1st 100% Brettanomyces anomalus brew

Finally built up a starter from my pack of Wyeast 5110 Brettanomyces anomolus a few weeks ago in preparation for a series of brews. Brett A is similar to Brett C (mild), it was originally cultured from bottles on a bottle of English Stout and made its way to Wyeast by way of San Diego (Pizza Port I assume as it is the strain that was actually used in Mo' Betta Bretta). The owner of my local homebrew store says he thinks it is smoother and rounder as a primary fermenter than the Brett C from White Labs.

Last weekend I brewed a recipe (below) that is nearly identical to the first brew I did with Brett C. The only major change is that I replaced half of the wheat malt with rye malt because I was low on wheat. Ambient temperatures have been holding steadily in the mid 80s this week and I added the same nutrient and held back on the oxygen so it should be an even comparison.

This weekend I plan on brewing up a American Pale Ale wort to pitch onto the yeast cake from this one. Some of this yeast will also find its way into a Courage Russian Imperial Stout that my buddy James and I have been dreaming about for a few months.

1st 100% Brett A Beer
Recipe Specifics
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Batch Size (Gal): 3.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 6.00
Anticipated OG: 1.047
Anticipated SRM: 3.8
Anticipated IBU: 24.2
Brewhouse Efficiency: 62 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain
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5.00 lbs. French Pilsen
0.50 lbs. Rye Malt
0.50 lbs. Wheat Malt

Hops
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0.50 oz. Sterling @ 60 min.
0.25 oz. Mt. Hood @ 10 min.
0.25 oz. Mt. Hood @ 5 min.
0.25 oz. Sterling @ 5 min.
0.25 oz. Mt. Hood @ 0 min.
0.25 oz. Sterling @ 0 min.

Extras
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1.00 Unit(s)Servomyces @ 10 Min.(boil)
0.50 Unit(s)Wirlfloc @ 10 Min.(boil)

Yeast
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WYeast 5110 Brettanomyces anomalus


Water Profile
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Profile: Pale, Medium Hop
Profile known for:

Calcium(Ca): 69.0 ppm
Magnesium(Mg): 7.5 ppm
Sodium(Na): 15.0 ppm
Sulfate(SO4): 61.0 ppm
Chloride(Cl): 96.0 ppm
biCarbonate(HCO3): 23.0 ppm

pH: 8.25

Mash Schedule
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90 minutes @ 151 degrees

Notes
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Brewed 5/26/07 By myself

Starter made a few weeks previous and stepped up to around 1/2 gallon, crash cooled in the fridge for a few days before the brew.

Bach sparged and collected 5 gallons of 1.030 runoff, boiled down to about 3 gallons of 1.047

Decanted and pitched starter, no extra O2 added aside from some splashing during straining.

Pitched around 80 degrees (tap water just wasn't cool enough to get much lower). Ambient temp in the high 80's caused the yeast to start fermenting fast and hard. Hopefully the beer will be alright.

Fermentation only lasted about 48 hours. The krausen never got more than a couple inches thick and fell to a pellicle like covering that took several days to fall out.

Tasting notes.

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