Burton Union cake for imperial stout?

[ong]

I've got an ordinary bitter fermenting right now (1.039 OG), using Mangrove Jack's Burton Union strain. This is my 49th batch, and for my 50th I'd like to try something a little outside my usual range, so I was thinking of an imperial stout, around 1.100 OG. It occurred to me that maybe I should just pitch the cake from the bitter, to get a nice strong fermentation started. Think the flavor profile will be OK for a big stout? See any issues with that plan? I've pitched low-gravity cakes before (or a portion thereof), and had pretty solid results.

 

[Siberian]

Should be fine, I've done something similar several times with good success, particularly when your looking for a good clean fermentation.

That said keep this in mind:

For some small batches or low gravity beers such as an ordinary bitter, there is a very slight chance you might end up over pitching if you get carried away. High pitching rates can result in a less than ideal fermentation profile (i.e., low or unexpected esters, yeast autolysis flavors, poor head retention) as compared to a properly pitched batch. -MrMalty Starter FAQ

While obviously your talking about a big beer, your also talking about using what is basically a 5 gallon starter for it. Imperial Stouts should have some fruity esters in it which may be minimized or eliminated if you over-pitch. So, you might be better off using one of the online yeast calculators to figure out roughly what the proper pitching rate would be and just re-using that amount of your left over slurry.

 

[ong]

Thanks, good point. Now to figure out if I can get 18 lb of grain in my BIAB setup!


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