so...the brewing.

I brewed. Still no word on how successful it might have been. It did not go as planned. I was assisted by someone that I should have known better than to invite. I allowed him to make stupid mistakes and then failed to adequately control the resulting problems. All my bad, I'm sure. All not his fault, just the way it is. shake head, swallow rage. continue on.

Long story short: too much water means not all the wort would fit in the carboy. This was most upsetting. On my own, I would have just worked it out, but with a guest glued to my ass, I just said screw it and figured I'd let the chips fall where they may. Specific gravity ended up no higher than 1040, maybe a hair or two lower. I pitched the yeast at too high a temperature so that I could just finish up and have a moment's peace. Fermentation had not started by the time I left for work today, 16 hours after pitching the yeast. gah.

The recipe (ill-fated though it may be):
about 5 lbs light malt syrup
1/4 lb crystal malt (40l)
1 oz or so Chinook hops, the last of the hops from my plant last year (15 minutes)
1/4 oz or so Fuggles hops (15 minutes)
1/4 tsp Irish Moss (15 minutes)
1 oz pelletized Cascade hops (5 minutes)
~2 lbs raw honey (added after the wort was taken off the heat, while someone else was adding too much water to the carboy)
San Francisco Lager Yeast (liquid, pitched at about 87 degrees)

This is supposed to be a Cream Ale. The wort has a nice honey flavor. If it ferments, it might be good to drink. If I'm not getting any action by tomorrow, I might have to re-pitch.