Yeast Starters Made Dead Simple

There's a ton of information already out there about making yeast starters and the benefits of doing so. After more than a handful of batches for which I've made starters, many boil-overs, scorched flasks, and stir bars that just won't stir, I'll share the seemingly insignificant tricks I've learned which make the process smooth. There are a few bits of "advanced" equipment which really help: a stir plate and stir bar(s) and an infra-red thermometer. Here's what I do:

1. Clean your 2L Erlenmeyer heat-resistant flask with PBW to get any crud out of there
2. Refer to Jamil's calculator for the proper pitching rate for your brew
3. Take your yeast out of the fridge in order to let it get to room temperature.
4. Put your dry, empty flask and a funnel on your scale and zero it out
5. Measure out 1g of DME for each 10ml of water and dump it in the flask. (100g for 1L, 200g for 2L.)
6. Add an appropriate dose of your preferred yeast nutrient
7. Add your water
8. Drop in a stir bar if you have a stir plate.
9. I like to give the mixture a stir before putting it on the stove to help the DME really dissolve. (Of course if you like scorched, carbonized DME stuck to the bottom of a flask you can skip this step.) If you don't have a stir plate, just shake the crap out of it until everything is dissolved.
10. Add three to four drops of Fermcap or some other foam control additive and cover the mixture in aluminum foil
11. Put the flask right on your stove and set the burner at medium-low heat. I've found that bringing it to a boil slowly prevents the volcanic eruption of foam which has left my stove caked in sticky, carameley goo. (I use an infra red thermometer to watch the temperature. Yes, I am a nerd.)
12. Do not walk away from your starter. It will know that you have and promptly boil over. Typically I turn the heat down to low right as it reaches a rolling boil.

13. Set a timer for 15 minutes and let it boil.
14. Kill the heat once time is up and transport your flask to an ice bath. If the water in the ice bath is lower than the level in your flask, it'll stay upright. If it's too much higher, it'll try to float and probably spill into your cold water. See step 3.
15. Gently slosh your flask around to cool it down faster.
16. Once you get to 75 F, add your yeast. Be sure to sanitize your foil cover before putting it back on. I like a spray bottle of Star San for this.
17. Put your flask on your stir plate and then turn it on. Otherwise you'll just bounce the bar around. (If you don't have a stir plate, just swirl that baby every so often.)
18. 24-30 hours later, you should have a healthy, bubbly starter. Don't forget to watch for that stir bar when you decant it into your beer...