Catt, great feedback, thanks. I'll take that into account.
One question, whats the problem with using hot water out of the tap? I did treat it with gypsum and calcium chloride, via Palmers updated water profile calculator and BeerSmith. I'll have to look that one up.
And on my sparge, yeah I screwed that one up. I'm sure I'll dial that in on the next batch. My big concern is just hitting my efficiency consistently. If that happens to be 85+, I'll be all the happier.
I really don't remember what the downside was to using hot tap water. Just something I read on one of the forums long ago. It may not be true. Perhaps one of the water experts will help us out with that question. I have no choice as I run my brewing water through a carbon filter and you are not supposed to do that with hot water.
I agree that consistency is important, but to achieve that you have to at least somewhat standardize your basic brewing methods. That's one of the reasons that my efficiencies were all over the place. I didn't have a very consistent brewing pattern. My procedures have sort of evolved over time. Lots of time actually. Now I'm settled in around 85% most of the time and that's right where I want to be.