What are these particles in my secondaries?

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N3WWN

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Location
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Hi!

5 days after racking my last cider into the secondary fermenter, I noticed some granules collecting at the surface of the cider.

I racked this cider on Nov 8 and the particles are pure white grains about the size of sugar, with similar structure (they're all different shapes, roughly the same size). They are very evenly distributed across the entire surface (say, 5 per square inch or so).

I noticed similar particles on my other two ciders also, but somewhat different. They were racked on Oct 24 and have more of a dusty, white powder around the carboy where the cider meets the glass.

Since they are all at least 5.5% ABV (based on gravities), I thought they were supposed to be safe in the secondaries.

I"ve read a couple books on brewing and they all state that "nothing harmful can grow in beer due to the alcohol content, but it may not taste very good" or similar.

These particles are not "hairy" or non-white or stringy or any of the signs that I've read point to baterial infection. There is also no film or ring around or on the carboy.

Could they be precipitates from the OneStep and/or Straight-A that I used to clean/sanitize the carboys?

Thanks for any advice, comments, etc!

-Rich
 
Thanks for the advice! I'll keep an eye on things and see if they change color or develop hairs or anything...

-Rich
 
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