Young At Heart v01 Brew Session

Had a real issue with the sparge - my mash had become very stuck. Was due to small grain bill used which required extra water to top up to level of top filter plate. But this extra water may have contributed to the stuck mash scenario. The sparge process had to be done painstakingly by squeezing the water through the porridge-like grain using the paddle. Should have taken 30 minutes but took 3 to 4 hours. Painful lessons learnt in my first brew - if using a small grain bill with Grainfather, buy the micro piping as this will avoid heartache and save time and effort. The flavour of the resulting wort was very palatable - probably because I was using very pale malt, so not harsh bitterness or astringency from excessive roasting. I will also try using rice husks in the mash in future as I have seen this may help with sparge drainage issues. The rest of the brew process went smoothly, except I misjudged use of Calcium Sulphate and pH of wort was at 4.5, which is a bit low. I will use less Calcium Sulphate next time, as I am based in Scotland the water is softer, so less treatment needed. Also, my OG was slightly higher at 1.042, rather than predicted 1.038. I ascribe this to the above sparge process where I probably squeezed out more sugars than I would have had the mash not been stuck. Fermentation stages - primary fermentation only lasted from 8th October to early on 14th. Transferred from bucket to plastic barrel for secondary. I believe I transferred too early and could have left primary a few days longer, but was going on holiday, so thought it was best to transfer. The contents smelled very sour and was still very muddy in colour. The yeast at the bottom of the brew was still active. I initially thought I had ruined the brew but it did not taste as sour as it smelled, so I persisted. Secondary fermentation - added extra malted sugar in solution to bulk out the level to roughly 25 litres. But probably because I transferred a bit too early there was not so much fermentation activity at this stage, though I did notice the beer became clearer over the next few days and also tasted smoother, so the conditioning aspect was working. Added finings on 25th October and bottled next night. The beer was a bit clouded before finings but finings did a lovely job of clearing any haze \ particles and the beer looks pale and bright. I bottled 48 330ml bottles and 5 500ml bottles, so roughly 18 litres. Seems like a lot of wastage, but I am sure some of that was down to my inexperience as this is my first brew. See tasting notes for final impressions of the brew.