Reusing sacc/brett yeast cake

[BierGut]

After kegging a saison that I'd brewed last year with a blend sacc and brett, I brewed another saison the very next day and racked right on top of the old yeast. I do this often with my ales to save money an they take off immediately. This one though shows no signs of active fermentation after 3 days, no krausen, no bubbles, just a thin pellicle already starting to form.

Is it fermenting? I forget how the other saison acted in it's first days of primary and I'm wondering if the brett killed the sacc yeast?

Any advice?

 

[NTexBrewer]

May need to pitch more Sacc. I'm guessing they are pretty pooped out from doing nothing for a year. The brett may be stressed too but I bet they will still do their thing.

The only way to tell if it is fermenting is to check with a hydrometer.

If it were me and I did not have any active fermentation after 5 days, I would pitch some Saison Yeast.

Then add some dregs from Brett only beers like Orval after primary fermentation is complete.

 

[secondbase]

Overpitching aside, your sacch is likely stressed or even dead after a year. It will still ferment out because brett is a beast like that, but the brett character will assert itself much quicker this time around.

I would pitch onto a third to maybe half of the cake depending on OG, along with a little sacch to help it along.

 

[tarmenel]

Apologies for hijacking but been wondering about this too. Would it be better to build a starter up with the year old yeast cake? I'm wondering about this for longer term building a house strain. How do they do it if not pitching onto the yeast cake?