At what gravity do you make a starter ?

I use US05 for most beers that are 1.050 and lower. When ever i do bigger beers "IPAs etc" that are above 1.050 i use liquid yeast and make a starter.

I sometimes read on here that some are using 05 with there IPAs. Are you using 1 pack or 2 when pitching ? I use the Mr Malty app and guess that would tell me. I still would be interested in what you guys do.

If using dry, I never make a starter, nor do I use more than one yeast package for anything below 1.070. But 11g yeast packs contain more yeast than liquid yeast when properly rehydrated. For liquid yeast, I make a starter for anything above 1.040 - which is all beers I brew. Plus I step up my starters per the Mr. Malty calculations.

I can still get two packs of 05 for the less of a price as a single liquid 1056/001. Two packs of US05 should be enough to ferment almost the biggest of the big.

Nevertheless, I do use Mr Malty app to know how much I need to pitch. If it is just a slight over/under pitch, I don't worry about opening another pack. Some days I will plan to brew two, and if I am using US05 (or notty/any other dry yeast) for both, I will actually divide up over the two packets to the real numbers to be close to where they should be.

But, I make a starter for EVERY beer I brew from liquid yeast (except sours). I do it just to make sure it is viable.

I pitch ales at 1 million cells per ml per degree Plato, and lagers 50% higher.

Sometimes dry (always rehydrated), sometimes liquid (always a starter), sometimes slurry (if it's fresh).