Tell me if I've messed up

Brewed my first batch. Or well, I'm in the process. I started hours ago and boiled my first part of water in a pot. In another pot, I boiled 2 1/2 gallons. Added the grains but the temp was right at 170 when I added them. ( Too excited as a beginner). Temps were at 155 after 20 minutes. Heated it to a boil or until it was making a lot of noise. There I added the two cans of liquid extract and one dry malt. (I'm making the dark IPA from Best Brew.) From there I added more water from another pot that was boiling. Then the hops. I followed the time schedule on the hops. I then pulled the pot off the stove and placed it in the sink. Here I added numerous refills to try to get the temp down. It has been 3 hours and the temp has only gone to 90 degrees. I'm going to wait until 70 degrees to add yeast.

So, how badly have I screwed up? Where did I go wrong. I am sure I have sanitized everything well. And by the way, after adding my other sterilized water, I have just under 5 gallons waiting to ferment.

Jonesy

Did you burn your grains? You'd know by them being, well, burned If not, only time will tell (cause it sounds like you boiled your grains?).

From your description it's hard to tell exactly, but with a partial like you are describing you should be okay. When in doubt, keep a brew log and take *lots* of pictures.

I think you'll be ok. You don't to get the grains above 170*.

I'm just wondering why you used two pots.

E

I assume this is extract with grains right? The only real problem I can see is the length of time to get your wort to cool. If you stick the pot in an ice bath after boiling, it should get down to pitching temp within 30-60 min. That when you really have to be fast because the bacteria like to live in the hot wort until it gets below 90f. If you get it below 90, add this to chilled water in a bottling bucket and top off to 5 gals. You should then be at pitching temps. I'm sure you be fine, but it's a good idea to do these steps for the next batch.

The first few batches I did, I poured my wort into my primary that had about 2 gallons of cold water with ice. The bucket was in a sink and I packed ice around the outside of the bucket to help cool it faster. It still seemed to take a long time to cool ~45minutes~ This time frame is important because of the wild yeast that can infect the wort while it is in the danger zone (90-140 Temp) But I never had a problem just a little paranoid which led me to build a wort chiller and now I get the wort cool in less than half the time...

if you are doing an ice bath make sure it is basically ice water and add a lot of salt. it works really well to take the heat out of the pot fast. kinda like when you wanna make a warm bottle cold really fast.

I had two pots boiling because my five gallon stainless isn't big enough for five gallons and I boiled water in two pots to keep them both hot. Then I combined the "extra" needed water into the wort to make it close to five. I also wanted to make sure the water was sterile so I boiled it in another pot. When I combined in the fermenter, I realized I didn't have enought for 5 gallons (just shy). But, I didn't want to put tap water in for fear of contamination.

Jonesy

Nice idea on the steriliation of your top off water. But...not real conducive to cooling the wert. No biggie, you're gonna have a nice beer.

Some people will buy distilled water and used that as top off. Some people will use commercial bought ice right from the bag. Some will tell you that's a horrible idea. Some will tell you to get a wort chiller. Some will tell you to sanitize a couple of gallon jugs, fill with water (leave room, cold expands) and freeze them, then use that ice to cool/top off.

I prefer the last of the solutions, though I will admit i've used two bags of ice in a pinch. Sterilized ice will get you to pitching temp very very very fast.