Rookie help

[Spcarp04]

Some of you may cringe reading this and I apologize, but I just completed my second “attempt” of brewing using the all grain method.

First attempt? Total fail. Trouble started when the valve got clogged trying to get the wort from the mash tun into the boiling pot. So as you can imagine, getting the wort transferred over without exposing it to oxygen did not happen. The “beer” tasted like water from the trinity river. Complete waste.

Second brew was much better, but still not close to what was a good beer. So here’s is what we did, hoping someone can see some flaws and let me know what to change. Brought the water up to temp, transferred it into the mash tun and stirred in the grain. Let it sit for an hour and opened the valve filling up and small pot and slowly pouring it back into the mash tun. Did this five it six times until the wort was clear and then began transferring into the boiling pot. It was much MUCH better than our first attempt. The wort was clear and we slowly added the sparge water until we got 5 gallons of wort. Instructions said this should take an hour??? We had the valve barely open but even so we had about 5 gallons of wort within 15 minutes. We probably did something wrong, please advise. Once the wort was in the pot we cranked up the burner and boiled it for an hour adding hops as instructed. One thing I noticed was the wort which was pretty clear coming from the mash tun (could not see through it, just mean there wasn’t a bunch of “stuff” in it) got real chalky when we added the hops? Anyways we boiled for an hour, inserted the wort chiller and brought the temp down to 80degrees. At that time we siphoned it into the primary fermentor and “pitched the yeast.” We had a packet of dry yeast and literally just sprinkled it on top of the wort in the fermentor. That can’t be right, correct? Covered the fermentor and inserted the air lock and put in a dark closet in the house. Stayed there for 3 weeks, but I never noticed any bubbles in the air lock like I’ve read about. Like never, never. I checked almost daily and no bubbles. 3 weeks later we siphoned from the primary fermentor to the secondary fermentor and began bottling. Let sit for another 10 days in bottles before refrigerating it.

Long story short, it wasn’t bad. It looked like beer, smelled like beer even tasted “like” beer. It was a little light on flavor (Hefeweizen), little light on alcohol and a little light on carbonation. I’m sure some of you can get me pointed in the right direction but again this was only our second attempt ever while using a brew kit for “advanced” brewers. Also, still had a lot of sentiment in the bottom of the bottles, how do you prevent that?

 

[Rob2010SS]

I'm still technically a noob but I'll see about answering what I can.

Problem #1 - Transferring wort to boil kettle in 15 minutes.
Thoughts - This should definitely take much longer. My first AG batch, I did the same thing. I ran it too fast even though I thought the valve was barely open and I finished in about the same time. This causes channeling through your grain bed and you don't get as much of the sugars from the grains. This will have an effect on your gravity numbers down the road. In the future, even though it seems slow already, slow this down even more. What's going into your boil kettle should be nothing more than a slight trickle. I don't start the sparge until the water level is down to about 1" above the grain bed. Then I start the sparge. Not sure if you're doing fly sparge or batch sparge. I do fly sparge and the goal there is that your sparge water in should equal your wort flow into the kettle. You also said that there wasn't any "chunks" in your wort in the kettle. This is a good thing.

Problem #2 - Chalky when adding hops.
Thoughts - Not really sure what to tell you here. It shouldn't get chalky. It SHOULD get foamy as you add the hops and settle after stirring. Not sure what else to say.

Problem #3 - Pitching yeast at 80*F.
Thoughts - This is much too hot for yeast. I don't think you'll kill them at this temp, but it's hot enough to cause off flavors in the final product. Not sure what yeast you used but every yeast has an optimal temp, usually starting somewhere in the 60's. Again, I don't think you killed it but might have cause some weird flavors. In the future, chill it down closer to 65*F or so before pitching. In answer to your question about pitching, yes, just sprinkling it on top of the beer in the fermenter is correct. What I've started doing is pitching the yeast, sealing the fermenter, and shaking the crap out of it to aerate it.

Problem #4 - No bubbles or signs of fermentation.
Thoughts - What were your OG and FG numbers, did you check? Did it actually complete fermentation? Can't really help you here without more information. OG, FG, what yeast, etc. Bubbles in the airlock aren't the absolute sign of fermentation. Fermentation can still happen. My initial thought is that you have a leaky fermenter. What kind of container are you using for fermentation?

The fact that you can drink it, I'd say it's a success. It's all building on your process from here on. Through this forum and reading on your own, you'll figure out tips and tricks that you can add to make better beer.

 

[ancientmariner52]

Sounds like everything you did was right, but not sure you did everything you should have.

You heated the mash water to specified temp, but did you check temp in the mash itself? The grain and mash tun will both absorb a lot of heat. If you heated your water to mash temp and added grains in a cold mash tun, you could be mashing 15-20°F too cold, which could cause poor conversion, too say the least.

You don't mention original and final gravities. Low og would result in weaker, thinner beer than you expected, even if everything else is spot on.

One other thing comes to mind. The 'crush' of the grain has a big part to play in mashing. If it is to coarse, you get poor conversion. If it is too fine, you get a stuck mash. I think kit suppliers and home brew stores lean toward too coarse, trying to avoid customers having to deal with a stuck mash. Search this website to find what properly ground grist looks like.

Doesn't sound like you are doing too badly. Ya got beer, didn't ya?

 

[VTX1300]

10 days to bottle condition is not long enough. 2 weeks minimum. I usually do 3 weeks at 70°+ before chilling. Also I agree with Rob2010ss, pitching at 80° is way too warm. But you did make beer! Keep at it, learn as much as you can. Lots of great information available here.

 

[Spcarp04]

I'm still technically a noob but I'll see about answering what I can.

Problem #1 - Transferring wort to boil kettle in 15 minutes.
Thoughts - This should definitely take much longer. My first AG batch, I did the same thing. I ran it too fast even though I thought the valve was barely open and I finished in about the same time. This causes channeling through your grain bed and you don't get as much of the sugars from the grains. This will have an effect on your gravity numbers down the road. In the future, even though it seems slow already, slow this down even more. What's going into your boil kettle should be nothing more than a slight trickle. I don't start the sparge until the water level is down to about 1" above the grain bed. Then I start the sparge. Not sure if you're doing fly sparge or batch sparge. I do fly sparge and the goal there is that your sparge water in should equal your wort flow into the kettle. You also said that there wasn't any "chunks" in your wort in the kettle. This is a good thing.

Problem #2 - Chalky when adding hops.
Thoughts - Not really sure what to tell you here. It shouldn't get chalky. It SHOULD get foamy as you add the hops and settle after stirring. Not sure what else to say.

Problem #3 - Pitching yeast at 80*F.
Thoughts - This is much too hot for yeast. I don't think you'll kill them at this temp, but it's hot enough to cause off flavors in the final product. Not sure what yeast you used but every yeast has an optimal temp, usually starting somewhere in the 60's. Again, I don't think you killed it but might have cause some weird flavors. In the future, chill it down closer to 65*F or so before pitching. In answer to your question about pitching, yes, just sprinkling it on top of the beer in the fermenter is correct. What I've started doing is pitching the yeast, sealing the fermenter, and shaking the crap out of it to aerate it.

Problem #4 - No bubbles or signs of fermentation.
Thoughts - What were your OG and FG numbers, did you check? Did it actually complete fermentation? Can't really help you here without more information. OG, FG, what yeast, etc. Bubbles in the airlock aren't the absolute sign of fermentation. Fermentation can still happen. My initial thought is that you have a leaky fermenter. What kind of container are you using for fermentation?

The fact that you can drink it, I'd say it's a success. It's all building on your process from here on. Through this forum and reading on your own, you'll figure out tips and tricks that you can add to make better beer.

Thanks for your reply!

#1 I guess I am going to have to do more research. I am not sure the difference between fly sparge and batch sparge. We heat the water up to the stated temp then just slowly add water to the wort in the mash tun slowly in an attempt not to disturb the grain bed.

#2 yeah not sure either. Maybe we need to add hops slower and stir them in. I have been opening the provided pack and dropping the whole thing in, letting them dissolve then stirring.

#3 when the wort gets to 80 degrees we then have been siphoning it into the primary fermentor. Definitely not in the 60’s but we cool to 80 then transfer so I’d guess in the 70’s. Either way I will bring the wort even lower next time.

#4 I believe the OG was 1.43 or so and the FG was 1.2ish? The yeast was what was provided in the recipe.

I will post some pictures to try and help!

 

[Spcarp04]

Sounds like everything you did was right, but not sure you did everything you should have.

You heated the mash water to specified temp, but did you check temp in the mash itself? The grain and mash tun will both absorb a lot of heat. If you heated your water to mash temp and added grains in a cold mash tun, you could be mashing 15-20°F too cold, which could cause poor conversion, too say the least.

You don't mention original and final gravities. Low og would result in weaker, thinner beer than you expected, even if everything else is spot on.

One other thing comes to mind. The 'crush' of the grain has a big part to play in mashing. If it is to coarse, you get poor conversion. If it is too fine, you get a stuck mash. I think kit suppliers and home brew stores lean toward too coarse, trying to avoid customers having to deal with a stuck mash. Search this website to find what properly ground grist looks like.

Doesn't sound like you are doing too badly. Ya got beer, didn't ya?

I posted some pictures in this thread of the gravity readings. If I’m reading it correct the original is around 1.43 and the final is around 1.20. Again, new to this but both fall in the range of original and final readings according to the instrument lol. I could also be reading those number incorrectly. Please see my previous reply and let me know!

I saw online somewhere to put hot water in the mash tun and close the lid to let it heat up the tun itself. We have been doing this. In fact when we fill the tun with the hot water and stir in the grain we wait 10 min and take a temp that has fallen to the temp in the recipe.

Also, we totally and I do mean totally f’ed up the first batch including the crushing of the grain. I mean we didn’t know they came whole. Took a hammer to them, drove a truck over them, tried some in a food processor. Like TOTALLY screwed that up lol. The second brew however, the place we got our recipie had a mill that we ran the grain through. I felt good about the second batch after going through that mill.

Appreciate the vote of confidence however! You’re right we made a big step in the right direction between the first and second brew and we will get there!

 

[Spcarp04]

10 days to bottle condition is not long enough. 2 weeks minimum. I usually do 3 weeks at 70°+ before chilling. Also I agree with Rob2010ss, pitching at 80° is way too warm. But you did make beer! Keep at it, learn as much as you can. Lots of great information available here.

Ok good call! Thanks for the input. Does the carbonation come from those 14 days bottled?

 

[ancientmariner52]

Oh, lord, I wish you had a video of your grain crushing efforts. I'd pay cash money to see that!

You are on your way!

 

[Spcarp04]

Oh, lord, I wish you had a video of your grain crushing efforts. I'd pay cash money to see that!

You are on your way!

I told you this thread may make some of you cringe lol. Hell yall would have been crying laughing at the crushing efforts. We did what we knew to do which was not much.

 

[mongoose33]

The beauty here is that you've....had a lot of experiences, learned from them, and can extend from that.

Let me also offer some ideas for you.

1. If you can find a local homebrew club where you can find someone who would let you watch a brew day using all-grain, it would probably help a lot. There's a learning curve here (no kidding!) and this would speed it up for you.

2. You don't say what your mash tun design is. Mine is a 12-gallon square igloo cooler with a torpedo screen feeding the ball valve. I have found that if I cover that torpedo screen with a hop sock (what you put hops in to put in the boil, some people do this), it's very easy to draw off the wort.

3. If you pulverized your grain to where the husks were largely obliterated, that will reduce the ability of the grain bed to filter itself. A better grain crush would help that.

4. With a typical batch of 10-12# of grain, I'll usually start w/ 4 or 4.25 gallons of strike water in my mash tun; I'll stir in the grain, making sure dough-balls are broken up, and then let it sit for 15 minutes, covering the tun with a blanket to keep the heat in. Then, and this is important: I stir again at 15 minutes, and again at 30 minutes. You'll find your efficiency goes up if you do this, and you should.

5. While the mash is working, I heat up another 4 gallons of sparge water to about 168 degrees. I draw off the wort into another container then when I'm down to a trickle, I'll close the valve and add the sparge water. I stir, let it sit for 5 minutes, then stir again, and begin to draw that off.

(sparge water can even be cold; the only reason I heat it up is it gives me a head start on the boil; easier to bring 150-degree wort to a boil than 95-degree wort.)

Typically I'd get about 2.5 gallons of wort in my first runnings, then 4 gallons from the sparge (since the grain has already absorbed what water it's going to absorb). Total 6.5 gallons. Boil that in the kettle until I'm down to 5.5 gallons (60 minutes), and it's time to rack to the fermenter.

Just a few thoughts; welcome to home brewing and enjoy the process; I enjoy that every bit as much as I enjoy the beer I produce.

 

[VTX1300]

Ok good call! Thanks for the input. Does the carbonation come from those 14 days bottled?

Basically the yeast left in suspension work with the priming sugar to do a second fermentation. That is where the carbonation comes from in bottle conditioning. Refrigerate too soon and you put the yeast to sleep and they can't do their job.

 

[ericbw]

Your description is pretty close to doing everything almost right. The more you do it, the better (and easier) it will get.

Except the grain crushing. Running it over with a truck? I actually think that if you crushed it with a hammer and a blender, you'd get an ok crush. And if anything, I would expect that your OG would be lower if your crush was bad.

 

[Rob2010SS]

View attachment 547315 View attachment 547315 View attachment 547316 View attachment 547317 View attachment 547318


Thanks for your reply!

#1 I guess I am going to have to do more research. I am not sure the difference between fly sparge and batch sparge. We heat the water up to the stated temp then just slowly add water to the wort in the mash tun slowly in an attempt not to disturb the grain bed. A fly sparge is simply adding water to the top of your grain bed at the same time you are draining into the boil kettle. Your sparging "on the fly" so to speak. Batch sparging is where you completely drain your mash tun into the boil kettle, and then you add you sparge water to your mash tun all at once, let it sit for 10 min to settle, and then drain again. You're sparging in "batches".

#2 yeah not sure either. Maybe we need to add hops slower and stir them in. I have been opening the provided pack and dropping the whole thing in, letting them dissolve then stirring. Don't think it really matters. The only risk with a "fast dump" is a boil over. I sprinkle the hops in slow and stir at the same time to avoid the boil over. Where I was confused was the "chalky" term you used. Not sure about that still.

#3 when the wort gets to 80 degrees we then have been siphoning it into the primary fermentor. Definitely not in the 60’s but we cool to 80 then transfer so I’d guess in the 70’s. Either way I will bring the wort even lower next time. If you chill to 65-68*F in your kettle, then transfer to your fermenter, you know you'll be good to pitch yeast.

#4 I believe the OG was 1.43 or so and the FG was 1.2ish? The yeast was what was provided in the recipe. By the looks of it, it may not have finished fermenting. The attenuation on the website says medium and other people have expressed ~75% attenuation. With an OG of 1.044 (that's what your pic appears to show) and even 70% attenuation, you should have dropped to 1.013. Looks like you may not have finished completely. In the future, a good rule to follow is take a sample and check gravity. If it's not where you would have expected it, wait 2 or 3 more days and take another sample and check gravity again. If you get the same number, you're done fermenting.

I will post some pictures to try and help!

As other people have said, you made beer! Congrats again and welcome to the addiction. Only gets better from here.

 

[jalc6927]

Not sure if this was mentioned or not, but try batch sparging in lieu of fly, much easier and predictable

 

[xpops]

Not sure if this was mentioned or not, but try batch sparging in lieu of fly, much easier and predictable

i have to agree here. before i started all grain, i figured fly would be best way to go. build a sparge arm out of copper to suspend over my square cooler and everything...used it for 2 batches...went to batch sparging and never looked back, and still get consistent 80% efficiency with MUCH less effort.

 

[Spcarp04]

Your description is pretty close to doing everything almost right. The more you do it, the better (and easier) it will get.

Except the grain crushing. Running it over with a truck? I actually think that if you crushed it with a hammer and a blender, you'd get an ok crush. And if anything, I would expect that your OG would be lower if your crush was bad.

Half way into putting a hammer on i

i have to agree here. before i started all grain, i figured fly would be best way to go. build a sparge arm out of copper to suspend over my square cooler and everything...used it for 2 batches...went to batch sparging and never looked back, and still get consistent 80% efficiency with MUCH less effort.

Batch sparging is simply letting your grains mash, slowly draining the initial wort to you boiling pot, closing the valve from the mash tun, dumping all your sparge water into your mash tun, stirring, let sit, stir again, then draining the sparge into your cooking kettle again to get to 6.5 gallons of wort?

 

[Spcarp04]

The beauty here is that you've....had a lot of experiences, learned from them, and can extend from that.

Let me also offer some ideas for you.

1. If you can find a local homebrew club where you can find someone who would let you watch a brew day using all-grain, it would probably help a lot. There's a learning curve here (no kidding!) and this would speed it up for you.

2. You don't say what your mash tun design is. Mine is a 12-gallon square igloo cooler with a torpedo screen feeding the ball valve. I have found that if I cover that torpedo screen with a hop sock (what you put hops in to put in the boil, some people do this), it's very easy to draw off the wort.

3. If you pulverized your grain to where the husks were largely obliterated, that will reduce the ability of the grain bed to filter itself. A better grain crush would help that.

4. With a typical batch of 10-12# of grain, I'll usually start w/ 4 or 4.25 gallons of strike water in my mash tun; I'll stir in the grain, making sure dough-balls are broken up, and then let it sit for 15 minutes, covering the tun with a blanket to keep the heat in. Then, and this is important: I stir again at 15 minutes, and again at 30 minutes. You'll find your efficiency goes up if you do this, and you should.

5. While the mash is working, I heat up another 4 gallons of sparge water to about 168 degrees. I draw off the wort into another container then when I'm down to a trickle, I'll close the valve and add the sparge water. I stir, let it sit for 5 minutes, then stir again, and begin to draw that off.

(sparge water can even be cold; the only reason I heat it up is it gives me a head start on the boil; easier to bring 150-degree wort to a boil than 95-degree wort.)

Typically I'd get about 2.5 gallons of wort in my first runnings, then 4 gallons from the sparge (since the grain has already absorbed what water it's going to absorb). Total 6.5 gallons. Boil that in the kettle until I'm down to 5.5 gallons (60 minutes), and it's time to rack to the fermenter.

Just a few thoughts; welcome to home brewing and enjoy the process; I enjoy that every bit as much as I enjoy the beer I produce.

Just curious as I am posting from my phone, but are y’all able to see the pics I posted in this thread? If so, there is a picture of my fermentor and in the background you can see the mash tun I use. If not, it is an igloo cool (beverage cooler?) with a false bottom and a valve at the bottom.

Please let me know if the pictures did not show up.

Also, how do I absolutely ensure that my yeast gets activated? We have been sprinkling the packet that came with the recipe on top of the wort after it is in the fermentor. Another poster said I should then shake the hell out of it to aerate it after I put the top on the fermentor then add the air lock and let sit.

 

[Spcarp04]

Another question, why do you have to let the stoke water and grain mash for a full hour, yet it is ok to ad the sparge, stir, and drain immediately? I guess the question is how long should you let the sparge water sit in the mash tun before draining and why does it not need to be an hour?

 

[mongoose33]

Just curious as I am posting from my phone, but are y’all able to see the pics I posted in this thread? If so, there is a picture of my fermentor and in the background you can see the mash tun I use. If not, it is an igloo cool (beverage cooler?) with a false bottom and a valve at the bottom.

Please let me know if the pictures did not show up.

Also, how do I absolutely ensure that my yeast gets activated? We have been sprinkling the packet that came with the recipe on top of the wort after it is in the fermentor. Another poster said I should then shake the hell out of it to aerate it after I put the top on the fermentor then add the air lock and let sit.

Your pics are there.

The yeast, assuming it hasn't been killed by excess heat or mishandling or something (unlikely, but I need the qualifer ), will activate itself. Many of us will rehydrate the yeast prior to pitching it, so as to ensure a better yeast population. Up to half the yeast cells can die when dried yeast is pitched directly into the wort, but there's enough to make up for the losses.

There are many ways people aerate wort. This is the only time when oxygen is desirable. Some splash the wort into the fermenter to aerate it. Some shake the fermenter. I did this before I bought my oxygen kit, I'd fill the fermenter about half, then shake it really good to mix the air into it, then finish filling.

And many use an aeration stone to add oxygen directly to the wort, which is what I do.

At minimum, I'd be shaking that fermenter before adding the yeast, to aerate it as much as possible.

 

[mongoose33]

Another question, why do you have to let the stoke water and grain mash for a full hour, yet it is ok to ad the sparge, stir, and drain immediately? I guess the question is how long should you let the sparge water sit in the mash tun before draining and why does it not need to be an hour?

During the hourlong mash, the enzymes in the malt grist are converting the starch to sugar. Depending on various variables, that can take up to an hour. Once the starch is converted to sugar, the only remaining task is to get that sugar into your boil kettle. You drain off the wort (called first runnings), and the sparge water simply rinses the remaining sugar from the spent grain in the grain bed (called second runnings).

Conversion is likely finished at the hour (and probably even before then), so if you add the sparge water, stir, wait a couple minutes, and lauter it off, you're fine. No reason to wait longer.

 

[Spcarp04]

Your pics are there.

The yeast, assuming it hasn't been killed by excess heat or mishandling or something (unlikely, but I need the qualifer ), will activate itself. Many of us will rehydrate the yeast prior to pitching it, so as to ensure a better yeast population. Up to half the yeast cells can die when dried yeast is pitched directly into the wort, but there's enough to make up for the losses.

There are many ways people aerate wort. This is the only time when oxygen is desirable. Some splash the wort into the fermenter to aerate it. Some shake the fermenter. I did this before I bought my oxygen kit, I'd fill the fermenter about half, then shake it really good to mix the air into it, then finish filling.

And many use an aeration stone to add oxygen directly to the wort, which is what I do.

At minimum, I'd be shaking that fermenter before adding the yeast, to aerate it as much as possible.

Ok, but definitely aerate the wort in the fermenter BEFORE pitching the yeast?

 

[ancientmariner52]

Ok. Strike water plus grain or grist equals mash. The grain is mostly starch at that point. There are enzymes produced in the malted grains, that, in the pressence of water and in the right temp range, convert the starch to sugar, which is what the yeast wants to eat.

This will take time. Maybe 20 minutes. Maybe 40. We usually give it an hour or more. I don't understand about adding the sparge water immediately. This shouldn't happen until the starch conversion is complete. Just for fun, taste the grain before and after mashing. If there are miracles on this earth, that's one of 'em.

Sparging is just a term of art for rinsing the sugar from the grains. Some do a continuous (fly) sparge, some do a batch sparge. Both work, don't get hung up on it.

Some dry yeast wants to be hydrated, some just sprinkled on the wort. I've handled both kinds both ways and couldn't see a nickel's difference. What does matter is getting a lot of air into the wort. Later on oxygen is a bad thing, but yeast needs a lot of o2 starting out. There's microbiologists on here that can actually explain it, I just know that I never had yeast take off like a rocket til I started aerating my wort.

 

[Spcarp04]

During the hourlong mash, the enzymes in the malt grist are converting the starch to sugar. Depending on various variables, that can take up to an hour. Once the starch is converted to sugar, the only remaining task is to get that sugar into your boil kettle. You drain off the wort (called first runnings), and the sparge water simply rinses the remaining sugar from the spent grain in the grain bed (called second runnings).

Conversion is likely finished at the hour (and probably even before then), so if you add the sparge water, stir, wait a couple minutes, and lauter it off, you're fine. No reason to wait longer.

Really appreciate your and everyone else’s responses I feel much better about the whole process already.

Sorry to bombard y’all with questions, but what causes all the sediment at the bottom of the fermenter and bottles. That just part of it?

 

[ancientmariner52]

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Yeeeeees.

Longer answer: that stuff is called trub (say troob). It's tired yeast, and hop residue. Nothin' to worry about.

 

[Spcarp04]

Ok. Strike water plus grain or grist equals mash. The grain is mostly starch at that point. There are enzymes produced in the malted grains, that, in the pressence of water and in the right temp range, convert the starch to sugar, which is what the yeast wants to eat.

This will take time. Maybe 20 minutes. Maybe 40. We usually give it an hour or more. I don't understand about adding the sparge water immediately. This shouldn't happen until the starch conversion is complete. Just for fun, taste the grain before and after mashing. If there are miracles on this earth, that's one of 'em.

Sparging is just a term of art for rinsing the sugar from the grains. Some do a continuous (fly) sparge, some do a batch sparge. Both work, don't get hung up on it.

Some dry yeast wants to be hydrated, some just sprinkled on the wort. I've handled both kinds both ways and couldn't see a nickel's difference. What does matter is getting a lot of air into the wort. Later on oxygen is a bad thing, but yeast needs a lot of o2 starting out. There's microbiologists on here that can actually explain it, I just know that I never had yeast take off like a rocket til I started aerating my wort.

Awesome appreciate the info. All of this helps get a grasp on why I’m doing it, not just what to do.

 

[mongoose33]

Really appreciate your and everyone else’s responses I feel much better about the whole process already.

Sorry to bombard y’all with questions, but what causes all the sediment at the bottom of the fermenter and bottles. That just part of it?

It's the hot- and cold-break (proteins precipitating out), hop residue, and yeast. It's called "Trub" (pronounce it "troob" unless you want to be thought to be a "newb"). Yeah, it's just part of it.

As the yeast ferments, most of that will be mixed up into the wort/beer, then when the yeast is done, it'll settle to the bottom. I cold-crash my beers (drop them to 32) which helps those things drop out of solution and clear the beer.

Here's one example of how such a layer looks, in my fermenter:

 

[mongoose33]

Ok, but definitely aerate the wort in the fermenter BEFORE pitching the yeast?

Can you do it after you pitch the yeast? Sure. But if you're adding dry yeast, a lot of that yeast will end up being deposited on the sides of the fermenter where it will do you no good.

Aerate before pitching.