brew pot to primary transfer

Alright, so I'm on like my 7th beer (with mixed results) and have a question about how most people transfer their beer. When I go from the brewpot to the primary, I basically just cool down to the low 80s, then dump the whole pot into the primary, am I supposed to be leaving the sediment behind by siphoning or straining?

In a related note, I just cracked my first bottle of a Boulevard Zon clone attempt and it is WAY overspiced. I plan on giving it time to mellow, but at the same time I don't want to have this problem in the future because I've always been told that wits are best fresh. I'll down the dosage on the next batch, but would getting the wort off of the orange/coriander/sediment reduce this?

I let mine pour out of theball aulve and flow into my fermentation bucket. I dump what is left. I do not wory to much about the sedemit because it will come out in the primary. That said I do not make a lot of IIPAs with huge hop bills.

Draining or siphoning is a whole lot easier than lifting and pouring.
Most of my upgrades are geared more towards ease of brewing than anything.
After a boil kettle with a drain valve, I went to a pump for ease of transferring, then a RMS, then a whirlpool, and on and on.

I use Whirlfloc tablets to help reduce sediment. After I cool my brew down I pour it into the primary through a 5 gallon paint strainer bag from HD. My brews are clear, but still not as clear as I'd like.

I've read that a lot of people pour their entire brew into their fermentor. I personally try as best as I can to leave most of the bittering hops and hot break behind. It also helps to be able to have an extra inch of head space if you're make 5.5 gallon batches.

To answer your second question: spices seem to always require a longer conditioning phase in my experience. If you're doing it in a wheat beer that you want to drink young, you should probably just use less.

I just pour and its fun when I use the 20 gal pot. I use a paint strainer inside the 5 gal bucket to catch most of the junk.

Thanks for the advice, guys. Turns out that white came out REALLY good. The recipe is in 'Brewing with Wheat' if you wanna try it. I've over indulged a bit tonight, if I'm honest. Funny thing... the first one I had tonight was good, by the time I got to the forth I thought it was the most amazing beer I ever had. Seems top be a common thread among my homebrews...

I just pour from the brew kettle into my fermenter. Actually go back and forth a couple times to help oxygenate the wort. Gives the yeasties a little more o2 to get their lives off to a good start. I figure that a 5 gallon batch weighs about 45 pounds max and, unless someone has back problems, that's not a lot of weight. (Fruit typically comes in a 40 lb lug.) But I can see where someone with a bad back or if doing more than 5 gallons would want to drain or siphon instead.