I don't think I'll do any more 10 gallon batches. While this seems more efficient, it's really a pain in the ass. Half my system is sized for 10 gallons, but half is sized for 5, and the attendant frustration as my wort takes an hour to chill, the sparge takes an hour and a half, and the wort won't reach a good roiling boil is too much. I'm going to go back to smalller batches and pay more attention to craft and less attention to volume.

Today's brew went well. I'm still struggling with effiiciency, which I'm now supposing I should blame on insects that have been chewing my grain. Seriously. Oh wait, it didn't actually go well because whole hops jam my whole system to hell. I nearly kicked my kettle over when it wouldn't drain. Hop bags.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this IPA. I cut back the bittering hops to .8 oz. of magnum. I did the water Burton like, which with my local water just requires a bunch of gypsum (1.0g/L). No other pH control (another potential source of failed efficiency.) We'll see if the Burtonized water gives the good hop bitterness that it is supposed to.

I also skipped the aroma hops: just 60 minute and FWH additons. Also, the mash went like 147 for 30 and 158 for 30, no mash out.

I think for my next beer, I'm going to do a nice autumn brown ale.