Quick Question

I have never strained the trub before pouring it into the fermenter. My last two batches have an odd taste (but the same). Keep in mind these were batches 3 & 4 of my career. How important is it to strain the boiled brew before pouring it into the fermenter? Could this be the reason for the odd taste of the brew? Alternatively, I increased the size of the batch to 10 gallons for each of these compared to 5 gallons before, and they didn't cool down until 30 minutes or so passed. Could that be the problem?

I usually don't strain my wort when transferring from kettle to primary. I carefully transfer it by decanting off the trub and leaving the majority of the solids in the kettle. Try that on your next brew.

I doubt that the additional cooling time would affect the flavor too much; try 'pre-cooling' your water in an ice bath prior to it entering the wort chiller. If you don't use a chiller, time to get one.

I never strained my wort until recently, and that's only because I have a heck of time with my pump clogging if I don't use something to keep some of the leaf hops out of my pump which goes through my chiller and fermenter. My beer (275+ batches) is ok so far. I haven't noticed any off-flavors, or even differences between my beer of a year ago and today.