First Lager & Starter Questions

[RIBeer]

I’m embarking on my maiden voyage of making a starter and brewing my first lager at the same time. I’ve been reading as much as I can about both, but I still have a few questions. First, I’m making the extract version of the Stellar Trois kit. I plugged the numbers into Mr. Malty, which tells me that I need somewhere between a 3 and 4 liter starter, depending on the production date of the yeast pack. Does a few days really make that much of a difference in yeast viability? Do folks typically make starters this big? I got the 2l flask starter kit from NB, figuring that it would be plenty big. Should I be looking into getting a bigger flask to work with? Finally, should I keep the flask on my stir plate for the entire time it is fermenting? I was planning on brewing Thurs eve, but I'm thinking I won't have time to get the starter fermented out by then.

 

[chemman14]

I am planning on brewing a barley wine that calls for a 4 liter stirred starter so I just plan on making a 2 liter starter and purchasing 2 packets of yeast