So this weekend I’m planning on making a Belgian Golden Strong and I have a Wyeast 1388 smack pack manufactured on 1/9/2012. The recipe I’m planning on using has 2.5# of sugar that I plan to add a few days into fermentation. So without the sugar the OG will be about 1.050 and with it is calculated to be 1.073. After consulting Stan Hieronymus’s Brew Like a Monk I’ve considered underpitching to the point of roughly 450k cells per ml per degree Plato, as Moorgrat does (pg 186). So with all of that considered which option should I go with to calculate the number of yeast cells I need to pitch to achieve the best attenuation?
A) Mr. Malty pitching rate for 1.073?
B) Mr. Malty pitching rate for 1.050?
C) Brew Like a Monk rate for 1.073?
D) Brew Like a Monk rate for 1.050?
E) None of the above
I’m leaning towards option C which gives me about 148 billion cells for a 5 gallon batch. Mr Malty calculates 251 billion for option A. I feel C gives me a middle ground where the yeast will be pitched into a lower gravity beer and have time to reproduce some before having the 2.5# of sugar added. However having no experience with this yeast means I’m open to any suggestions.