Morgan's American Tripel

Okay, I took a stab at a Belgian-style Tripel today. Recipe is:

5 Gallon Batch, 2 Gallon Boil

STEEPING GRAINS
.5 lbs Carapils
.5 lbs Belgian Pilsen

LIQUID MALT EXTRACT
9.6 lbs Light LME
1.2 lbs Wheat LME

HOPS
2 oz Hallertau (60 min.)
.75 Saaz (30 min)
.75 Tettnanger (15 min)
1/2 Tbsp Irish Moss (15 min.)

YEAST
WLP500 Trappst Ale Yeast (White Labs)

O.G. - 1.081
F.G. - 1.020
ABV - 7.9

Started my yeast yesterday by boiling 1 pint of water with 3/4 cup of the LME. Cooled it below 80 degrees, transferred to a Pyrex beaker and added the yeast. Affixed the fermentation lock and let it sit at room temperature.

Today, I heated 2 gallons of water to 160 degrees, turned off the heat and added my steeping grains in a muslin bag. Covered the pot and let it sit for 15 minutes. I removed the grains, turned the heat back on and added the LME, stirring until completely dissolved.

Brought this all back to a boil, then added the Hallertau hops and set the timer for 60 minutes. At 30 minutes, added the Saaz, and at 45 minutes added the Tettnanger and Irish Moss. Turned off the heat at 60 minutes and put my pot into a sink filled with ice and water to chill the wort.

While chhilling, I added 3 gallons of water to my sanitized 6.5 gallon carboy. I let the wort sit for about 30 minutes, aerated it (something I didn't do with my first batch) then added to the caroby through a strainer and funnel.

Question: Man, it takes forever to strain into the carboy! Spent hops build up really fast in thhe strainer, and the wort just barely trickles down. Is this normal, and is there a way to speed this up? Any other considerations I should take note of here?

Checked my temperature, found it was just at 74. Used a Wine Thief and took the initial hydrometer reading of 1.075. Am I right to take this reading before pitching the yeast?

Aerated some more in the carboy by shaking it vigorously, then pitched my yeast starter and added the fermentation lock. That's it!

Note: I truly love the smell of the wort as it's boiling, especially the grains and the LME before hops are added. My 6 year-old daughter came downstairs today as I was doing this and said, "Is that soup I smell?" Um, yeah ... "Daddy soup." I let her see what I was doing and then made her some chicken noodle :)

Now the waiting game begins! First batch of Ale should be ready next weekend, at least for a first taste. I'm going to take my time with this batch, and my plans are:

* Leave in primary fermentor for 8 - 10 days
* Rack to secondary fermentor for another 4 - 7 days
* Bottle and age for at least 14 days.

Any thoughts, comments or asnwers to my questions? Much appreciated!

Cheers!