all grain and sediments

[Fl_Beak]

Fairly new beer brewer- we've done one kit beer, two partial grain, two all grain almost ready to bottle, and two all grain started today.

Not much else to do when it's blowing +20knots, right?

I made a mash tun out of a drink cooler and stainless steel mesh. We sparged, boiled, cooled. I put the wort into a glass carboy-figured I'd deal with a blow off tube as I was saving the grains for our chickens in the fermentation bucket (it was raining) as mixture settled, there was at least three inches of loose sediment. I am assuming this was starches/dust from the grain. Had I went straight into the fermentation bucket, as we have been, I'd have never seen the sediment.

Should this have been filtered out? We've been trying to go from start to finish pretty fast, thinking it lessened the chance of something going wrong, in the organic sense. Is there a step we should 'wait' for the wort to settle, and end up with a cleaner beer?

[Fl_Beak]

or is it simply that all grain brewing produces more 'dust' in the wort?

[Pilgarlic56]

That's alot of stuff, but it consists of the hot break, cold break and hop residues. None of it is harmful. Is this a pretty hoppy beer? Did you have your hops in a mesh bag or loose in the boil? There are ways to keep most of this from going into the primary but many folks don't give it a care and just dump it all in. It shouldn't be a problem.

[Pilgarlic56]

All grain brewing has the potential of producing more sediment, but if the sparge is done correctly, most of it should be filtered out of the wort.

[Fl_Beak]

Could be I'm not sparging properly- I'll go back to the drawing board on those details.

Not too hoppy-a sierra nevada pale ale- 2.5 oz total pellets in the boil, with an additional ounce to dry hop later. I did buy whole hops for the dry addition...

[Ben Brewcat]

I'd say Pilgarlic56 has it. If you've never watched the cold break settle it's pretty dramatic.

[Fl_Beak]

I just joined our local brewers club. After attending one meeting- I was not sparging correctly- stirred the grains to get out the juice. After tasting the beer this afternoon, though, it is still on its way to better than store bought. Most of that sediment seems to have been consumed, or at least compacted. Thanks again!

[plaztikjezuz]

recirculate your wort more (aka vorloft), it will improve clarity.

after the boil and chill i suggest whirl pooling the wort to get the trub to build up more in the middle. after you let it settle a minimum of 20 minutes, then syphon from the side of the kettle.