First Batch Pitched

I'm new to homebrewing. I pitched my first batch yesterday about 5:30pm. No activity yet but I'm being patient.

Some details:
Equipment: Midwest Intermediate Brewers Kit with 2 Better Bottles
Type of Beer: Canadian Ale
True Brew Home Brewing Kit with Munton's Malt (all extract)
Hops: Williamette 2 oz. pellets. 5.8 AAUs. Added 1 oz at the hour mark, 1/2 oz with 30 minutes left to boil, 1/2 oz with 15 minutes to go.

Tasted the sample I removed for my hydrometer test. Tasted fine, some not unpleasant floral/herbal tones from the hops. If fermentation takes off I think things will go well. Starting Gravity was 1.044.

I proofed my dry yeast as described by John Palmer. Not alot of activity in the proof, some bubbles, similar to when you proof yeast for making bread, no krausen on the proof. Pitched to 60 degree wort. Sitting in my kitchen in the primary, temp about 65 degrees.

Will post more as things develop.

Thoughts?

Just checked on it, getting steady bubbles. Nothing crazy, but a consistent bubble per second or so. I'm excited.

welcome to the obsession.

Now you've done it. You made beer.

Congratulations, and welcome to HBT.

Congrats, it's all downhill from here!

Thanks all.

I guess this thread will be a virtual brewlog to supplement my written one.

A few more notes about my batch. I ignored the instructions from the ingredient kit and followed John Palmer pretty much exactly.

Sanitized with bleach and then rinsed in boiled tap water.

Didn't have much trouble with boil over. I was using 2 gallons water in a 15.5 quart canning pot, plus the liquid and dry malt. It only started to foam up once, right after my first hop addition. I dropped the hops in, it immediately started foaming up. Removed from heat and blew on it and things were fine from there.

Used a ice water bath in the sink to cool the wort. Took about 20 minutes. Had to change the ice water once.

A few things I didn't like about the kit instructions:
I proofed my yeast rather than just sprinkling on top of the wort as the instructions indicated.
The instructions suggest bottling one week after pitching, I plan to give it two weeks in a secondary.

My signature has a link to my hopville account for anyone who wants more details about the brew. Any predictions about how this batch will taste if all goes well?

I'd leave the batch in the primary for 3-4 weeks, Palmer (as well as many brewers nowadays) advocate a long primary. I'd also pick up a no-rinse sanitizer like Star-San, it makes life so much easier! As for the dry yeast, I just sprinkle mine on top of the wort, there are so many yeast in top condition in those packets that it really shouldn't make too big of a difference.

HerotBrewer,

Congrats! You are officially making beer and I guarantee it will taste much better than most commercial crap we once thought being good. Now it comes the most difficult part... wait and wait and wait… Palmer's quick instructions chapter asks for 2 weeks fermenting. I would say 2 weeks is absolutely the minimum but a bit longer is better for better conditioning. Also 2 weeks in the bottle is not nearly enough. 2 months in the bottle is the magic number for most beers, but it's torturing!

Well I definitely wasn't going to bottle one week after fermentation, I was pointing out what I was doing differently from the instructions that came with the ingredient kit.

I was going to do 1-2-3 as far as time, assuming I get stable hydrometer readings after 1 week in primary. Planned to try one bottle after 3 weeks of bottle conditioning and see how it tastes, leaving the bulk of it longer.

Should I do 2 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary and then bottle conditioning?

I would do 3-4 weeks primary and no secondary, then 3 weeks bottle conditioning before you try a beer. That typically is what most of the users on this forum will do. Unless you are racking your beer on to Oak, Fruit, or doing an extended bulk aging, there really is no need for a secondary.

Check out this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/

+1 to Star-San, 3 weeks in a fermenter- primary, secondary, whatever. I bottle my beers, and they are reliably ready to drink after 3 weeks. Give it a day or two in the fridge before you pop the cap, and the beer will clear up quite a bit, too.

Planning on ordering some Star-San from Midwest when I order my next recipe kits.

Update on progress: Not noticing any visible bubbles, but one thing I've learned around here is that airlock bubbles is no indicator of fermentation so I'm just patiently waiting.