Hope it ends up ok!

Just got back into the HB thing after over a decade away from it. Previous brewing was exclusively kits, but never one to do things the easy way, I decided that my return to the madness would be a steeped grain/extract/4 kind of hop recipe.

Well, everything seemed to be going well until I poured the wort into the primary. I have a funnel with an integral strainer, and there was so much suspended sediment (hops and cold break stuff I guess?) that I couldn't pour more than a couple of cups without clogging the funnel. I tried using a spoon (sanitized!) to clear it, but it just wouldn't drain. So I foolishly started dumping the accumulated trub (am I using that right here?) into a bowl (UNsanitized) I realized partway throught that I probably wanted that liquid that was slowly seeping out of the pile of gunk, but having put it in a non-sanitized bowl, I didn't dare reclaim it.

The OG ended up being pretty low (don't have the number handy, but it was significantly lower than what the recipe predicted), but I didn't notice it until today when I moved it to the secondary (one week after brewday) and I was comparing the current SG reading. Fermentation (@66-70deg) was pretty active for 4-5 days, then kind of went away (at least visually).

I am guessing that I robbed the yeast of all those yummy edibles left in that damn bowl. The up side is that when transferring it today, it smelled GREAT! I just keep repeating to myself RDWHAHB (I may be a noob to the site, but I learn fast! Maybe soon I could even be an EAC in training!! )

How do folks generally deal with a wort with tons of stuff in it?

Thanks!
Erik

I'm gonna' guess you used pelletized hops - I had the same thing happen to me. I know that from where I get my stuff some varieties are only available in pellets, though whole leaf makes straining a lot easier.

Use an additional handheld stainer to pour through first as well as the integral strainer in your funnel (it helps to have a partner or someone to hold this while you pour). The hand held strainer will catch most of the stuff and quickly clog - but it can be dumped in the sink and rinsed periodically as needed. As long as the strainer has been sanitized beforehand there's really no problem with rinsing with cool tap water (after all, that's what you probably used in your fermentor).

I leave everything in the wort... The beer gets racked away from it anyway so why bother?

Your beer will likely be fine. However, I am with Yeti - I don't bother to strain. I've had the same experience and it is just not worth it in my opinion, and the beer comes out fine unstrained.

Ok, so I could not be happier with the way this brew finally came out. Which is good, because it has not been a painless experience!!

1) Low OG reading, as noted in first post - I think the reason for the low OG was failure to fully mix the wort after topping off with water prior to taking the reading. How did I come to this conclusion? Cuz I did it AGAIN with my latest batch!

2) Bottling day - I was going to bottle in 1/2 gallon growlers, dropped the caps (screw on) into the star-san for a little too long, and the little pad inside the cap peeled off and curled up, so no bottling that day! Fortunately, I had not primed yet, so I just postponed.

3) Decided to skip bottling altogether and just go right to kegs (friend loaned me his CO2 setup) Primed with DME, racked to keg, attempted to purge with CO2 - the keg wouldn't hold pressure the big O-Ring needed replacement, but I was leaving the next day for a week vacation, so it sat there primed but not sealed tight. Returned home, got a new gasket, sealed keg, force carbed.

Final result? Hehehehehehee - Yummmmmmm...