tom_hampton said:
Scott Ickes said:
KernelCrush said:
Dam! there will be other opinions on this.
You are correct.
Advantages to pitching onto a yeast cake:
Less lag time.
You're definitely not underpitching.
Strong primary fermentation.
Disadvantages:
The trub from the previous beer is mixed in with the yeast cake.
You're probably overpitching.
Probably? Average growth is 4x during primary fermentation. So, unless you are pitching a barleywine onto a small 9pplato beer... It's definitely overpitching.
I only consider pitching onto a yeast cake when I'm making something with a 1.090 SG or higher. Usually it's at 1.100 or higher in reality. So, it's usually only on a Barley Wine as you suggested or a huge RIS. Those are the two types of beer that I make that are that high. Although, I haven't made a Barley Wine in a few years. I make 4 to 6 batches a year that are of that high of a gravity.
Looking back through my brew records, I made RIS in the last year that had starting gravities of 1.084, 1.142 and 1.091.
>The 1.084 was a smack pack that was stepped up to get the appropriate yeast count.
>I then pitched the 1.142 onto that yeast cake.
>I made a 1.095 Scottish Ale recently and it was harvested yeast with the proper starter.
>The 1.091 was also harvested yeast with the proper starter size.
>I also made a 10 gallon batch of Belgian Strong that was at 1.082 this past year, but that was also a smack pack and appropriate
starter. I stepped this one up twice, so that I had enough yeast so that I could split the starter between two primary
fermenters. I don't have a large enough fermenter to hold an entire 10 gallon batch.
Looking back over the last year, I only pitched onto one yeast cake and I probably didn't overpitch, since it was the huge 1.142 RIS (Tootsie Roll).