Made starter the usual way - 1# DME 4300ml filtered water. Cooled to 75 and pitched. Activity slight but apparent - fermented for 1.5 days then into fridge at 50° for 2 days.
Started w/ 36 qts. of water so that we could get all the grain in. Strike temp 159 and we ended a hair high so we fit in 2 more qts. of water - Good System for big batches!!
30 min at 148, tasted Very Sweet. 15 minutes to stir and raise to 158 - held for 20 min. Stirred and raised to 168 over 20 minutes, held for 10 min.
Started sparge - first runnings were 1.078. Sparge water at 175-180. Had to tilt mash at the end to get everything out and that was a good idea - do that sooner! Ended sparge in the high teens gravity wise. Preboil gravity 1.070! Double checked - yup. Boiled off a ton - OG at 82 so we added 3.5 qt. to make it about 1.076.
Day was 105 outside so we could only get the wort down to 85 and into the fridge. Cooled to 50 over the course of 36 hours and pitched the yeast then. Good clean start and then we went on tour! Didn't take it out for 36 days!! Although the FG seems high it doesn't seem overly sweet to us, at least not now.
Carbonated it the next day when cold and am letting it sit hopefully until Nov. 1 - we'll see...
Made it!!! Tapped on Nov. 2 - clear from the first beer!! Can't remember when that's happened. On the sweet side of dopplebock but Very Good. Everyone seems to like it, including me! Lasted a long time and was clear, sweet and delicious to the end! Slightly better attenuation would be nice, but not mandatory.