Amount of Yeast for Barleywine

[Duncan83865]

Im brewing a barleywine this weekend--by far, my biggest beer. I'm looking at 5.25 gallons with a target OG of 1.108. For those that have made bigger beers, what have your results been using Mr. Malty. It's telling me I need 379 billion cells. I'm making two separate 2L starters, which should put me at just under 600 billion cells. Is that enough? Should I pitch another pack of yeast in addition to put me closer to 700 billion cells? Thanks for any help!

 

[shanecb]

Wait.. why are you trying to double the amount of yeast that the calculator is recommending?

 

[Duncan83865]

I guess I had seen some info that suggested the calculator's pitch rate might be low for big beers like a barleywine. So, I was more curious to see starter size/cell counts that others had used to brew barleywines. If others have brewed big beers and had success pitching the quantity that Mr. Malty suggested, I'm all for that since it means I can get away with a smaller starter than I had planned.

 

[shanecb]

I've never heard of it being off for bigger beers (not to say it isn't, just that I haven't heard it), but if it is I doubt it's that far off. For a point of comparison, Beersmith recommends just about the same amount of yeast (376 billion cells).