Just curious how to perform steps 2 and 3 for a starter?

I'm halfway through reading John Palmer's book "How to Brew". Decided to make my first yeast starter last night follow the starter wort recipe listed in his book, which is 1/2 cup DME to 2 cups of H20. I ended up getting a 1.090 gravity wort. I had to water it down and reboil, had a boil over...

Hello fellows brewers - first post here. I have some old cans of Northern Brewers Fast Pitch. It's been in storage (70F). The canned date is Feb 11 2016. There is no expiration or use by date even though it is a pasteurized product. Anyone else use it long after can date? thx Bill

Most of my brewskies have a thin layer of yeast (?) on the bottom of the bottles. I was wondering… Assuming this is yeast.. should I be able to use this deposit to make a new yeast starter? Or is this yeast completely dead after, say 6 months? Do any of you guys have any expedience with this...