I am planning to brew a barleywine that I will wind up pitching onto a yeast cake of another (lower gravity) beer I brew. I am trying to figure out a good yeast to use and have liked Wyeast 1318 in the past but I was really wondering it anyone has brewed a big beer with this yeast before? I want to make this barleywine about 11 or 12% and would like to know if this yeast holds up well once it is in an environment above 10%abv as the Wyeast site says that is the alcohol tolerance.
I used 1318 in a 10% ABV barleywine a few years ago, it fermented out fine but I didn't like the flavor profile as much as the same recipe fermented with 1028.
What did you like better about the 1028? Was the grain bill relatively simple or complex? What was it about the 1318 that you found offputting? I am not too familiar with many English yeast strains as most of my beers have used American strains as well as a few Belgians, so any help in this department is much appreciated.
