Brewing Beer

I happened to find myself near a homebrew supply store and decided to pick up a $45 kit to brew a Belgian Farmhouse style ale. I already owned a basic beer making kit ($30 off craigslist) and had been meaning to brew some beer for a while. The kit came with malt, hops, barley, yeast, and flavorings such as paradise seeds, coriander, and dried orange peel.

Reading through the directions, I figured it would take 3 hours to brew the beer. So if I started at 6:30 PM on a work night, I would be able to finish around 9:30 PM. The brewing part was easy, boil, simmer, 20 minutes, 50 minutes, and never once did it come close to boiling over (something I was really concerned about when brewing in the kitchen). I sterilized everything with the powder that came in the beer making kit and dumped my wort into a 5-gallon bucket with water. Then, I was suppose to wait until mixture cooled to 70 - 75 degrees.

10:30 PM - 88 degrees
11:00 PM - 86 degrees (add ice packs around the cooler, including bags of frozen peas that I had)
12:00 AM - 84 degrees (put bucket in ice water bath in the sink)
1:00 AM - 80 degrees
1:30 AM - 78 degrees (screw it, adding yeast and going to sleep)

I had no idea that it would take so long to cool the wort. Next time, I'll do this on a Saturday.

3 days later... After lots of bubbles being released in the air-lock, the bubble activity has started to slow down. The mixture is transferred to a secondary fermentor.

7 days later... The mixture doesn't look like it has bubbled lately. I'm not sure if this is normal, or a sign that I have done something wrong. I tried to sanitized everything as much as possible, but I'm a bit worried that something may have gone in.

Reflection: If this is successful, I would have brewed 5 gallons of beer for $45 (plus cost of time). That is equivalent to about 6 microbrew pints at a pub I regularly go to. If this is not successful, I'll be super bummed.