I just finished my first AG using a stainless braid and batch sparge and hit the recipe gravity exacty which was an estimated 75%. I'm pretty psyched about it but I wasn't hitting my temps too well.
I preheated with 3 gallons of boiling water and let it sit in the cooler for 30 mins.
Brewsmith told me to strike with 166 degrees for a mash of 154. Wow, what happened but it stablized at 143. Had to add another gallon of boiling water. Same with the sparge. It told me to use 168 degrees and it dropped down to 153 immediately. On my second batch infusion I went to 190 and it stablized at 171.
Well, either way, beer is happening.