Lager pitching rates....seriously?
 

A 2.5+ gallon starter according to Mr. Malty for a 5.5 gallon, 1.060 SG Lager?

Do any homebrewers pitch at these rates?

lagers need pretty substantial amounts of yeast. mr malty is good but you can use other resources to engineer a smaller starter with the same amount of necessary yeast. you could use 2 yeast packs in 2 gallons and that would work. 4 yeast packs in 0.8 gallons also works. Using a stir plate you could use 2 yeast packs in 0.75 gallon starter and that would also work. another thing to consider is if you refrigerate your starter for two days and decant, you will reduce the liquid you dump in your wort while still managing to dump in most of the yeast.

I don't. I make a low grav lager and use the cake for the big lager, usually with enough left to save.

Well, I think maybe 1 pack with 1 gallon is w/in reason.

Yes, although I only make about 2 lager starters a year (and repitch for 4-5 additional lagers) and I do it on a stir plate with 2 packs of yeast.

There's a reason DIY stirplates are so popular. That one gallon with one pack you mention isn't too far off if you're using a stirplate.

According to the wyeast website with a .375gallon starter and a stir plate my final pitch rate is 13.55 million cells/mL.

Also according to their sit you need between 12million and 18million for a cold pitch at my starting gravity at wort size.

Starting gravity about 12 plato I am guess? That is 1 - 1.5 million cells per ml per degree plato which is what is recommended in the literature. Jamil goes with 1.5 for lagers.

Actually it looks like this can be greatly improved with a small step up of .5 gallons.

I've heard you can use 2 packs of dry saflager yeast. Ill find out how well it works on july 4th when i get to taste my first results, but the fermentation sure looked and smells healthy.


edit - Didn't see 1.060 gravity, I did 2 packs for 1.052, so yeah...........