I know that you should not reuse a yeast cake from a higher gravity ferment to a lower gravity but what about from a high gravity to another high gravity?
details;
I have a 1 gallon batch of 1.110 in primary now, it will remain for at least another week or two. If I brewed a 5 gallon batch of the same wort and pitched to the cake would I be asking for trouble?
I am guessing the answer is yes but I though I would put it out there anyway.
no not high gravity yeast. just a wyeast british (Burton I think, no notes with me.)
So are you saying I could pitch a lower gravity wort on the cake from the BW? I though you were not supposed to pitch a lower gravity on a higher gravity cake? I will be doing this partigyle so if that is doable is still saves me a couple bucks. Not sure it’s worth it though.
High-gravity fermentations are stressful, period. So the rule of thumb really should be “don’t re-pitch from a high-gravity beer.” If you need to because of scheduling issues, I’d harvest about a third of what you need for the second beer, and build up in a low-gravity starter.
Sorry, I meant it would do better in a low gravity wort because it would be more gentle on the yeast, not that it was a good idea. Like Sean said, the rule of thumb is to not re-use yeast from high gravity ferments.