Denny - I tried to get my strike temp too be 170 in my kettle so that when I transferred it using a one gallon metal jug I would lose a few degrees to be about 166 so that I could get it to 151 after adding grain. I was at about 156 after stirring for half a minute, then I stirred some more and added some pieces of ice to lower to about 152, after stirring for another half a minute.
VinS, I did pre-heat my cooler with 1 gallon of boiling water that left in sealed, emptied just before adding strike water.
Kramerog, I used 1.75 qt/pd so I guess I could go to 2 qt/pd to limit, though I probably won't have to do much of a sparge on that I suppose.