2 questions about racking onto yeast cake

I have never done this before, however considering.  Brewed a Marzen and will be racking it off to a secondary.  The beer is being fermented in a 5 gallon glass carboy.  My next beer will be a Doppelbock

  • Would it be best to siphon off as much beer (& trub) as possible, and then rack the fresh new wort on top the existing yeast cake (& any residual)

  • After siphoning how long could I safely keep the yeast cake as is, before adding the new wort?  Eg 3 days, 5 days more?

Thanks for the advice.

The beer is protective for the yeast. When I do this I rack the old beer off right before racking the new beer on the cake. If I can’t do it the same day, I usually transfer the yeast to a few mason jars (with a small amount of the beer) and keep them in the fridge until I can use them.

When I do this I plan my brews so that brew #2 is ready to go on the yeast the very same day that brew #1 is being kegged. If there is going to be any delay of a day or more I collect the yeast cake in a quart mason jar and store it in the refrigerator. I have kept jars for three or more weeks like this before using with no problems.

When you do this do you worry about the ring of Brown hop matter stuck to the side of the fermenter? Batch two will naturally submerge that stuff and I hear it is pretty bitter. No negative side effects?

Not that I’ve experienced