Re-pitching on yeast cake help?

[larsmudrak]

Our brewpub just made the transition from all dry yeasts to using some liquid yeasts (wyeast 1762 specifically) Tomorrow I am planning on brewing a Belgian Tripp and currently have this yeast fermenting a Belgian Blonde. I was planning on racking the blonde tomorrow. Should I just transfer the new wort into the existing fermenter after taking the blonde out? I have read a bit on washing yeast, but a lot of these methods seem to be for storing it and not using it the same day. I have also debated just taking a bit of the sediment out of the existing fermenter and pitching it into the new wort. Any experience or advice is greatly appreciated, Thanks!

[jwalts]

I don't mean this as an insult, but you sound like a homebrewer who's still learning the ropes. Assuming you're using a unitank, i.e. a fermenter with a conical bottom, this is exactly what your equipment is designed for. Dump some yeast off the bottom valve until it looks creamy and mostly white (attaching a hose will prevent it from spraying everywhere), then send it to the cleaned and sanitized fermenter that your Tripp is destined for. 7 lbs of slurry per barrel should be in the right ballpark for a tripel. If you're pitching cone-to-cone, you can crudely estimate this based on a volume or flowrate. Using a T and a couple of valves to split the two pathways, at either the upstream fermenter or the downstream fermenter (you don't have a yeast brink, right?), will allow you to accomplish this quickly and with minimal compromises of sanitation. Unlike a typical home brewery, where a lack of process control creates a situation where the benefits of a massive yeast cake can outweigh the downsides of "chain smoking" a fermenter, your tanks should always be re-cleaned and re-sanitized before transferring new batches of wort into them.

Joe