First Batch (kinda) Blood Orange Hef.

Yesterday I did my first batch will a full boil, malt extract and hops. Wife and kids were out and football was on, which made for a quite relaxing afternoon. I was really intrigued by the Blood Orange Hef. so I decided to run a half batch. Since gluten free is not an issue for me I used wheat malt instead. I also used WLP300 Hef. yeast instead of the dry.

For the most part everything went smooth. I'm sure I made a couple of rookie mistakes, one being I forgot to add the yeast booster and I didn't take the yeast out of the fridge until the boil was finished. The bottle says to remove 3-4 hours before so I let my wort sit (covered in the primary) for a few hours after boil to allow the yeast to come to room temp. This morning it is bubbling so I don't think either of those mistakes caused a big problem.
My brew pot didn't come in so I used one of my larger kitchen pots that only allowed me to boil about a gallon. I have a gas range and it can take a while to get up to boiling. Here was my procedure, on a low heat I put in the malt and then added water, dextrose and hops. I stirred it constantly until well mixed then turned up the heat. It took about 15-20 minutes to get up to a rolling boil. That's when I started the timer. Was this the right way to do it, or should I have started the time earlier? Once the wort was cooled to 70 I added the fruit and half gallon of water that it was simmered in. I then added about a gallon of water afterwards to bring the temp down and bring the volume up to 2 1/2 gallons. My OG was 1.058. Any comment or suggestions welcome.

Any answers as to if I did the boil correctly?

I usually start the time once my wort has come to a rolling boil. I've had experienced no problems or off flavors doing things that way so I think you'll be good! The one thing I'd recommend is to try and not let your wort sit out for a few hours. If anything, chill it to pitching temp, put in primary with lid and airlock (to reduce risk of infection), and then pitch the yeast once it's at room temp.

Thanks for the reply. Oh I did! Once the boil was done I cooled it to 70, put it in the bucket, added the fruit and water and covered it until the I pitched the yeast.
Thanks again,
:fro: