Small starter to wake up a large amount of yeast?

[slayer021175666]

Hello everybody,
I was wondering something.
I have a large amount of yeast that I want to use in 10 gallons of beer. It's probably an inch of compact yeast cake in the bottom of a quart Mason jar. I know it's enough for the 10 gallons but, it has been sitting in the fridge for about a month. I'm wondering if just a small yeast starter would wake it up. I don't need to make a big starter to try to propagate the yeast and build it up to a bigger amount. I just want to wake it up and make sure that it's healthy. Give it a little taste test tomorrow or something just to make sure it didn't go bad.
What are you guys think?

 

[DBhomebrew]

Great time for a vitality or shaken-not-stirred starter. [1L] in a 1G vessel. Shaken into a foamy froth.

 

[slayer021175666]

DB,
Are you saying to only make a 500 ml starter? I was going to make it one liter at least but, I'll save the DME if 500ml is enough. I was however going to keep it in my 2 l flask because I can boil in it easy. I'm not really sure why a person would need a gallon container. Can you explain it to me?
Thank you.

 

[slayer021175666]

Eh?

 

[DBhomebrew]

My apologies, I misspoke. 1L in a gallon vessel. For a SNS starter, it's a 1:4 ratio to give enough space to get it really foamed up. Pitch it whole at high krausen.

 

[slayer021175666]

I just made about a 600 mL starter so, I hope it works. I'm chilling it down right now. It's a quarter cup of DME and a little less than a half a teaspoon of yeast nutrient.

 

[slayer021175666]

I mean, it's got to be better than just pulling it out of the fridge, letting it sit around on the counter (while I brew) to warm it up and throwing it in. I would think, anything to wake it up, warm it up and feed it would be better than nothing. I don't do much sciency type of brewing but, I figure a 600 mL starter for 20 hours or so would still help it.
Of course, anybody who wants to chime in and say I'm incorrect, I welcome your input. It's what it is now though. I'm I'm already doing it.

 

[hottpeper13]

I do vitality starters all the time,here's my SOP. On morning of brew day take yeast out of fridge,decant beer on top, let warm up.
After the wort has been boiling for 10 min I take out 1 qt and put it in the freezer. When it's at pitching temp I pour it on the yeast cake and give it a swirl every once and a while. By the time the main wort is at pitching temp the starter should be at high krausen and I pitch the whole thing. You don't have to change the recipe because you're pitching the same amount you removed at 10 min.
DME starters are for people that don't make their own wort. In Greg Noonan's book he says you should calculate the amount of wort to include enough for a starter for the next batch.