I use a conical fermenter and after the primary fermentation was over I disposed of the trub that collected in the removable container and reattached it for the secondary. I dry hopped and did a secondary for a week. After this secondary I had collected another container of sediment so I stored it in the fridge. (about 16oz of sediment and liquid). This was an ipa. I am going to brew an amber and was wondering if it would be a big mistake to pitch this collected yeast along with the saffale-04 I got for the amber? The literature that came with the fermenter recommended to use the collection from the secondary but I wasn't sure.
It wouldn't be a mistake, but it would certainly be overkill. Curiously, though, what is the volume of your conical and which yeast did you use for your IPA?
It was from a 5 gal batch and I used US-05 in it. I was going to use the dry yeast as well just in case there wasn't enough, or the stuff I collected was dead. My conical will hold 7.9 gal.
I'd just save your collected yeast for another batch. Your dry S04 will be plenty for your amber. If/when you use the harvested US05, just make a starter with it and you'll be OK. Also, I'd make sure that the storage vessel is off-gassed once in a while. You don't want it blowing up in your fridge.
I do that routinely when I make a big beer, usually using US-05. If I'm planning a DIPA, for example, I'll brew a 'normal' gravity IPA or maybe an APA three weeks or so in advance. The style is not critically important here, but the case can be made that you want to start with a similar, or at least compatible style, due to flavor components of the first beer that will likely creep into the second . I keg the smaller beer on brew day, leaving everything in the fermenter (hence, the desire to use a similar style). I chill the big beer and put it straight into the fermenter. Aerate, put the lid on, and be ready to see some action within the hour. A couple of huge benefits of this process are that you've got a boatload of yeast (you made a 5 gallon starter for crissake!) and, assuming your process is sound, there's no need to wash and sanitize the fermenter for the new beer. The most obvious downside is that the flavor and color components from the previous beer will end up in the new beer -- usually not a problem if you're going from an IPA to a DIPA or even a Barleywine, but not so benign if going from a stout to a blonde. Also, the yeast will get pretty warm, given the vigorous activity you're likely to see up front, so temperature control is important here. Another, not so obvious, downside is the risk of overpitching. That's not been a problem for me, as overpitching is low on my list of OCD triggers (YMMV) Of course, you can separate and wash the yeast, but, with a conical, I assume you're already doing that, at least occasionally. And that wasn't your question. You're not likely to need another packet of yeast if you use the whole load like this. Been there, done that!
I'm with the overkill group. I also would not be afraid to use the first bTch of trub/yeast for a brew especially if you have a spare fermenter handy. That way you will get 2 crops of yeast.
