A lot of change has got me wondering

Im not sure what to expect with my brew now that I've made a few changes from the original IPA clone I had scaled to 10 gallons. So far Ive had to substitute hops and the yeast. I'd like to hear what everyone has to say about WYEAST 1332 Northwestern Ale with the following grain bill and hop schedule. I haven't used the yeast before, and haven't seen many recipes with a similar grain bill and hopping. What is there to expect?

12 gallons AG

26 lbs. 2-row American pale malt
1.25 lbs Crystal 10L
1.25 lbs Crystal 20L

2 oz US Magnum (70 mins) 14.2aa
1 oz US Amarillio (30 mins) 9.3aa
1 oz Centennial (Flame out) 9aa
4 oz Centennial (Dry Hop) 9aa

12 gallons 151 F 60 mins w/ 3.5 gallon Mash Out

Primary @ 68-69 F (~3 weeks)
Secondary @ 68-69 (3-4 weeks)

Ill plan on putting this brew into a keg and using forced carbonation. It will be my first time using kegs... I've also seen secondary fermentation in the keg, but am not sure how it will effect the brew.
I want to keep the fermentation on the colder side, because I've seen a few posts describing off-tastes with this yeast strain at higher temps. As a result I planned on extending the primary time- Is that necessary?


This will be a lot of firsts for me: Kegging, new 12 gallon volume equipment, and altering a recipe. Anyway its beer, and I can toast with that... Just wondering what it might be comparable to.

so this beer looks much darker than i expected.... it look golden coming from the mash tun and turned dark brown by the time i pitched the yeast.

I was thinking it would stay or be only a darker golden color. Its pretty cold out right now - could that have something to do with it? Doing the mash with new equipment was not as easy as I thought.. the grain absorbed more water and less heat than i expected and despite the cold wind the larger cooler lost almost no heat... could that be the reason for a darker color?

Note: The yeast seems to be a slow starter despite a good starter.. Does this indicate anything?