Yeast Starter on a stirplate

Yeah, if it works for you then great.  I would not recommend a novice brewer do it.  They should focus on good, consistent starters before going advanced. 

A simple dimple on the wort ona  stir plate is enough oxygen exchange for the yeast to stay anaerobic.  I encourage new brewers to plan to pitch the starter around 18 to 24 hours when it will be at high krausen and best suited for a new, hostile environment.

Happy Brewing.

Right now, I'm having fun with it. You guys are way smarter at this stuff than I am. I'm a pretty simple guy. When my cat refuses to sleep in the garage because I've got a blow off tube belching into a bucket of sanitizer all night, I'm thinking I might be onto something.

My cats just stare at them, the dog on the other hand waits in anticipation for anything he might be able to taste!  He does his best to keep the tops of the buckets "clean".  He's not big enough to knock the buckets over or I would be up the creek!

--Update--

This past weekend I brewed two batches.  For the first one, I made my normal 2L starter with 2 vials of yeast and just a touch extra DME.  I then pulled off about 400ml into a sanitized flask.  I then made another starter, only 1.5L this time.  On this one, i used the 400ml from the first batch and pitched one vial.  Both starters had a great amount of yeast.  I pulled off about 300ml from the second one to use in my next batch.  At this point, if I can cut my yeast usage in half I'm happy!!

No need for extra DME, you should be good to go between 1.020 - 1.040. I split it down the middle at 1.030 with the idea that the yeast stays aerobic longer and produces well on the stirplate. You will force it anaerobic when you make beer.

A caution from my own mistakes........I used to measure the DME to be 1.040 and didn't realize how much it was boiling down, even in 15 minutes.  When I got a refractometer, I learned some starters were 1.060. 

So as you're determining the starter method that works for you, account for some boil-off and try to measure the final SG of the starter is between 1.030 and 1.040, and not just the initial SG of the measured DME. 

I have never worried about measuring the wort I use for starters.....be that good or bad, everyone will have their opinion on that.

I have always had a history of coming up light on my wort, so I error on the side of a little bit extra (1/4 cup or less in 2L) is just fine.