Small Batch Starter

If I'm making a yeast starter anyway, why don't I scale it up, add specialty grains and hops? At least that way I would be making beer. Even if it is just a six pack. Also, this would give me a chance to play around with recipes.
So, I bought a couple 1 gallon jugs from Northern Brewer and made my first small batch yesterday.
I'm shooting for 3/4 of a gallon.
This is a pale ale. 15 minute boil.
.75 lbs Briess Pilsen Light DME
.15 lbs Crystal 60L
.3 oz Chinnook @ 15
.25 oz Cascade @ 5
.25 oz Simcoe @ knockout
I'll end up dry hopping with something. Probably Chinook, since that's what I have in the freezer.
The main reason I'm doing this: Wyeast 1056. This will be a starter for a pumpkin ale I'll be brewing this weekend.
Almost everything went well. But, my OG was very low. 1.032. I was shooting for around 1.050. I attribute this to not including the DME volume to the original boil volume. A mistake I keep making over and over... At the very worst I'll have a six pack of really bitter watery beer.
Well here it is. I put it in a pan of water, wrapped in a shamwow, beneath the air conditioner with a fan blowing on it in the coldest room in the house. This should keep the fermentation temp below 70 degrees. It's still pretty hot during the daytime here.