Anyone know what this could be?

Hi there, made our first batch of cider about 8 months ago, its been sitting in demi's since. we fancy making some fizzy, so we were going to go with 100g sugar per 20 litres, soes that sound right?

also, over the last few months some kind of residue has shown up on the surface of some demis...im pretty sure it isnt mold, the cider smells and tastes normal, could this be some bi-product from the fermentation? here are some pics...

http://www.ashcroft11.plus.com/cider/1.jpg
http://www.ashcroft11.plus.com/cider/2.jpg
http://www.ashcroft11.plus.com/cider/3.jpg
http://www.ashcroft11.plus.com/cider/4.jpg

if you shake a bottle it sinks and settles, or breaks up a bit, as show in some of the pics. it just doesnt look like mold, but would rather know its ok before we do anything with it!

any ideas? or advice on our fizzy plan?

Cheers,

Ben.

#2 looks like a normal krausen underway.
#3 looks like an infection (perhaps a lambic type but a wild spore all the same). any that resemble this and taste fine should be racked from underneath the chunks into a new sanitized vessel.

I just dont get why it might have gone bad, we cleaned everything so well and added a crushed campden tablet to each demi when they were filled.

is it safe to drink?

If its been there for 8 months, It looks like could be a lacto/brett infection. There is a lot of airspace in that demi than the rest of them.

Take some out, taste it. if it tastes ok, rack it again into a new container and either drink it or let it age, if it tastes like ass, at 8 months its probably not gonna get better.

I make several batches of cider a year normally with different ale yeasts but I did make one batch with Brett B, and it developed all kinds of funk on top of it but it tasted so wonderful.

Good luck.

Ben,
You have an interesting inventory going there in pic #4. I like those double-handled growlers. Where do those come from? Best of brewing to you.