multiple use of S-O4 yeast cake

[matt_wolf]

I'm planning on brewing a bitter using S-O4 in the next couple of weeks, and I was also planing on brewing a lighter beer using pilsner malt and Sterling hops a couple of weeks later with S189. Now I'm wondering just how strange it might be if I just used the S-O4 yeast cake. Anybody done this?

[Chris Craig]

It's not uncommon to just rack a new wort onto a recent yeast cake, but there are a couple of things to consider:

• If, for some reason, your cake is contaminated, you'll pass this on to the new beer...it's happend to me
• A full yeast cake is way to many yeast cells to pitch.  Over-pitching reduces things like esters that contribute to a beer's flavour.  (over-simplified)

If you still want to reuse the cake, consider splitting it in half, or even quarters to get a better pitch rate.

[matt_wolf]

thanks Chris, I hadn't thought about having too much yeast. I was more concerned about what the resulting beer would taste like!

[Richard]

+1 on everything Chris said, over-pitching can help produce a cleaner beer, if that's your thing - however I wouldn't use S-04 for anything you'd want to call "light" as it has a very distinct and strong flavour profile.