Yeast cake conical

[Rhodesy]

I am today brewing a lager which once fermented out I wish to dump a new lager onto the yeast cake of the WLP830 I am using. As I am using a conical would it still be ok to do so? I was thinking to add some of the new wort onto the cake and give it a good shake to loosen any clumps and mix in, I would then pitch the aerated wort in full onto this. Would this work as with a conical it is obviously more compressed at the bottom of the cone. I know I could harvest and make another starter but plan to pitch a highish ABV cold at 9c onto this. Never done this before and was wondering if it would work?

[Kev888]

FWIW I sometimes had trouble dumping yeast slurry even after several days into fermentation, if it grew too compacted. So I'd really make sure the mass was properly loosened and any plugs of compacted matter broken up before adding the second batch - if you want to use the dump valve for the next batch, anyway. I never did this with conicals, so not sure how easy it would be.

You may have dumped some of the lower quality yeast initially, but its still worth checking that you aren't using/leaving too much and so over-pitching. TBH I know very little about lager yeast so can't really advise on quantities.

I can see the attraction of doing what you propose, I often did it with bucket FVs. But with conicals their main reason for being (for me) was to make harvesting the yeast slurry convenient, so I'd do that and then was free to clean + disinfect the conical and fittings between batches. I found that reassuring for the taps in particular, which (after use) were hard to clean properly from the outside alone.

Cheers
Kev

[Rhodesy]

Cheers, I am in two minds about what to do. I may play it safe and collect the slurry and either repitch that or use it for another large starter. Got a couple of weeks to think about it I suppose

[McMullan]

I don't use conicals and I don't brew lagers, but I'd say racking off the yeast and resuspending in fresh wort prior to pitching is the way to go. For a lager pitched at low temps, I'd say guesstimate above any software predictions. I wouldn't necessarily use the whole cake. Let us know how it goes, I need to brew a lager for some odd summer guests

[Fil]

If you can draw brew #1 off the sediment without drawing out 1/2 of it into the bottles/keg, i would simply draw of brew #1 and add brew #2 asap, a turbulant pour of the new beer onto the sediment should be ample to mix up the yeast..

[bevan100]

I have got a conical and i lager, fwiw i dump a little yeast to start with the lager on top so that the weight of the liquid starts to move the yeast
i then draw off the lager to keg ,then i dump the yeast split into 2 ,1 for the next lager 1 for the fridge.
i then give the conical a good clean and start the next lager seems to work for me.

[Rhodesy]

Thanks guys, I have had a think and will harvest and then repitch for the new brew. Possibly make a starter as I may do an ale in between to ensure stock levels are maintained