First Homebrew Ever - Yeast Starter Questions

Let me preface this post by saying, RDWHAHB. I fully support and am behind this way of life. Okay, now that's out of the way.

So I did my first homebrew ever today, and I made a yeast starter for it and then pitched my yeast into a second starter, and on each occasion, I followed the method laid out by John Palmer in "How to Brew Beer." However; each time the starter didn't form much yeast at all. As in significantly less then the tube I bought originally. I pitched anyway and I'm not overly worried that things won't work out but I was just wondering.What gives? Any advice?

Also, very off topic, but are the time stamps crazy around here?

Did you pitch entire starter? Most of the yeast was probably active and still in suspension.

How did you make each starter? After the first one was done, did you just dump the entire thing into a second batch of wort? What were the volumes of each? Did you decant? If you did, did you cold crash it first?

Whew, I need some coffee.

So I made only a pint of wort (pint of water, 1/2 cup DME, 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient, 10 minute boil) and pitched my yeast (1 tube) into that. And I did try to put the original starter into the fridge for 20 minutes before I poured most of the liquid off, trying to leave as much yeast as possible in the flask, then poured my new wort (same as above) into the erlenmeyer flask with the yeast on the bottom that I used for the first starter.
I did see krausen on both starters, but no significant amount of yeast cultured.

Was the mini-wort cloudy?

I usually dump whole starter in while yeast is active.
If you are going to decant liquid off, as you did, I believe it takes at least over night in 'fridge for yeast to drop out.
Check this out, If you already haven't..http://www.mrmalty.com/pitching.php

Yes, the mini wort was cloudy when I decanted. And next time I should let the wort chill overnight huh... Well shoot heck and darn now I know. Thanks for the information.
Also, on a side note, since my yeast was in a tube rather than a pouch, and only had a cap and ring seal, when I sanitized it in my sani solution, I saw a bubble or two leak out from the seal area. Sani water killed my yeast?

Since you've told me your starter wort was cloudy then our assumptions are correct. Since you didn't refrigerate your starter i'd say about 60-80% of the yeast you just pitched was still in solution instead of in a ring around the bottom of your flask. It's not required to chill your starter overnight, SilverZero was just saying if you wanted to pour the wort off and pitch ONLY yeast then you needed to cold crash so the yeast would drop out of solution and into the aforementioned ring in the bottom.

A bubble or two leaking out was probably just an air pocket towards the bottom of the seal AFTER the threads that actually seal liquid out. No worries there either. Sanitary water will not kill yeast, if it did most of us pitching from a yeast container wouldn't have beer a majority of the time.

Also, are you using the term "decanted" in the correct form or do you just mean you dumped all the starter liquid into the fermentor?

Decanting is when you let the starter sit in refrigerator over night and let yeast settle out.
Then pour or rack the liquid off so you have mostly just yeast left.
I make starter 24 hours in advance and dump the whole thing in.

Thanks for all the help everybody! And as to decanting, I meant it in the sense that even though my mini-wort was cloudy, there was still yeast on the bottom (almost sandy looking) and I poured off the cloudy liquid leaving a fine yeast like paste on the bottom.

Also, once I cold crash it and then pour off the wort leaving the yeast on the bottom, should I mix more sterilized (boiled then covered and cooled) water back into the yeast into order to form a slurry? As in, will the remaining yeast on the bottom have too high of a viscosity to pitch out easily?

I would just make your starter like normal and not worry about decanting the liquid off or chilling the starter. You won't have any trouble making slurry with all that liquid and you can shake it so get oxygen in the solution at that point too. That amount of DME will not influence your end product in any way, especially if you use a pilsner or something REALLY light bodied.

What are you worried about, making you want to chill the yeast out of solution and possibly introduce a second, unnecessary step of boiling more water? Sounds like you are making it more difficult than it has to be for no viable reason...