Growing yeast in a small beer for a big beer

[D.Freeman]

I am planning to make a Belgian Dark Strong Ale using Safbrew T-58 yeast. With a OG pushing 1.100 I know one pack of yeast won’t be enough, so I was thinking of brewing a 1.050ish Belgian Blonde to build up my yeast for the BDSA. I’m concerned that using the whole yeast cake will be a over pitch and I won’t get the esters out of the Belgian yeast. I have played with Brewers Friend slurry pitch calculator but am unsure of how to estimate the slurry density. It is auto populated at 1 billion cells/ ml.
So my questions for all of you who know more than me are:

1. Is 1B cells/ ml a reasonable estimate?

2. When should I harvest the yeast cake? Should I rack the blonde to secondary as soon as initial fermentation is over, maybe at 7-10 days. I normally don’t do a secondary. I just leave it on the cake for 4-5 weeks then bottle. Could I harvest the slurry for the BDSA when I bottle the blonde. Will the slurries yeast cell density be lower if I wait for bottling day?

3. What temp do you recommend for fermenting using T-58?

Thanks in advance for any answers. I love this community and the willingness to share experience.

 

[RM-MN]

1. No idea. Does it really matter? I'd suspect that the auto populated amount is likely to be close.

2. Why rack to secondary? Your blonde ale, properly fermented, will be ready to bottle by day 10. You don't have to wait a month for a lower OG beer. Verify completion with your hydrometer and bottle it. For a fermenting a 1.050 beer, normally one would pitch 1/4 of the slurry. For your big beer you might want to use 1/2 and save the remaining in jars for other beers.

3. Fermentis suggest 59 to 68. The temperature you choose will determine the esters produced. For your Belgian dark strong I would probably shoot for the upper end but only if you can control the temperature rise from the yeast activity.

 

[porterpounder]

Rehydrate your yeast prior to pitching to make sure you get maximum viability. That will help initial fermentation and also help make sure the T58 doesn't crap out early, which I've seen it do many times.

Going to 1.100 from 1.050 you can estimate that 1/2 to 3/4 of your yeast cake will be sufficient yeast to have a healthy ferment. YourrY going to get esters out of that yeast underpitching or not. Slightly more with a little underpitch, but ferm temp is also a factor there. Start the ferm at 65-68 and slowly let it rise to 72-75. Many people will tell you to let it rise much higher, but i find the ester stone fruity character of that yeast becomes too much with higher initial temps and letting it go much above 72-75 F.