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In addition to the starter information given in the [[Lactobacillus#Manufacturer_Tips|Manufacturer Tips]] above, this section includes general advice for ''Lactobacillus'' starters for homebrewers and brewers without access to MRS media. MRS media is much more expensive than the materials required for the method below (DME, apple juice, chalk, and yeast nutrients). See [[Lactobacillus#External_Resources|External Resources]] for additional starter guides.
Pitching ~0.5-1 liter per ~20 liters of wort (~0.75-1 gallon per barrel) of ''Lactobacillus'' starter is the general guideline. The exact advisable pitching rates of commercial cultures may differ from manufacture to manufacturer. <ref>[https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilkTheFunk/permalink/1077639885597558/ MTF thread started by Brad Primozic. 5/29/2015.]</ref>. Counting the exact number of cells can be difficult to achieve due to the small size of bacteria cells, so starter volumes are generally used instead when talking about ''pitching rates'' for ''Lactobacillus'' <ref>[https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilkTheFunk/permalink/1068323126529234/?comment_id=1068337639861116&offset=0&total_comments=47&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R9%22%7D Conversation on MTF with Bryan Heit. 5/6/2015.]</ref>.
Starter mediums that brewers have used include unhopped DME wort starters and apple juice starters. These tend to be adequate for many brewers. However, [https://eurekabrewing.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/evaluate-starter-media-to-propagate-lactobacillus-sp/ Samuel Aeschlimann from Eureka Brewing Blog] showed that using DME with a little bit of apple juice, chalk, and yeast nutrients provides close to optimal cell densities that match cell densities of using expensive MRS media. =====Samuel Aeschlimann''s Starter Procedures:''=====
# Make a 1 liter starter of '''1.040 SG (10°P) Dried Malt Extract wort with 10% apple juice + 20 grams of chalk (CaCO3) + yeast nutrients''' for growth results that are close to MRS media growth results (as per [https://eurekabrewing.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/evaluate-starter-media-to-propagate-lactobacillus-sp/ Samuel Aeschlimann from Eureka Brewing Blog]). The chalk won't dissolve into solution; don't worry about it. <ref name="sam_starter">[https://eurekabrewing.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/evaluate-starter-media-to-propagate-lactobacillus-sp/ Evaluate starter media to propagate Lactobacillus sp., Eureka Brewing Blog, by Samuel Aeschlimann.]</ref>.