I live about 3 miles from the Bayou Classic main office and they have a store that is only open on Fridays. I went in one day wasting time and saw they had a scratch and dent section. I came across a 10 gallon stainless kettle that was missing the shut off valve that was marked at $40 I believe...
In honor of my Uncle Bob who passed on this morning. He always gave us a bottle of whiskey for Christmas and this is the one we got this year. I will miss his words of wisdom and his awesome laugh. Cheers to you Uncle Bob.
Since it's a porter I'd go with option #1. If it were a lighter beer I would go with option #2. Of course you could always adjust the recipe to bring the og down and just pitch without a starter.