What's in the bottom of my fermenter?

So I made my first ale yesterday and it went pretty well. I did an extract recipe that included steeping some grains. I poured the wort through a strainer into my fermenter bucket and let it sit a while before i pitched my yeast.

That's when i noticed about an inch or so of stuff in the bottom of bucket. I am guessing this is hot/cold break that the strainer didn't catch, and probably some stuff that went through the grain bag. Is this something to worry about? I just pitched my yeast since my book didn't mention siphoning the wort to a container after it settled. Did i miss a step?

It was happily bubbling away this morning.

Nothing to worry about, it's perfectly normal. The trub layer will get bigger as yeast, proteins, hops settle out of the beer.

It's just the stuff you mentioned. Don't worry about it, it's normal.

It is break. It consist mostly of proteins and insoluble starches. It is harmless and is good for the yeast. It will also compact over time and take up way less volume.

The best part is watching it swim around the fermentor during active fermentation.

It's cancer, you're going to die!!!*

*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA

Parker36 said:

It's cancer, you're going to die!!!*

*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA

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You're funny!

Oh my God ANOTHER case of cancer ale... this is scary i'm gonna stop brewing if this epidemic keeps growing. I heard it has something to do with the new hops. After the shortage they shot the new plants all up with steroids... not only are they causing cancer but it seems major league baseball players are consuming WAY more beer this year!

Some brewers just dump the whole kettle - ALL of the cold and hot break and all into the fermenter. It'll act as a yeast nutrient and it'll settle out once fermentation is done.

Mongo64 said:

That's when i noticed about an inch or so of stuff in the bottom of bucket. I am guessing this is hot/cold break that the strainer didn't catch, and probably some stuff that went through the grain bag.

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Just wait and see how much is down there AFTER you're done with fermentation and everything has settled out and the yeast has all flocculated.

curtis97322 said:

Some brewers just dump the whole kettle - ALL of the cold and hot break and all into the fermenter. It'll act as a yeast nutrient and it'll settle out once fermentation is done.

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Fo shizzle. I don't worry about anything going into the bucket, it will all settle out and get left over when I rack.

mmm... cancer beer

I have a Brain Tumor fermenting in my skull