Yeast Starter Questions

I was told by my LHBS that I should make a starter for 2 days in advance of brewing my Brewer's Best Holiday Ale due to its strength of 7-8% to avoid a stuck fermentation. I have never done one before and have read many different suggestions on the 'right' way.

Perhaps you guys could fill me in on whats wrong with my plan (hopefully nothing). I will boil around a pint of water with some DME, then let cool to pitching temps as normal, add a little more water, then add the yeast (im using liquid yeast), seal with an airlock and let it sit at room temp for 2 days.

After that, pitch it into the fermenter as I normally would. Any reason that wouldnt work?

Check online for the Mr. Malty pitching rate calculator. It'll tell you what size starter you need. (and it'll be much bigger than a pint!) Cheers!!

And make sure your starter is around 1.040 or even a little lower.

No airlocks on starters either. You WANT the oxygen to get in there to help the yeast reproduce. You're building yeast here, not making beer. Just put a piece of sanitized foil on top of it. Swirl/Swish it every time you walk by.

If you make a large starter, you can crash cool in the fridge a day or two beforehand and decant the liquid off the top before pitching so you dont add 2L worth of crappy beer to your 5gal batch. That part is preference though.

should i poke holes in the foil or just trust that enough air will get in around the bad seal from foil? And how to you sanitize foil? just use Star San like everything else?

no holes. Yes star san. The point of the foil is to stop stuff from falling in. So holes would be bad. And don't crimp the foil tight. Leave it loose enough for air to get underneath but still covering the hole of the flask or jar or whatever.

And when you check Mr Malty, note that there's a thing that lets you choose "simple starter," "intermittent shaking," etc. If you're going to be shaking the starter throughout the day, select the "intermediate shaking."