Which starter procedure is better?

I have been using procedure 1 but I can never get much yeast to flocculate out by crash cooling only for a few hours and I feel like I am decanting off a large amount of active healthy yeast in suspension. Would procedure 2 be better? It is a more laid back procedure and would be easier to do as well over a week before a weekend brew day. Is there any negatives to procedure 2 that I am missing?

I also include yeast nutrients in my starters.

Procedure 1
-1700ML/180g DMW/Wyeast Smack pack
-Stir Plate for 14 Hours
-Crash cool for 2-4 hours
-Decant off most wort(very cloudy still)
-Another 1700ML/180g DME
-Stir Plate for 24 hours
-Crash Cool for 2-4 hours
-Decant off most wort(very cloudy still)

Procedure 2

-1700ML/180g DME/Wyeast Smack pack
-Stir plate for 24 hours
-Crash Cool for 24 hours to drop almost all yeast.
-Decant Off almost all wort
-Another 1700ML/180g DME
-Stir playe for 24 hours
-Crash Cool for 24 hours to drop ALL yeast.
-Decant off most wort

#2 is a lot closer to what I do. You won’t get much yeast to drop out in only 2 hours, as in #1.

I usually do procedure 2 for the reason you detailed; the strongest, healthiest yeast are getting poured out in procedure 1. You may want to go longer on the stir plate, though. It’s possible the reason the yeast aren’t flocculating is because there may still be consumable sugar.

Someone once told me that yeast are done multiplying after 12 hours on a stir plate and any longer is waste so I kind of just went by that…

But then again your throwing out a ton of them when you decant them still in suspension.

Thanks for the input. Going to start dragging my starters out over a week instead of completing 2 stage starters in 36 hours.