Dead Ringer IPA brewed 12/16/13 and general brew notes

So i brewed a dead ringer extract kit from Northern Brewer that i got as part of a great black friday deal. Some things to note as i havent brewed in a while:

1) Boil volumes and pitching temps:

So i was guessing at my old method of using a certain boil volume and certain amount of cold water to mix after wort cooling to hit an ~ 65-70 F ideal pitching temp.  I bought a total of 5.5 gallons of publix spring water for brewing as i have used this much in the past. Of the 5.5, i chilled 3 gallons in the fridge that i planned to use ~ 2.5-2.75 of to add cold to the fermentor (6.5 gal better bottle). I wanted to shoot for a ~3.5 gallon total boil volume (INCLUDING ~.75 gallon LME) so i added about
2.75 gallons of room temp water to pot. I was estimating about .75 gal or so boil off during the hour plus steeping and boiling process.

It turned out just about right. I estimated i lost a lil more than 1gallon due to a reason ill elaborate below.

Once i cooled the wort in ice bath (2 small publix bags x 25 minutes in sink). I added the cooled wort to two gallons of fridge cold bottled spring water. This put me at ~ 71F and it appeared that i was a lil under what i think the 5 gallon mark on the better bottle. So i added ~ .25 gallons additional cold water which dropped the temp to around 69F. My rehydrated dry us-05 yeast was right about 65-70F at this time, so right about the same temp as the wort like i wanted.

2) My new 5 gallon pot from Northern Brewer:

One minor issue with this pot: the shape of the bottom is indented except around the very edge. God knows why they designed it this way, prob something to do with cooking. Anyway, this was a minor issue on my ceramic flat stove as it prevented directed contact between the pot bottom and stovetop. This meant it took FOREVER to get it to boiling on max heat. This also is what i think translated into a little more boil off than expected. Which in the end was fine as i need to use extra cold water to hit the pitching temp anyway. I solved this problem by cracking a beer and relaxing while it got hot. A side bonus was that i didnt have to really watch for boil over as keenly as normal.

3) Yeast rehydration:

Given that i hadnt brewed in a while i relooked into how to properly rehydrate yeast. The instructions have changed a lil for safale us-05. If i do any smaller beers than 1050 OG ill prob just pitch dry for simplicity sake. In this case the OG was a lik higher and i was feeling anal so i rehydrated by:

1) boil half cup TAP water (not filtered etc, ive heard the yeast prefer water with minerals etcc)

2) pour in sanitized jar

3) Chill down to about 85F per fermentis

4) Sprinkle yeast, let sit 15 min, do not stir

5) Stir in yeast (temp now about 75F from ambient cooling), wait another 15 ( note wort is cooling simultaneously)

6) Temp now about 65-70 ( my therm scale doesnt go this low so im guessing by look method) and is attemperated to my ~69F wort.

TIPS TO MYSELF FROM THIS BREW:
1. 3.5 gal initial boil volume including LME with a 30 min wort cool and about 2 to 2.25 cold water will hit my pitching temp

2. 30 minute rehydration starting at 85F  will hit pitching temp