First beer is in the fermenter. So far, so good. Everything is lookin alright. Normally beginner's first threads are filled with panic and despair but I'm feelin pretty good at the moment. 
A couple of questions:
I rehydrated my yeast probably 2 hours before it was pitched. WAs this too early? I don't know what I was thinking, I just figured "now is a good time to do this" then it took like 45 minutes more to boil and over an hour to cool. I know the yeast survived this long, patient wait. Every few minutes I heard "OOH RAH!" from the cup then when I finally pitched them I heard "THIS ISS SPPARRTTAAA". Plus my airlock is bubbling so I know they are doing something.
What are the effects of rehydrating earlier/later? How early is too early? How late is too late?
Back to the topic of cooling. My 32 quart brew pot does not fit in the sink. As an alternative, thanks to our arctic temperatures in Kansas this time of year, I sat the thing in a pile of ice on my back deck. Still took over an hour. I'm thinking about buying a big ol galvanized wash tub to put it (and my bottling bucket full of freshly-boiled clean water) into to cool. By the time I do that I may as well buy a wort chiller. Anyhow the wort chillers appear to have a fitting on one end. How does one attach this to a kitchen faucet? It looks like a garden hose fitting.
Everything else went great, I was surprised. I'm just gonna RDWHAHB.
A couple of questions:
I rehydrated my yeast probably 2 hours before it was pitched. WAs this too early? I don't know what I was thinking, I just figured "now is a good time to do this" then it took like 45 minutes more to boil and over an hour to cool. I know the yeast survived this long, patient wait. Every few minutes I heard "OOH RAH!" from the cup then when I finally pitched them I heard "THIS ISS SPPARRTTAAA". Plus my airlock is bubbling so I know they are doing something.
What are the effects of rehydrating earlier/later? How early is too early? How late is too late?
Back to the topic of cooling. My 32 quart brew pot does not fit in the sink. As an alternative, thanks to our arctic temperatures in Kansas this time of year, I sat the thing in a pile of ice on my back deck. Still took over an hour. I'm thinking about buying a big ol galvanized wash tub to put it (and my bottling bucket full of freshly-boiled clean water) into to cool. By the time I do that I may as well buy a wort chiller. Anyhow the wort chillers appear to have a fitting on one end. How does one attach this to a kitchen faucet? It looks like a garden hose fitting.
Everything else went great, I was surprised. I'm just gonna RDWHAHB.
