I spent yesterday brewing my first kit, Brewer's Best Red Ale. I boiled for longer than intended as I was waiting for the hot break, but never saw it after 20 minutes, so I just added hops. Never looked like I was going to boil over (didn't use the lid so I guess that helps).
After getting it into the fermentor, and equilibrated, the temp showing on the themometer on the side of the pail is only about 57F. I noticed a bubble on the airlock at lunch time - around 16 hours after pitching. Now it's 21 hours after pitching, and there's a bubble about evry 15 seconds. Seems slower than I expected. Should I move it out of the basement to an upstairs closet, or just let it go slow like this?
Also, I used distilled water for this, and following instructions in John Palmer's "How to Brew" I preboiled the first 3 gallons. I could not just let that 3 gallons sit in the fermentor, it needed cooling, and I actually just got it down to 70 F by the time I finished my boil. I think next time I will preboil the night before. Does everyone preboil the extra water not in the wort?