Darker grains have a higher Lovibond measure, and contribute more color to brewed beer. There are more than a dozen varieties of ale and lager yeasts available from Wyeast. Many brewers that use Wyeast consider it to be of high quality, uncontaminated by bacteria. Good results can be obtained from either dry or liquid yeasts, especially for brewers that are willing to carefully home culture yeasts that they know to be pure and provide good results. The Wyeast package recommends making a 1.020 SG wort and pitching the active contents of the package into a sanitized bottle with an airlock to allow the quantity of active yeast cells to build up before pitching into a typical 5 gallon batch of wort.
Some brewers like to throw in a couple of hop cones or pellets for their antiseptic qualities.
Typical time for a starter is 24 hours. This technique is recommended for both dry and liquid yeasts. The book is available from the archive server noted in the HBD header. In addition, several clubs that have members with e-mail access are listed in a database maintained by Scott Murphy. These members have offered to serve as contacts for their club.