Yeast Starter for Lager

I'm preparing to brew my first lager. I was thinking that a one gallon starter is in order (OG should be 1.048). But the Mr. Malty website is telling me that I not only need a one gallon starter, but that I need to pitch to vials into the starter wort. Is that really necessary, or will I get sufficient growth from one vial in a one gallon starter? FWIW, I don't use a stir plate. I rely on intermitten shaking.

You can adjust the growth factor, so with one vial you would need a 6.58L starter assuming you don't have a stir plate. If you were diligent and shook it up regularly you could get away with a 3.8L starter. That large of a starter I would start a few days ahead of time as it will take a while to attenuate fully FYI.

Bensiff said:

You can adjust the growth factor, so with one vial you would need a 6.58L starter assuming you don't have a stir plate. If you were diligent and shook it up regularly you could get away with a 3.8L starter. That large of a starter I would start a few days ahead of time as it will take a while to attenuate fully FYI.

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Sometimes you can't on mrmalty, will say you need 2 vials no matter what.

I would just see what the yeast count is, and check it on yeastcalc if you are stepping up or just to see.

I bet your gallon starter should be fine for that gravity. Make sure you allow enough time to crash it.

ETA: I bet your born on yeast date is back in March or so isn't it...