New to Yeast Starters

Ive got the mr malty app, but I'm still having trouble figuring it out. I'm brewing a high gravity beer, so need a healthy pitch.
Let me be specific, I am getting in the calc that I need 314 billion yeast cells. With a starter, it appears to get that number I would need 2 packs in 3.58 liters. I am assuming this would be 2 packs of 100 billion Wyeast in a DME solution. I've never ever done a yeast starter before, always just threw the stuff in. I realize now this won't cut it. Any thoughts for a noob here?

I use YeastCalc. Clearly shows how to make step up starters with one pack yeast. http://yeastcalc.com/ Check out the Care and Feeding of Your Yeast tab.
More information from Wyeast. http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_makingastarter.cfm
One thing to remember about making starters; the best yeast health and growth comes with a starter of about 1.037 to 1.040 SG.

It seems to me Mr malty is telling me to use 3.86 liters in my starter flask with 2 packs. My flask is only 2000 ml which is a half gallon. Yikes! Should I do two seperate starters and combine them? What would others do? Seems like a large amount of liquid to me.

If you are wanting someone to give you a rough explanation of what to do then just make a 2L starter at 1.040 SG and let that go for about 2 days. Then place starter in fridge overnight and in the morning decant most of the liquid. Then use this new yeast in your starter to make another 1.5-2L starter at 1.040 SG and let it go for another 2 days. Then to the fridge overnight, decant in morning and allow to come to room temp before pitching. If you are using a stir plate then 1 step should get you there but if you are just letting it sit then you may need up to 3 steps to get that cell count depending on how old the yeast is.

I see, so rather than do 2 starters (one for each pack) just do it in succession. That works. Thank you for the assistance.
No stir plate, so I guess I'll just need to shake flask often

samuelcollins said:

It seems to me Mr malty is telling me to use 3.86 liters in my starter flask with 2 packs. My flask is only 2000 ml which is a half gallon. Yikes! Should I do two seperate starters and combine them? What would others do? Seems like a large amount of liquid to me.

Click to expand...

That is why I like YeastCalc.

samuelcollins said:

I see, so rather than do 2 starters (one for each pack) just do it in succession. That works. Thank you for the assistance.
No stir plate, so I guess I'll just need to shake flask often

Click to expand...

Rather than shake, just swirl. You want to keep the yeast in suspension and add a little O2 so they can reproduce. If you are without a stir plate just wirl every time you walk by.

Ok thank you all. One more follow up question though, as I've been researching this and using Mr. Malty and getting conflicting answers (or am just so confused I think I am!).

Can I just do this starter from one pack of Wyeast instead of two (doing the two or three steps, cold crashing night before starting the next one).

Malty is telling me two packs. I get the feeling I'm making this too hard

Yes you can just use one. I use the yeast pitch calculator on brewers friend. It allows up to 3 steps.

Intermittent shaking will oxygenate your wort for better yeast growth if you don't have stir plate. Stir plates are more effective than intermittent shaking by creating a constant vortex for oxygenation.

samuelcollins said:

Can I just do this starter from one pack of Wyeast instead of two (doing the two or three steps, cold crashing night before starting the next one).

Malty is telling me two packs. I get the feeling I'm making this too hard

Click to expand...

If you want to do that many step then in theory yes. However the more steps you do the more likely you are to have an over saturated starter. I would personally use the two packs and try to have it done in two steps. Over saturation doesn't hurt anything necessarily but it can stunt to yeast growth. But if you want to save money go ahead with the one pack and just do a three step starter.

What is the gravity?

1.093?

OG of 1.088

samuelcollins said:

OG of 1.088

Click to expand...

I'm showing that you could use 1 pack and get away with doing a 2 step starter using 2L at each step and be ok.