First brew plan... Critique

So I plan on brewing my first beer this weekend. It is an extract brew with specialty grains: Irish Stout kit from Midwest.

Plan is to use a 30 quart aluminum kettle (oxidized) to get 6 gallons of water up to 155 and steep for 30 minutes. I will then add the lme once boiling (no late addition needed as its dark?) off of the flame, and then when bag to a boil add hops. Once complete I will cool down with any top off water to get back to 5.25 gallons and an ice bath in the snow. I will then pour it through a paint bag, aerate it, take gravity reeding, and then add my rehydrated yeast (I know not necessary). Then I plan on storing it in a cooler where if need be I can add up to about the 4 gallon mark on bucket water, and add frozen bottles if needed.

Anything I'm missing? Will sterilize anything coming into contact with the wort after boil with Star San. And plan on cleaning everything before hand with the 1 step cleaner. I have a spray bottle to keep boil overs at bay, and one for star San. I think I ready to go...

Trying to cool 5 gallons from boil to pitching temp with an ice bath and snow bank is going to take forever. You may want to consider doing a partial boil (2 or 3 gallons) and then topping off with cold water. That will speed up your process.

Otherwise, seems fine. Best of luck!

Just an afterthought: how clearly labeled are your spray bottles?

Instead of trying to cool your kettle in the snow, set it in a tub of cold water and add the snow to that. It will cool much faster. Make sure that your kettle doesn't tip over. I've had mine try a couple times.

Good advice - surprisingly enough, a snowbank does not a good chiller make. Ask me how I know.

Make sure to prop your kettle up on something helps cool faster if water can flow under it as well.

I find that a cupcake pan works very well.

Everything sounds like what I would do. So I'm going to stick to the cooling part.

Adding salt to a ice bath will bring down the temperature ( saw it on mythbusters for cooling beer the fastest)

Snow banks will melt forming a insulator allowing the metal pot to warm back up.

Anyone have a problem with adding sanitized ice jars to 115 degree wort?

Good call. I will bring my cooler outside with me and add snow to that while stirring water around. I'm guessing ill have some burnoff and be under 5 gallons at the end so that I can add some ice to top off with, sanitized of course.

I'm getting worried that I won't be able to cool the Wort down quick enough for a "cold break" to happen. Would it be beneficial to only start with 5 gallons, and then top off to 5.25 with ice to cool it quicker, rather than start with 6 gallons and not be able to cool it efficiently? Also, would Late LME benefit me at all? I don't want it to have the twang taste people talk about, it is a stout though so darkness doesn't matter.

Don't get too hung up on getting it cooled quick enough. The Aussies invented "no chill" and they don't get any cold break but their beers turn out gook tasting and clear. I think if you put it in the water bath I suggested you will get cold break anyway.

I don't know if late extract addition will help you but it won't hurt either so I'd suggest you try it.

I am currently steeping my grains in the snow! First brew day

Rolling boil. Time to sit back and relax. As long as the waters movin all over I'm good right? Trying to not be on full blast the whole time

OG was supposed to be 1.42-1.46. Hydrometer reading came in right at about 1.40 but temperature was probly more towards 70 so I hit right around where the extract kid said it should be. Sitting in the fermenter now, sitting inside of a Rubbermaid color filled with water, since the ambient temperature is around 70. Hopefully I made beer!!

So fermentation question... My house stays ar around 70, so I put the fermenter in a rubbermaid cooler, added some frozen 2 liters, and the stick on thermomete still says 68-70, while my fryer thermometer reads 55-60ish. Will this be fine to continue for the next 4 weeks? (I'm travelling for work so this one will be fermented for 4 weeks, but my g/f will change the ice out if need be). I hope im not fermenting too cold currently? Any advice would be great.

Here is a recap of my brew day:
1) oxidized my aluminum 32Qt kettle.
2) mixed 1/2 oz star San with 2.5 gallons of water. Soaked hydrometer, test jar, 5 gallon paint net, mixing spoon, airlock, bottling spigot.
3) Brought up around 3 gallons temp to 160, steeped grains with heat off, had to turn heat on again to keep it at 155, for 30 minutes.
4) took off heat, added half of the dark lme to the boil and stirred until dissolved.
5) Added back to heat, once boiling added the 1/2oz of Nuget hops. let boil for 45 minutes
6) took back off heat and added the rest of the LME, that I could get, that stuff sucks getting out of the jug.
7) Added back to heat, and once up to a boil went for 15 more minutes. With 3 minutes left, added an oz of hops
8) Took off heat, took inside, set into sink with cold water and frozen 2 liters.
9) Let the water out 3 times, and got the temp down to about 90.
10) Added to bottling bucket and added a gallon or 2 of ice cold water. Got the temp down to 75. Aerated the wort by letting it come out of the spigot and dropping into the fermenting bucket, creating a lot of foam. The temp was now around 70.
11) Took a hydrometer reading at got around 1.40, then pitched rehydrated yeast and put on the top and 3 piece airlock.
12) Put fermenter into the rubbermaid cooler. As I said above, the water is currently 60ish, and the ambient temp per the sticky thermometer is 68-70. I also covered the fermenter with a tshirt.

So your fermenter, covered in a t-shirt, is inside a Gott cooler?

My fermenter, covered with a t-shirt, is sitting in water with a frozen 2 liter, inside a Rubbermaid cooler. It is like a chest cooler, so I can't shut the lid or anything, I'll post a pic

Got it. For evaporation cooling? Maybe wrap a bungee cord around it or something to keep t-shirt tight against fermenter? I would think that would help, but haven't tried the t-shirt myself.

Last month I did a 5 gallon full boil and set it outside on the back deck, up on bricks to prevent the trex from melting. Cooled to pitching temps in les than an hour, (25F ambient) with no help from me. In the summer, I run the wort chiller til it gets below 100F, then drop it into the fermenter and place it into the ferm chamber until it sees pitching temp.

So I've been traveling and after 3.5 weeks I tested the beers gravity. My OG was between 1.040 and 1.042 and FG was 1.012ish (pic below). My question is, should I try to raise temperature n gently swish the fermenter around to see if it will drop anymore or is it pretty much good to go? Extract instructions say FG should be 1.010-1.012. Abv is kinda low at 3.5-4ish but oh well. Most importantly it tastes good!! So advice??

It is probably fine after 3 weeks but just to be sure take another reading in a couple days. If they are the same then you are good to go.

Thanks. I'm fairly sure it's done fermenting, but not sure if I can try to force it lower by warming n swirling. Otherwise I'll bottle n still be pumped I created beer!