PacMan OK?

planning on doing a real big American barleywine (1.125), thinking about using pacman. was wondering if it would be a bad idea to brew a small cream ale (1.045) as a starter for the barleywine, 3 weeks later rack it off (keg/bottle) and pitch the barleywine on the cream ale cake? anyone have any thoughts on this? and if the general consensus that this will work out well, any things I should pay close attention to, thanks as always guys for all the help.

I have been wondering if that was possible to do as well. Would you have to worry about cleaning the fermenter or would it not matter since its all the same yeast?

Actually, this is a method many folks use for a big beer. You're basically making a 5 gallon starter for your BW.

Although... rather than just pitching on the cake, I'd wash the yeast first and then use the whole amount on the BW.

why wash it first?

shouldnt be to much trub from the cream ale?

Washing the yeast will make sure you're pitching only live, healthy yeast. The dead and dying ones settle out in the washing process along with trub, hop particles and anything else that might have made it into the brew. You don't HAVE to do it, but it's not hard and I think it increases your odds of a better brew.

this is a good way to make a barely wine, as a starter large enough could be somewhat resource intensive. However, I always prefer a starter full of healthy yeast as opposed to a yeast cake. If you have a stirplate, I think you could easily get the starter large enough.