Adventures in Homebrewing

Ok, so I brewed my 5th batch last night, and have some comments that I would like to get some input on. Drinking a glass of Three Philosophers Quadrupel while brewing

I am thinking of calling it Big Bubba Ale (I call my black lab bubba?)...though it may be an IPA after doing some IBU calculations. I found a 10 gal recipe in a book and my LHBS helped me get it organized to 5 gal...

2 gal of Spring water, .5 gal tap water added to boil
1.5lbs of caramel malt for steeping 20 minutes ~155 degrees
3lbs Briess DME Golden light LD Carlson
3.3lbs Munich LME Briess CBW
1lb Muntons Wheat DME

8:20 all Malts added
2 minutes 2 oz Northern Brewer hops start of boil 8:22
29 minutes 1 oz Cascade hops 8:49
48 Minutes 1 oz Willamette 9:08
50 minutes ~1 oz Honey 9:10
55 minutes Turned off at 9:15, Placed lid on pot put in Icy cold sink

Went to couch FELL ASLEEP woke up over an hour later 10:45

At 10:45 I mixed the cooled wort with 3 gallons of ice cold spring water….when I pitched yeast Temp was between 52-55 degrees….poured wort into 2 gallons of cold water topped off with final gallon of spring water made just over 5 gal…like 5.2 gallons

OG: 1.060

The IBU calculators are telling me like 90 IBUs or higher...these were some high AAU Northern brewer hops but dang!

So I am open to tips pointers??? Like Don't fall asleep....I was thinking about doing some dry hopping in the secondary to add some more aroma??

How long should I let this one mature?

How much and what kind of yeast did you pitch? For an ale yeast pitching @ 55deg seems really low especially if you only pitched one vial/package. If you made a starter the extra yeast could help with fermentation. Also, what is the temp of the beer while fermenting if you are considerably below the suggested range you could see a very slow or stalled ferment. As for the dry hops I like a lot of aroma with my bitterness so thats what you are going to get wtih the dry hops.

Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast pitched

It was big and puffy when I opened the package??

I have a buddy that told me it will just slow the yeast from starting because it was that cold but shouldn't hurt it??

Also, Yeast starters...I was told you don't really need them with these slap packs, do you??

And I am interested in trying to get some yeast from the slurry how difficult is that? I heard you need to sterilize for that?