Barrel Aged Chocolate Stout w/ Ugandan Vanilla Beans

Original Recipe Target:
OG - 1.125
FG - 1.028
ABV ~13.5%
Efficiency - 60%
90 min mash / 2 hour boil

Recipe reflects actuals based on brew day

1) Heated 5 gal of Chicago tap water with a half campden tab, mash salts, and lactic acid

• First time using Chicago tap and not RO due to this dumb fucking virus and no water available. Didn't test PH and used what i found online and in Brewer's friend which said 8 ph and I think it was 7, therefore, my mash ph was 4.5-5
  
  2) Mashed in at 165 with grain stirring and recirculating water - 90 min mash with a few re-circulations
  
  3) Finished mash and started mash-out recirculating until 10 mins had passed at 170
  
  Pre-sparge gravity = 1.092
  
  4) Vorlauf a gallon to clear wort and let that drain before sparging with 3 gallons of hot tap water each with the other half of campden split 3 ways. Sparge ended at ~6.5 gallons
  
  Post-sparge/pre-boil = 1.082
  Conversion Efficiency = 83% (per brewer's friend calculator)
  
  6) Started boil targeting 2 hours measuring OG every 30 mins
  
  Noticed my boil wasn't super strong and that OG wasn't climbing quickly so I added an hour to the boil and adjusted hops
  
  boil-off = ~2/3g per hour, expected 1-1.5g per hour
  
  7) Hopped following recipe, finished boil and cooled using immersion chiller to ~70 and transferred to fermenter
  
  Did the aeration transfer by letting it pour from higher into the fermenter, never done this before so we'll see
  
  Fermenter Volume - ~4g
  OG - 1.116 (.009 shy of target)
  Brewhouse Efficiency - 75%
  Initial Notes: Syrup thick, pretty bitter, roasty, and chocolaty
  
  8) Transferred to fermentation chamber set at 64F - waited overnight to let temp settle and cause it was late ~10 hours later pitched yeast
  
  9) Pitched 2nd packet of yeast into starter already made with first, added 1 tsp of yeast nutrient, and pitched to wort
  
  10) Aerated for 30 mins using regular air pump, not oxygen. 12 hours later I aerated for another 15 mins.
  
  11) 24 hours in and fermentation going strong, temp controlled at 64-65F
  
  12) 5 days in take sample:
  
• roasty, hot, boozy, yeasty as expected
  
• Refract reading : 1.067
  
• Sean Terrill Calc SG = 1.047
  
  
  
  Upcoming:
  
  
• .5 oz Medium Toast American Oak cubes soaked in Bourbon for 3 weeks after boiling toasted oak in water for 10 mins to leach tannins
  
  
• Single Ugandan vanilla bean split and added with seeds