First brew fermenting.... some questions

So I did my first brew this afternoon. It was easier than I expected, but I believe I made some errors along the way. Not sure if there are big errors, small errors or maybe not errors at all.

I believe I added my wort to the fermenter when it was too warm. I aerated as I poured, had a nice head in the fermenter, added the remainder of water to make my 5 gallons. I placed my thermometer on the side of the fermenter, but I believe the temp was above it's max. I took my original gravity but am uncertain about that as well due to the temperature. My original gravity was 1.044 and my potential alcohol (is that even important to me right now???) approximately 6%.

I've read so much and have heard so many opinions, that I'm starting to questions things too much (I think).

I used a Coopers Wheat Extract Kit and 3lbs of Briess Wheat Dry Malt Extract.

Anyone willing to guide me a little??

How did you go about cooling the wort before pouring it in your fermenter?

Also, did the thermometer just not give a reading at all?

For cooling, filled the sink with ice water and placed the covered pot in it. Repeated that process once. Pot was able to be handled by hand but as I started pouring, I could tell it was pretty warm yet. And yes, the thermometer gave no reading at all.

John Palmer's free on-line book "How to Brew" would be a good resource. I think it will answer all of those questions. The updated edition of the book (not free) is probably better. You'll probably always question things - there are new ideas coming along all the time. That's part of what keeps it interesting.

On my first brew I was sure I screwed up about everything you could possibly mess up. Turned out to be a really good pale ale. Since then I just follow my process from brew day to drinking day and everything works out fine. Being a worrywort can drive you crazy

Temperature when you pitch yeast is pretty important, I'd put it number two on my list after sanitation. OG reading on a kit is not really that useful as long as you follow the directions. Gravity readings are more relevant for you when you get ready to check if the beer is done. You will need to get stable readings a couple days apart to be sure it is done.

If it was a stick_on thermometer run an ice cube across it. It will let you know if it is in fact not broken. Did you pitch your yeast already? You might think about putting the entire brew bucket into a cooler with ice. Even if you don't, you won't ruin your beer. It's just that fermenting at higher temps can add some odd flavors of your beer.

It'll probably turn out just fine. RDWHAHB!

+1 the ice cube on the thermometer trick.

When you were chilling the wort in the ice bath, did you have a thermometer in the wort to check the temp as it cooled? If not, that is a good way to know when you are really ready to transfer to the fermenter, aerate & pitch yeast. Also, I read a suggestion at some point that just using plain water as cold as it comes out of the tap initially will get the temp started dropping. Then if you do like I do and transfer back and forth in a double sink, you can add ice to the second round of chilling. That will make for less use of ice. Also, if you have any of those reusable freezer packs, those works well too. Also, you may need to go through more than 2 rounds of the ice bath.

My guess is you might not have stirred the wort as it was chilling. That would explain the pot being cool enough to handle, but still seeming warm when you poured it. It is likely that the middle of the pot wasn't quire as cool as the edges. When you stir it, you want to be sure to avoid splashing as much as possible. That is because aerating the wort while it is still hot can cause some problems. I can't remember right now exactly what problems those might be, but I remember you want to avoid splashing. I'm pretty sure there is some advice on this in How To Brew about how to go about the chilling process and the reasons for doing it certain ways.

But most importantly, RDWHAHB!