Xmas Gingerbread Willage Stout Brew Session

First wort is 1.073 gravity. Looking like I'll get 18 points from the lactose and brown sugar - given 6 gallon volume in fermenter - so I will need 1.058 preboil gravity from malts with 7.5 gallons in the kettle. The lautering process required constant attention to maintain a consistent flow; I should have added rice hulls and/or not accidentally have milled the flaked oats. I pulled 1.053 with 7.5 gallons so I'll be a few points, maybe 4, short going into the fermenter. I don't want to boil down below 6 gallons so I can get 5.5 gallons into bottles. The brown sugar and lactose didn't give the points I was expecting, so I was left with 1.079 for an OG. I suspect my gravity was impacted by the higher mash temp, to the detriment of efficiency; I've never mashed so hot before, so I will have to take this into account next time as my efficiency was 10% lower than normal. I'm debating whether to add more sugar to increase points. I'll wait till secondary for that decision, which won't happen for at least two weeks. The OG I was hoping for was 1.088, but I've adjusted the recipe to account what was actually brewed. 9/29/17 - This blew over last nite, but nothing terribly forceful. It is very slow and steady in the ferment. The aroma on this one is gingerbread big time, so I'm very happy with it so far. 10/2/17 - Primary fermentation is done. I am thinking about putting this in secondary soon for long term aging. 10/6/17 - Went to rack to secondary and pulled 1.038 on the gravity reading, so this has a way to go still. I am considering adding some safale-05 to finish this out if it doesn't attenuate fully by the time I brew next, which won't be till 10/18. I'll make the decision on 10/17 when I pull another gravity reading. 10/7/17 - Blew over again, probably from the introduction of oxygen to spur yeast growth from the failed racking. I'm not too concerned about the oxygen though as there's plenty of fermentable still in the tank so the yeast will have plenty of time to utilize the oxygen. I will need to wait another week to rack this to secondary as I don't want to disturb it again until the yeast goes through it's cycle completely. My suspicion is that my lack of direct oxygen aeration caused too little yeast growth initially. This will be solved shortly as I've ordered an aerator that should arrive by next week. I'm reading Chris White's Yeast book and I feel that aeration is the last, big piece of the puzzle that I'm missing. 10/8/17 - Another blow over. I'm a little concerned that a wild yeast strains may have been introduced at this point, though I've been very sanitary thus far. Like all of them though, the fermentation is slow and steady. 10/9/17 - It's getting old, but another blow over. The aroma is fine so I don't think it's wild yeast. This is very strange though. 10/16/17 - racked to secondary and pulled 1.028, so still high, but acceptable. I'm wondering if 1.028 isn't the terminal gravity based on my higher mash temp and Brewgr isn't accounting for it. The hydrometer sample tasted great, good gingerbread flavor to start and a healthy bit of roast flavor (slight coffee) along with the flavor of melanoidins (slight soy sauce). I'm going to let this sit in secondary for probably 3 or 4 weeks to see how much further attenuation I can get. Doing some quick research, looks like attenuation is negatively impacted by 5-10% going from 66 or 68C to 70C, so it makes sense that my attenuation is lower (http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Effects_of_mash_parameters_on_fermentability_and_efficiency_in_single_infusion_mashing#Temperature_experiments figure 10). I'm anticipating a terminal gravity of 1.024 as a result. 10/24/17 - Pulled 1.025 on the hydrometer today. The roast coffee flavor has mellowed, but there is still a roastiness on the back end. I figure the beer is done, but I'm going to wait another week, till 10/30 to bottle. 10/29/17 - Bottling today, 5.43 gallons. I'm using brown sugar, priming to 2.1 volumes. Taste was the same as 10/24, gingerbread to start followed by light, coffee-like roastiness to finish. No off flavors from fermentation thankfully.