yeast boats or mold in the secondary?

[russiantigger]

Hi all--
I'm new to homebrewing and I've noticed something odd growing in my secondary (glass carboy)... not sure if it's mold or yeast boats. They are little white clumps that don't appear to be connected by anything floating on top of the beer. My brewer friends say there's no such thing as 'bad' mold in your beer (if it is mold?) but I want to make sure it's safe to drink before I bottle it tomorrow.... it is a brown ale if that makes any difference.
See pics below.
Thanks!

 

[unionrdr]

No pics,just red "X's". sounds like yeast rafts so far. The yeast cake can get knocked loose by the swirling action of fermentation.

 

[freisste]

At least for me, the pictures don't show up.

 

[russiantigger]

trying again with the pics. Thanks for your help!!

 

[tgmartin000]

Looks pretty normal.

 

[unionrdr]

Looks more like cold break clumps with what's left of the krausen.

 

[russiantigger]

thanks all for your help. another dumb question--how can it be what's left of the krausen since I siphoned it into the secondary 2-3 weeks ago and then the yeast rafts appeared much later? I guess I'm just worried because everything looked super normal until these showed up less than a week before bottling time....

 

[Revvy]

Bet you the temp raised or someone hit the fermenter or a truck rumbled past the house. Yeast rafts happen when co2 coming out of the trub layer (regardless if whether it's in primary or secondary) rises to escape lifting bits of yeast, and trub and break along with it. Anything that can cause co2 to rise or the trub layer to get disturbed, can cause yeast to start rafting to the the top.

 

[freisste]

thanks all for your help. another dumb question--how can it be what's left of the krausen since I siphoned it into the secondary 2-3 weeks ago and then the yeast rafts appeared much later? I guess I'm just worried because everything looked super normal until these showed up less than a week before bottling time....

Are you sure gravity was stable before you racked? There could have been a little mini fermentation in your secondary.

Does it appear as if more is happening? I know its been less than 24 hours since you posted pictures, but if some sort of infection HAS taken hold, I would think it would move relatively quickly. If the lumps significantly change color or grow tentacles, you have an issue. If they just drop/disappear, ignore them.

They are probably just chunks of krausen or yeast clumps that got transferred and a change is atmospheric pressure caused a little CO2 to come out of solution and lift them up.

Edit: of course Revvy beat me to it, and said it better, but that was what I was trying to say.