Starter....did I do it right?

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mikeysab

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So I figured I'd give a starter a shot. Actually, I smacked a yeast pack Sunday, expecting to brew, but it took a while to swell. It swelled yesterday, and it was pretty swollen tonight, so I wasn't sure how long it could sit swollen like that, so I cut a corner off my LME pack (Williams belgian quad, 13 lbs of Liquid malt extract) and did the following. Keep in mind this an extract kit that included 13 lbs of liquid malt extract, 3 packs of brewing sugar, a spice pack, and two hops packs, and a wyeast abbey ale II yeast pack. I smacked it sunday at 5 30, and it didn't show any signs of swelling till last night. By tonight, it looked like it was going to explode, so I did this, without measuring anything:

Roughly 1/4 gallon spring water
roughly 1/2 cup liquid malt extract which came with the kit.
I boiled the water, added the malt extract, whisked till blended and boiled for 15 minutes, whisking every 3 minutes or so to avoid boilovers. In the meantime, I sanitized a 1/2 gallon wine decanter, bung, airlock, yeast pack, scissors, piece of foil, thermometer (starsan, not measured but diluted).

After 15 minutes of boiling, I cooled the wort in an ice bath for approximately 10 minutes till it was 70 degrees. I then pitched the Wyeast abbey ale II yeast pack into the wort, covered with sanitized foil and shook the daylights out of it for 2 minutes, placed the sanitized stopper and airlock on the decanter, and let it sit.

Can anyone help me out with this process? Did I do it right? How long should I let the starter sit before I pitch into a cooled wort? How long CAN I let it sit before I use it? I know I didn't do myself any favors by not measuring anything, but I was kind of drunk, and very impatient, so I gave it a whirl. Please, someone give me some info on how this should go. Thanks.
 
All sounds good. Should be ready to go in about 12 hours or so. If you go more than about 24 hours, I'd think about putting it back in the fridge and letting the yeast settle. Then, when ready to brew, let it warm back up, decant most of the liquid, give it a swirl and pitch.
 
Awesome, so I pitched the starter at 10 PM, and Hopefully I'll be ready to brew tomorrow at 5 or 6. so I should be good with the starter? Also, the abbey ale II says it's good for 1060 starting gravity, but the kit says it should start around 1080. I play on adding an extra pound or 4 (yep, 4) of some type of sugar and topping up to 6 gallons instead of 5, so should the starter be enough for this type of gravity? If not, can I possibly wait till friday, when my yeast delivery is due to come, the pitch the starter along with a white labs trappist yeast?
 
cool, how would I go about doing that then? This is my first time, so I'm new at this. Thanks for your help.
 
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