Once the wort started boiling, 1.5 ounces of Liberty hops (Alpha 4.3%) were added. An additional 1/2 ounce was added with 10 minutes left in the boil to add aroma.
Boil is finished.
The wort then needed to be cooled so that I could pitch the yeast. This should be done as quickly as possible - I'm not entirely sure why; I think it has something to do with heavy proteins falling out of solution, but the important thing is that the beer tastes better. Lucky for me, my friend picked up a wort chiller. This chiller is basically a set of copper coils that cold water is run through. With this device (along with an ice bath), I was able to bring the wort from boiling to 75 F in just 5 minutes.
I then poured the wort into my new carboy and pitched the starter.
Water was added to bring the total brew up to about 5 gallons. I placed the airlock on top and now I play the waiting game.
I'll let this sit for at least 3 weeks before I bottle. Longer would be even better, but I anticipate getting impatient. Original gravity is about 1.052, which should give me a final beer with around 6% ABV. The kit is advertised as having a OG of 1.063 - I have no idea how I ended up so low. The wort is great tasting to start, so I have high hopes.
Edit: I believe I missed the starting gravity due to a combination of many things, including the temperature at which I took the measurement and carmelization during the boil. When the initial fermentation was just beginning to subside, I added a "1% alcohol boost" that I got in my AHS Dunkelweizen shipment, which is a pre-measured amount of dextrose that should do as its name implies with very little taste contribution. In the end, it's hard to really tell what my ending ABV is, but it's of little consequence since it tastes so darn good. The most noticeable improvement I could have made (as suggested by a friend) would be to add Irish moss at the end of my boil to pull out the proteins and improve clarity.
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