What is this floating in my beer??

[wstock]

Hey folks, been lurking here forever, but i think this is probably my first post. or close to it...

I've been brewing beer for about 3 years, and about a year brewing all grain.

Couple of weeks ago I whipped up a porter that had about a pound of raw honey in it from a farm down the street.

Having never used honey before, I hit up HBT for some advice. Seems people were pretty divided on when / how to add, so mine went in at flame out.

Transferred to secondary after a week. Tasted and smelled wonderful. Now another 10 days or so in secondary and i noticed these floaties in it.

So is this a pending Alien invasion from another planet who have taken up residence in my beer, or is something that was maybe in the honey that just hasn't settled out...polen or something? anyway, here's a pic.

 

[Scriv]

Kind of looks like grain hulls.

 

[wstock]

Ya, i was thinking that too, but they are all pretty uniform in size and shape...and there's lots of them floating around. Hmm...

 

[slym2none]

chunks of beeswax?

 

[Grantman1]

May I?
.............RDWHAH

Doesn't look like anything I'd worry about. I agree maybe a gran hull that slipped through at some point.

 

[day_trippr]

I'm inclined to go with the bees wax bits.

When a comb is processed it is run through a device that slices the "tops" off all of the geometric chambers, and then the comb is spun to extract the honey. Doesn't sound unreasonable that a few of those wax "caps" might go along for the ride...

Cheers!

 

[passedpawn]

I don't know what those are, but they sure don't look like a problem. Stay calm and carry on.

 

[slym2none]

I'm inclined to go with the bees wax bits.

When a comb is processed it is run through a device that slices the "tops" off all of the geometric chambers, and then the comb is spun to extract the honey. Doesn't sound unreasonable that a few of those wax "caps" might go along for the ride...

Cheers!

Exactly what I was thinking when typing that. Plus, when they spin the comb to get all the honey out, and wax bits get caught up between the paddle(s) and the chamber and cause them to roll up into little balls, like seen in the pic. Plus, the colour is dead-on for beeswax.

That's my thinking, anyway. As always, I could be wrong and will admit when I am, and apologise as necessary.

 

[unionrdr]

I was initially thinking swollen grain hulls as well. But looking back at them, they do seem more like rolled up bits of beeswax. They don't quite have the shape & color for grains/hulls...more like beeswax color. Kind of a milky yellowish color.

 

[wstock]

Ya, I'm heavily leaning towards beeswax as well. Hopefully they eventually settle out...there is quite few of them and they would cause havoc on my keg if they managed to slip past the carboy and into the keg.

Cheers!

 

[GardenElf]

When being lighter than your beer, they will keep on floating. You could try to get rid of them with a kitchen sieve or similar.

 

[unionrdr]

Or put a hop sock over the end of the siphon...