Pitch on yeast cake multiple times or save starter for reuse?

[essexjim]

I'm going to be brewing three Belgian Tripel one after another using a WYeast pack.


Should I do a simple starter using all of it in my first fermentation, pitching my wort directly onto the yeast cake with the following brews


OR

Should I split my starter, saving some to make a new starter for each of the following brews?

 

[Gerryjo]

You could do both, first of all making a starter for backup but pitch on the yeast cake anyway.This way you have the best of both.

Sent from my ALE-L21

 

[strange-steve]

Either will work fine and I've used both methods successfully, though I think it's better to split the starter. When pitching onto a yeast cake you are overpitching by a lot which you don't really want to do, especially with a beer like a tripel.

 

[Cwrw666]

Personally I wouldn't pitch straight onto a yeast cake.
What I would do is take a few spoonfulls of trub from your first brew and use that in a second. I wouldn't do that a second time though - each time you re-use trub the beer you make from it will be slightly worse than the one you took it from. It's not just yeast in the trub after all.
If you want to do multiple brews you could store extra tub from the first brew in a sanitised bottle for use on future brews.

 

[Leon103]

I would split the starter.

 

[Pawlo7671]

Personally I wouldn't pitch straight onto a yeast cake.
What I would do is take a few spoonfulls of trub from your first brew and use that in a second. I wouldn't do that a second time though - each time you re-use trub the beer you make from it will be slightly worse than the one you took it from. It's not just yeast in the trub after all.
If you want to do multiple brews you could store extra tub from the first brew in a sanitised bottle for use on future brews.

I'v been watching CraigTube over on youtube and he's on his 9th brew now re-pitching the trub and he swears its getting better.
I'm not convinced, i re used it once and i could tell the difference

 

[Grizzly299]

There is no black and white answer to this.

You need to evaluate whether it's appropriate for your chosen style. Here are some considerations:

• Was the previous fermentation healthy?

• Was the previous fermentation from a high abv beer?

• Is my chosen style likely to benefit or be made worse by characteristics potentially imparted by the trub?

•How old is the yeast cake?

• How long do you plan on leaving the new brew on this yeast cake?

• Pitching onto a yeast cake could mean a significant overpitch, which could severely limit fruity esters, which are desirable in some beers.

 

[essexjim]

Well, they're 8% belgians (all 3 of em) so I'm thinking more on the splitting side currently.

 

[JapanBrew]

My advice.
I would split starter in half, store half the the fridge. When your first is finished, collect and wash the yeast. On your second batch, pitch the stored yeast from the first starter. When that's finished, collect again and store in the fridge. The third batch, use the first washed batch. What this will do is allow you to taste the difference from 1,2 to 3.
I've reused my yeast around 10 times at the most. I don't dare go past that point.

 

[jceg316]

There is no black and white answer to this.

You need to evaluate whether it's appropriate for your chosen style. Here are some considerations:

• Was the previous fermentation healthy?

• Was the previous fermentation from a high abv beer?

• Is my chosen style likely to benefit or be made worse by characteristics potentially imparted by the trub?

•How old is the yeast cake?

• How long do you plan on leaving the new brew on this yeast cake?

• Pitching onto a yeast cake could mean a significant overpitch, which could severely limit fruity esters, which are desirable in some beers.

I agree with this, it's not black and white and there is plenty to consider.

I've emptied a fermenter then poured fresh wort straight onto the yeast cake and the beer was fine. Used the same yeast for 3 beers, but I used either w-34/70 or s-23 (can't remember which one), both of which are pretty robust yeasts with an almost neutral flavour profile.

With a Belgian ale, the yeast imparts a lot of the flavour and I would take care to look after it and make sure you don't over pitch. To avoid this you can always pour out half the yeast cake and pitch onto the other half. And with the decanted half clean it and make a starter for batch no.3.