Out Of Key Brewing

So I wrote the guys from a local brewery to ask about their red rye, just to show my appreciation for the fine brew and on a whim asked for the recipe. He totally hooked my up:

Pils
Munich 3%
Crystal 10 8%
Rye 12%
Crystal Rye 3%
Melinoidan (Aromatic will work) 3%
Black Malt less than 1% for color

First wort hop with Summit and Columbus 40 IBU
30 minutes left with Summit 12 IBU
25 minutes left with Columbus 8.5 IBU
20 minutes left with Simcoe 7 IBU
Dryhop with Simcoe about .3 oz/gallon

Palm Sugar added before start of boil. (.15 lbs per gallon)
Mash mid 150′s
Boil 75 minutes
target starting gravity 1.072

We use 70# in 465 gallons and it gives us about 1.5 plato boost in
gravity. �We add it more for the creamy/pinappley flavor than for the
plato boost.

The stout has fermented down to 1.010(!) which is as low as I have ever had a beer go. Now the question is was that a result of my mashing or the yeast (safale 56). I skimed the floating yeast and will be pitching it in my next batch with will be a rye ipa or the arrogant bastard clone.

On this past Saturday I did my first all grain batch.  It was the b3 sweet stout recipe.  The session went very well really.  I aquired a keg from a local liquor store and cut the top off so this also was my first full boil.  It was truely a day of firsts.

I batch sparged my grains(mash in at 164 deg settled at 154) which took longer to do than I thought it would. What took the longest (35 minutes?) was just draining the tun.  I had shortened my stainless braid because I didnt thing the length mattered, however in hindsight it may.  Will see with upcoming batches.   Worst case I will spend the 3 dollars to get another braid.

The boil was really easy with no fear of boilovers.  I just got it boiling, set the timer and walked away.  No standing over the vessel anymore.  I need to get the ball valve on the keg asap because racking it really sucked.  I may try adding a braid to the end of it to filter or perhaps a stainless scrubby.  Something to keep the trub out of the fermenter.

In the end I believe that I may have mashed in with too little water (3 gallons) because I sparged with about 4 gallons and still came up alittle short (4.5) on my batch.  In the future I will need to watch it closer.  My numbers we good though.  If I had gotten the full 5 gallons my OG should have been 1.050 in the end it was 1.060 (Which is what it should be given decrease in volume)

This was also my return from brewing exile after I lost 2 batches. Heres hoping that the fermentation goes well.