Yeast starters?

I have about 10 homebrews under my belt. I've used dry yeasts pitched directly into the primary fermenter and liquid yeast (disaterous due to high temps during shipment). Three of my dry yeast batches had an off flavor I attribute to "wild yeasts" so I think I would like to try yeast starters.

My questions, 1) What size earlynmeyer flash do you recommend? 2) How much malt do you recommend for a good starter?

A 1000ml flask is a good enough size. I use both 1000 and 2000ml depending on how many steps I need. Use foil for the top so you dont have to mess w/ a rubber stopper and air lock
As far as DME shoot for 1.045 or so and you should be good.
Keep it clean.
Cheers
JJ

I make starters in a 22oz beer bottle and affix a stopper and airlock to it. I use one pint (16oz) of wort for a Wyeast smack pack and have had good results.

If you're buying the equipment now, I'd recommend going with a 2000 ml flask. 1000 ml will work, but 2000 will give you more flexibility. To get more yeast replication, you'll often need to go with a 1000 ml or larger starter anyway. The larger flask will give you more room to do that.

For my starters, I typically go with 1 gram of DME for every 10 ml of final volume in the starter (e.g. For a 2 liter starter add 200 grams of DME to the flask, then fill the flask with water until you have 2 liters total.)

This is a really good general read for yeast starters and pitching rates, including the 1 gram to 10 ml water method:
Proper Yeast Pitching Rates