Settle or don't settle?

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mikeinternet

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We are on our tenth brew. We've done mostly pretty simple kits so far. Sometimes the directions say to settle before transferring to the fermenter. Some kits don't.

Recommendations?
 
Every beer I brew, I pour the contents of the kettle though a large kitchen strainer into my fermenter. It strains out the big chunks, but things like cold break mostly pass through. Cold break (for ales at least) is good for the yeast.

Do it however you want, but it's probably good to at least keep the bulk of the hops out of the fermenter. They can start to add a vegetal flavor to the beer if left too long.
 
I just pour the whole thing in the primary and let it settle in with the yeast cake. In 6 years of brewing I've never had anything bad happen flavor wise or anything else. Straining is a PITA.
 
Settling just helps to clarify the beer, especially if you are using things like Irish Moss or gelatin. I use a straining bag that has elastic on it. Trick to that is to get a cheap small ratchet strap from your local hardware superstore and secure it around the bucket. No problems for me at all and it strains out a lot. Best $4 I ever spent.
 
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