[flbrewer]

After asking about 50 questions and with all of you help, I successfully brewed my first beer yesterday! Some thoughts from my first time and a set of pictures for you to enjoy below.
-A 10 gallon brew kettle is much bigger than you think it'll be!
-The initial cleaning and setup took longer than I thought but was well worth it when I started brewing
-My wort cooled much quicker than I imagined. Put the kettle in a cold water deep sink and added an 8 pound bag of ice,was down in the 80's after about 30 minutes.
-My Igloo cooler fermentor was much more efficient than I thought it would be. Added some water and ice and the darn thing dropped to 45 degrees! After adding some warm water a couple of times it's not right at 60 and the carboy is reading 65!
Thank you again to everyone.
http://instagram.com/flbrewer

[Jeff M]

Welcome to the addiction man.  your pics are great, im glad you had a pleasant experience.  a few thoughts.

1. Get some long stick matches.  the hairs on your knuckles will thank you.
2. 10 gallon pots are big for 2-3 gallon concentrated extract boils, but they are good for 5 gallon extract boils.
3.  an immersion chiller will take you chill times from 30 minutes down to about 3-4 minutes if you dont mind spending the dough.

Cheers:)

[flbrewer]

Just a quick update, came home today and checked the temp again and heard that ever important burp out of my airlock! It's been about 21 hours since I pitched. Exciting!

[quattlebaum]

Welcome to the Airlock sniffer life 

[flbrewer]

Welcome to the Airlock sniffer life 

Just got back from staring at the carboy and watching bubbles, will have to head back and smell.

[Franklin]

I think we've created a HOMEBREWER !!!!!

[jamminbrew]

Congratulations! Pics looked good!
As far as the time to set up and clean, etc, the more brews you do, the better your process will get. You will develop a good system for doing this.. When I first jumped into all grain, it took me 8 hours from start to finish. Now, I average 5 hours.
Don't hesitate to ask any and all questions you have. This forum is fantastic.