Not a dumb question. I would bet that you are floating crap up to the top of the puddle and the cleaning action is eventually taking care of it, somewhat, It won't completely clean it. It is porosity that you are seeing, and you need to be careful as you may just be covering it. Aluminum oxide melts at a higher temperature than the aluminum underneath, so it can apear as bubble if it floats up.

Ben Coody you will likely be able to get a lot better weld on it with that, even if you're a bit green. I would suggest you get a piece of 1/4" scrap and start playing with it, you might get confident a bit quicker than you think, and might avoid burning up your tig torch!

Ben Coody Do you have a mig welder? Or is that your only rig right now?

How's the project going?

What machine are ya running?

Welcome Ben🍻

Dennis on 8mm material, I bet you will have a much easier time dialing in nice results. The welding will be quick too.

Have you thought about dual shield stainless wire?

A bit of stress relief can make or break a jobfor sure. Sometimes you need to find that stuff out in the roughing stage otherwise you can end up blowing the job because you don't have enough meat there to problem solve with.

It's funny, the town I live in doesn't feel remote most of the time, until something like the internet glitches out and you kinda realize were a long way from earth 😂 Glad I was able to get a data connection on my phone.