The Boil, The Transfer, and The Pitch

The remaining part of the boiling process went smoothly.  We added the flavoring hops at 45 mins and the aroma hops at 5 mins; once it was done, we transferred the pot to the sink, where we had an upside-down 9" cake pan sitting (for pot stability) in ice.  And then we tried to get the dang thing to cool quickly.  If you consider 40 minutes quick, then we succeeded.  I think that next time we brew, we will invest our loose-change savings in a wort chiller.

This time, instead of pouring the pot into the carboy, we siphoned the wort from the pot.  This

 took about 15 minutes, but it was worth it, as we avoided a lot of solid matter.  I think this will help with the beer flavor.  AND Darren took a specific gravity reading while I held the siphon. He read:

SG = 1.058 at 73 F.

By the way, if we do this again in a one-step fermentation (like we are doing now) and use a

 siphon to transfer, we will want to start transferring the wort at about 100 F, beacuse it t

akes so long to transfer that it cools substantially on the way.  Darren read 73 F during the transfer (though it was probably a cool reading, since the remaining wort in the pot probably cooled rapidly in the ice bath), and we still had a gallon of cooling water to add. I'm sure it went okay though, since I just read 72

 F on the carboy in the closet.

The siphoning process seemed like it added quite a bit of air to the wort, which is good for the yeast.  Still, once the wort was transferred, Darren pitched the yeast and gave the carboy a good shake to add more air.  We then capped the carboy with a bung and the one-way bubbler air-release thing (not sure what its technical name is).  It now sits happily in the Harry Potter closet.  

We, and the brew-kittens, await sounds of bubbling, active yeast.