First brew in primary - Question

Hello everyone. My friend and I have our first batch sitting in primary right now, about ready for secondary. I haven't checked the gravity yet, but active fermentation has slowed to a crawl. So far though everything seems to be going well.

I do have one question though. When we poured our wort into the carboy, we used a funnel with a strainer. Halfway through pouring the strainer shifted, and we ended up with a lot of wort 'sludge' in the fermenter. I'm not sure if that's a problem, or if maybe I shouldn't have used the strainer in the first place.

So what say you experienced brewers? Is this normal practice, or have I done something wrong? Can I expect off flavors from said 'sludge', or can I look forward to a nice drinkable beer? If it's not perfect, no worries. I'm just glad to learn from it before I do then next batch. This really seems to be a kickass hobby, and I think it's going to stick, so I might as well learn how to do it right!

 

The trub (your words - sludge) won't hurt a thing, after fermentation is over it, along with the yeast will drop to the bottom. If you are really worried about it you can continue to strain, assuming you sanitized the strainer. Or you can take you brew spoon a create a whirlpool in the pot. Let the wort sit for 15 minutes or so, the trub will sink to the bottom and then siphon the wort into your fermentor, leaving the trub in your brew kettle. BUT its not can affect the beer really.

 

It won't ruin the batch, my first few batches I had the same problem until I got it down.Hell there were a couple of batches where I didn't even bother straining.

 

I used to strain. To much trubble. Now I just carefully pour, leave as much of the trub behind as I can, and don't worry about that which gets in. It will eventully settle out and get left behind anyway, no worries.

 

especially if you cold crash it

 

yes, straining does give you lots of.... trub-ble.