Reusing yeast

As a fairly new brewer, I've only once reused yeast. It worked out successfully and I want to do more of it to save money (and because I think it's fun). But the one and only time I've done it, I reused a saison yeast (Lallemand Belle Saison) and didn't give any thought to the first batch affecting the flavor of the second because both batches were saisons. But this time, I want to reuse the yeast that is currently working an oatmeal stout to brew an English bitter. So my question is....Does yeast pick up any of the flavors from the malt and hops from one batch that would affect the next?

Most times the advice when reusing yeast is to go from lighter flavored beers to stronger flavored ones.  I tend to reuse yeast in similar styles of beer.

I've never tried what you have stated you want to do, so I'm not sure how it will turn out.  However, I can tell you that it will still be beer when all is said and done.

I fully agree with Scott's comments, and purists will have me hung, drawn and quartered for any comments after this sentence; so perhaps you should ignore any other of my comments.

If you wish you can certainly reuse the yeast, and there is a lot of info on youtube and other places about rinsing harvested yeast. The small amount of beer that's left over doesn't taint the color or flavor very much, and IMHO most people would find it difficult to notice any difference. While I don't tend to harvest yeast after fermentation anymore (I now prefer to make large starters and save some of that), I've successfully used a simple method many times with compatible fermenters. It is described and illustrated here:
https://www.coopers.com.au/coopers-forum/topic/12903/

Cheers

I've pitched yeast saved from strong flavored recipes (American Brown) to lighter flavored recipes (Pale Ale, English Pale Ale) more than a couple of times.  The key I've found is to rinse the yeast well to remove as much of the trub as possible.  Generally, this takes only two rinses.  I time the cold crashing of second rinsing to decant the trub and excess liquid to just before I brew.

As with most things in brewing, there are a couple of dozen ways to do something to get good results and somebody will always declare that there is only one way--- theirs....

Thanks for the info/opinions, guys. Think I'll go ahead and try it. If nothing else, I'll learn something.

I've tried without luck to wash yeast. However I've had good luck reusing yeast for back-to-back batches. Because of my setup, I secondary all my beer (I've got one huge glass carboy that I use as a primary, and several five gallon ones that I use as a secondary). So if I time it right, I will rack and brew on the same day. I'll rack when the mash is doing its thing, and reserve a six to eight ounces (2/3 to 1 cup) of sludge from the primary. I use that to seed the next batch. I've done this a half a dozen times in a row with good results, with both lager and ale yeast. I figure that since I'm only using a cup or so, the added flavors are minimal.  Works great too. Takes off like a rocket with very little lag time. Also, it helps that I generally use the same yeast unless I'm doing something special. Usually I use Safale US-05 for ales and Saflager S-23 for pilsners. Occasionally I'll mix things up and make something special like a wheat beer, but that yeast only gets used once.

Unless you know how to propagate and harvest under sanitised conditions, chances are that you will infect your yeast over time.  If you want to propagate cultures, then it's time to invest in a bit of lab equipment like a microscope, Petri dishes and a Bunsen burner

But that's fir the ferry long run.  I re-pitched the same (liquid) yeast at least three times without too much variation in flavour

Antiphile! Thanks for the link!