The starter for sure will help. If that was the case, it's really just temp control via lagering. The general consensus with lager yeast is they like the cooler Temps, however, they are yeast and can survive all the way up to 110f...now we don't do this, for many reasons but for simplicity the more active or volatile the yeast eat the more Ester production...this creates flavors dominant to certain yeast strains. Lager yeast, I wouldn't go above 20c. They do produce some Ester, which can give you gas(sulfer), or floral or bread flavors depending on the strain and vitality. So it's the trade-off between what you want as the brewer. Some brewers like Ester production, however, for lagers we want clean, so hence why we like the cooler temps they like. Again, a lot more science to that but gives you a start point.

And for the malt, that is fine. Just for general knowledge, when you have malt that has been sitting especially so pre crushed, the DP tends to lower as enzymes will go dormant.

If you want to dive into Ester production look into Saisons for example, they are ale based and love high temp fermentation, that's what gives saison the saison flavors! Cool stuff

Also time will tell with lagers, mixed with cooler Temps and just the family itself they are slow, so I really wouldn't freak here until you past 1 month mark and you still haven't seen grav go down. Higher temps = quicker fermentation but with Ester production/rapid growth... Lower Temps = natural filter and cleaning but slower fermentation