I have taken a crack at this. Homemade stirplate from harddrive magnet and computer fan, etc. Erlenmeyer flask and teflon-coated stirbar.
I washed the yeast from the last batch with cooled, pre-boiled water. Separated the yeast layer from trub, etc.
Pitched it into a 'starter wort' and let the stirplate rip.
After 1 day it smelled yeasty, more like bread than brewing beer.
After 2 days, it has a noticable acohol aroma. I suspect the yeast have passed the 'exponential growth phase'.
From what I understand I have a couple days to chuck it into a batch for optimal fermentation. I will make a batch in the next couple days here.