Big Starter for Big Lager

I'm brewing 25g of Doppelbock, using Wyeast's Bavarian. I have a 0.5l container of yeast from the factory. I'm thinking it would be nice to do a big starter in a carboy for this batch. I haven't done too many lagers, and none of this size, so I'm somewhat clueless.

I have some DME around. Can I just do a 5g starter in a carboy? I also have a stir plate, but it's small.

What sort of temps should I have the starter at? I'll decant and only use the yeast.

Should I just bite the bullet and brew 5g of some other lager and pitch with the cake? I don't have good temp control for 5g, so while this may seem appealing, it could be tough.

Thanks for your advice!

For 25 gallons of a 1.080 Lager pitched cold, you'd need an 8 gallon starter from the yeast you have. Those containers have 1.2 Billion cells/mL and you should pitch 1.5 Million cells/mL/ºP.
You would have to step it up or brew a beer.

Off hand you probably should have gotten one of the 1L packs of yeast for your big lager, though they are expensive.

If it was me what I would do is make 15 gallons on day 1 and pitch it all, on day two I would make 10 gallons and add it to your already fermenting beer (without oxygen on 2nd brew)

Wyeast suggests that I use 1l/bbl, so I should be close. However, I'd like to get even closer. I know that some of the pitching calculators suggest much larger amounts. I don't want to geek out too much on numbers, but I do want to get a good start to this beer. That's why I'm thinking that if I pitch the 0.5L into a 5g starter, I should end up with enough yeast to really get the 25g batch going.

Does this make sense? Would it be beneficial to pitch half the package, and reserve the other half to pitch directly? 0.25L of yeast should be enough to get the starter going quickly, so would adding 0.5L be wasting the potential by over-pitching?

ClarnoBrewer said:

Wyeast suggests that I use 1l/bbl, so I should be close. However, I'd like to get even closer. I know that some of the pitching calculators suggest much larger amounts. I don't want to geek out too much on numbers, but I do want to get a good start to this beer. That's why I'm thinking that if I pitch the 0.5L into a 5g starter, I should end up with enough yeast to really get the 25g batch going.

Does this make sense? Would it be beneficial to pitch half the package, and reserve the other half to pitch directly? 0.25L of yeast should be enough to get the starter going quickly, so would adding 0.5L be wasting the potential by over-pitching?

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Sorry I forgot about your numbers when thinking about it, I was thinking you were doing 2bbl. I know Wyeast recommends 1L for 2 bbl of ale so 1L for 1bbl of lager would be pretty good. I'd go with what you have and not bother making a starter.

ClarnoBrewer said:

Wyeast suggests that I use 1l/bbl

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Actually they suggest 2L/bbl if your OG is higher than 16ºP or 1.066