Brewing beer: attempt #4

This is my fourth attempt at brewing beer and my second run at the Blonde Ale. This time I have 8 pounds of liquid malt extract (LME). If you recall, my last attempt was 6.6 pounds and the recipe calls for 8.3 pounds. Apparently, it's not possible to buy the correct amount but 8 is certainly sufficient. 

In steeping the grains, I didn't wait until the proper steeping temperature. I waited until the temp was correct and then steeped it for 20 minutes. No harm, no fowl. 

After steeping the grains, I let the liquid drip out until I was tired of it dripping slowly. 

This stuff is super goopy, kind of like syrup. It smells good! 

Here I am, waiting on the wort to come to a rolling boil. Then my sister called and I couldn't take any more photos. We talked nearly the entire boil, which is 60 minutes long. I through the Willamette hops in at the beginning of the boil and all of the LME.

About 20 minutes before the boil was over, I installed the wort chiller into the kettle. There was so much condensation that came out of it! I don't remember it doing that the last time but it was brand new the last time.

I accidentally turned the garden hose on too high and the seal on the wort chiller appeared to be breached somewhat. Oops. 

Here's the yeast! I lost a little to the ground when I opened up the package. 

As you can see, the yeast is evenly dispersed across the top of the wort (I'm actually not sure if this is considered beer at this point or not.) In approximately two weeks, I will be moving the beer to a secondary fermenter to help clarify it. At that point, I will also introduce pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. Cheers!