Guys, thank you.
Goose, that's good information. A brewer on another board suggested a stainless steel scrubby thing (like you would use in the kitchen) attached to the end of the cane. Sounds nutty but I have some on order and I will try it. They're stainless so they should clean & sanitize properly with no downside to the wort/beer.
Denny, not necessarily. I am a clear-beer freak (hey, did you know this about me?
) and I always hear that trub causes clarity issues although the exBEERiment that I mentioned earlier actually suggested that his "truby" beer was clearer than his "non-truby" beer. Also, I always wonder if trub in the yeast cake has an adverse impact on harvesting and reusing yeast, etc. Maybe one of our yeast experts can weigh in on that.
Bob: I have always heard that
some trub is beneficial to yeast. I have also heard many brewers say that they do not worry about trub and their beers come out fine. Now I do not actually TASTE those beers so I don't know how fine they truly are but I have absolutely made beers that I consider VERY GOOD where some trub was present early in the process.
Thanks guys.