Bottle infection? Yeast?

[bgpbrew]

About a week after bottling a tripel, I have begun noticing small (2-4mm wide, generally roundish, white; not present in the secondary) chunks of material floating on the surface of each bottle (there might be 5-12 of them in each bottle). They are not stuck to the sides of the bottles nor, generally, to each other, but might adhere somewhat when I turn the bottles. I'm not sure if this represents an infection/contamination or if this might be something less problematic, such as yeast or other organic matter from the brew and fermentation. I can't get a great picture through the brown bottles.

I used a two-step fermentation; 10 days in primary, 6 weeks in secondary. There wasn't any evidence of contamination in either stage. All my equipment (buckets, carboy, bottles, tubing, etc) was soaked in a bleach solution, rinsed, then sanitized further with starsan before use. I used a 2L yeast starter, stepped-up from a 500mL starter. I boiled my corn sugar for bottling for 10 minutes and boiled bottle caps for 10 minutes before use.

So far, it seems like the carbonation is going well 11 days after bottling and I don't notice any off-flavors yet.

Any ideas? Suggestions?

 

[SteveHeff]

Can you take any close up pics and post them? There are some very smart guys/gals on here that have seen their fair share of infections that can probably identify: 1. if there is an infection 2. what kind of infection it is.

 

[bgpbrew]

Okay, gave the photos another shot. Here are two close-ups of one of the bottles.

 

[WNCBrewman]

But you might want to check on the boiling of the bottle caps. Boiling them could have a tendency to warp or disfigure the plastic lining that is vital to a good seal. I think if you took new caps, and simply soaked them in some starsan (in a measuring cup) several minutes before capping, you should be fine.

 

[Hello]

Agreed about the caps. Just fill a bowl with star san and soak them when you begin bottling. Boiling them doesn't seem like the best idea because then they just sit there while you bottle.

I'm not sure what it is but perhaps open one up and see if it's a gusher or if it tastes bad.

 

[bgpbrew]

Okay, here's the catch to the bottle cap idea: I bottled a few Grolsch bottles and they have the same things in them. So that leaves the priming bucket and racking equipment, if it is an infection...

 

[bgpbrew]

So, for anyone stumbling upon this thread, that stuff at the top of the bottle is likely either trub or yeast. None of it ever grew after it appeared and the beer tastes great.

Not everything floating in your beer represents an infection!