1.100 OG and pitch rate

I need to pitch 520 billion yeast cells and cannot find good information regarding how to construct a starter without having a spent yeast cake from a previous fermentation to with work. Daniel's and Palmer's texts both recommend 1 million cells/mL/deg Plato which gives me 520 billion cells while Mr. Malty's calculator recommendsd 370 billion cells. I'd prefer to err on the side of caution and pitch more. Mr. Malty recommends using two liquid yeast packs for the 370 billion and 3.3 liters of starter. Anyone have any clues on how to calculate a more reliable method for this case?

If I'm not mistaken... Daniels and Palmer "split the difference" between ale and lager yeasts with their assumptions... Mr. Malty will calculate based on one or the other.

I think Mr. Malty puts you around .75 Million/ mL /deg. Plato for an ale... I try to be precise as much as I can (within reason, especially considering costs) so I would round off and work up to a 4L stater, decant and pitch.

But that's just my moderately educated opinion... with a touch of experience. FWIW!

What's the recipe? You may want to oxygenate twice; before pitching and about 12 hours after for the high gravity.

Type: All Grain Date: 5/23/2011
Batch Size: 5.50 gal Brewer: Craig Kuehl
Boil Size: 8.90 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 120 min Equipment: My Equipment
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00
Taste Notes:

Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
18.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 90.00 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 5.00 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 1.25 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 1.25 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 1.25 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 1.25 %
1.25 oz Warrior [15.00 %] (90 min) Hops 55.0 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [6.10 %] (20 min) Hops 10.1 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [6.10 %] (7 min) Hops 4.5 IBU
5.50 gal Milwaukee, WI Water
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale


Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.096 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.096 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.022 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.024 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 9.66 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 9.45 %
Bitterness: 69.6 IBU Calories: 450 cal/pint
Est Color: 11.9 SRM Color:
Color


Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge Total Grain Weight: 20.00 lb
Sparge Water: 6.30 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 20.00 qt of water at 164.2 F 150.0 F

With the 4L starter do you begin with a 1L starter and then pitch that into the 4L? What if I don't own an air pump? I've been accustomed to oxygenating the wort by shaking up to this point. Do you think attenuation will suffer without blowing air?

I'd plan on getting less than 70% efficiency (unless you usually get very high efficiency), it will suffer with a large grain bill... since you won't be able to sparge all the sugars out and still have a reasonable volume to boil.

You will need to step up a 4L starter. You should be fine making a 1L, decanting and pitching that into 4L of wort. There are a lot of threads on here about starter size, wort gravity, etc.

I don't know if attenuation will suffer, but I'm reading "Yeast" and the authors suggest that it may. Something to consider... it would be a bummer if you had that much invested in a beer and it stalled on ya!

Best of luck with it!