I always smell and taste a starter, gives you a heads up if there is anything else growing in there. You also get to know the the yeast and how it plays in wort to a small degree.
Its been too long between Irish Red Ales for me so that is what I'm brewing tomorrow. The only thing out of whack is the colour but the Spec B will do good things for this brew so it'll be more like a dark red verging on brown. Can't wait!
51 - Irish Red with Special B
Irish Red Ale
Recipe...
Going to disagree with you on this one Bribie, but no need to get dressed into anything fancy. I did a side by side of Windsor vs Coopers can yeast in a porter years ago and the windsor bottles got drunk before the kit yeast. It gave the beer a much more estery profile and suited the porter...