5 gallon batch, I can easily get a quart mason jar full and have some left over in the fermentor. I typically brew 10 gallons at the time and I will use 1/2 quart on each 5 gallon fermentor.
For the Pliny, since it is a higher gravity beer, I would pour in the whole quart.
Probably OK to pitch on top of the yeast cake; but it is probably more yeast than you need.
[quote=“tookalisten”]I have reused yeast from an IPA before with no issues… (snip)
I honestly do not worry about the hop material… (snip
…Probably OK to pitch on top of the yeast cake; but it is probably more yeast than you need…[/quote]
Agree on all counts.
No pressing reason (or need) to wash the yeast, especially if going into another IPA.
