I've listened to the big boys online radio. Some say some trub is good, some opine that it is bad to have around.

I usually let trub get in my fermenters and fermentation is (seems) good. Never considered it a big deal.

Lately, I've increased my production to 10-15 gallons. I'll scoop out the top 5 or so gallons into the first bucket filtering through my china cap.

This initial scooping has very little if any trub in the wort since it sinks. The second bucket usually has some trub present and if there is a third fermenter it will have plenty of trub mixed in.

I've noticed the fermenters with trub show signs of fermentation sooner.

What gives? Am I way off target with this? Why is trub bad again?

I think all you need is a little trub in there and there will be some even in that top part that you are scooping first. If it's a light(lagers) beer I get as much trub as I can out of the wort. That's just me, thought.
Matt

trub isn't bad AFAIC.

I try to leave as much as I can in the kettle but not at the expense of leave a bunch of wort in the kettle.

Cold break, a portion of the trub, is supposed to actually supply FAN (a nutrient for the yeast). Maybe that's why....

Ditto what CLB does. If I use whole leaf hops (most of the time) I get a nice filter bed that keeps most of the trub out of the fermenter. If I use pellets then most of it goes in. IT is one of those RDWHAHB things.

Funny same subject came up elswhere, I grabed this
http://www.bodensatz.com/homebrew/columns/jirvine/trub.html

A portion of the trub as Denny stated is thought to have nutrient for the yeast, which is good. Also unless reusing yeast from batch to batch (alot) I find no problem with trub. And even then its not extremely detrimental just makes it more of a pain to repitch. It also from my experience makes it much more likely for the trub to carry over bitterness (but this is on much larger batches; in 20 or 30 gallons it shouldn't be much of a problem).

I think there's merit to both sides of it.
That's why I put everything into a secondary after a week or 10 days.
But then I use pellet hops, and I dump everything in.
That's my solution.