First of all, apparently we brewed in the wrong bucket! According to the reading I've been doing, the bucket we used is called a "bottling bucket" -- one with a spigot. I figured that we would, of course, be USING the one with the spigot to both brew AND bottle from.
But, according to the BILLIONS of homebrewing forums out there, bottling is a "two-bucket" endeavor. So, come bottling day, we will now have to:
1) Siphon the beer from bottling bucket to fermenting bucket
2) Clean and sterilize bottling bucket
3) Re-siphon beer BACK to bottling bucket
4) Bottle from bottling bucket.
Live and learn?
Secondly -- more knowledge gleaned from the homebrew forums is making me a little concerned about temperature. As much as I tried to wait until the temperature cooled in the wort to pitch the yeast (almost two hours!) I read that most people try not to pitch until the wort has cooled to about 70 degrees or cooler. I probably pitched around 85. And it's been very warm here in lovely San Diego lately.
Turns out there's a reason most homebrewers live in places like Minnesota.
Anyway, the good news is that neither of these factors will "ruin" the beer -- they're just not optimal conditions. The beer may at first have produced some extra esthers which could give it a "banana-like" flavor...not something you shoot for with a pale ale, but oh well. Bananas are good for you, right?
One week 'til bottling day!
-- Brandon
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