Contaminated or Yeast of my worries?

[FermentFoxes]

My friends and I are trying our hands at a chocolate stout. Yesterday around noon we transferred to secondary and added a sanitized Bag of cocoa nibs. Checking it this morning we see some white patches forming on the surface. Are these little yeast boats or something to be worried about? Is it possible to tell from a picture alone? They aren’t fuzzy, and there are tiny clumps of the same matter all around the surface perimeter.

 

[FermentFoxes]

Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[bracconiere]

hmmm, i don't see that there was any krausen? when did you pitch the yeast?

 

[FermentFoxes]

Dec 19 we started the brew and pitched the yeast. It had a good 3 inches of Krausen then in the primary. We just transferred it to secondary yesterday, when we added the cocoa nibs. The white spots were there when I checked it this morning, and now it almost seems like they’re vanishing im pretty confident it was just the yeast flocculating but I don’t know for sure! It’s scary when you see anything floating on your brews

 

[bracconiere]

We just transferred it to secondary yesterday,

that's why i didn't see it!

 

[Sammy86]

Doesn't look like much but it's definitely hard to tell from the picture provided.

My advice is to let it ride...if more stuff starts to form on the top I would say you have an infection...if stays smelling good and tastes good you should be good to go.

 

[day_trippr]

The likelihood of it being visibly infected in 24 hours is vanishingly small, imo. I vote for tiny yeast rafts or fat bloblettes from the nibs.

Otoh, suspending the nibs as shown may be begging for an aerobic alien species invasion getting a grip...

Cheers!

 

[bracconiere]

i'd add mold can grow though, that bag is suspended above the surface of the beer......

 

[FermentFoxes]

The likelihood of it being visibly infected in 24 hours is vanishingly small, imo. I vote for tiny yeast rafts or fat bloblettes from the nibs.

Otoh, suspending the nibs as shown may be begging for an aerobic alien species invasion getting a grip...

Cheers!

Thank you! I too thought it would be odd for a contaminant to represent itself that quickly.
as far as the brew bag, do you think I should remove the nibs in case? Or will that possibly do more harm than good? We did sterilize the bag with the nibs before placing it in but I was weary about it tethering contaminants into the brew. Perhaps the only thing to do now is wait with fingers crossed?
Thanks again for your input

 

[day_trippr]

When I use nibs they get marinated in dark rum with some vanilla beans for a week, then the whole works gets dumped in the fermentor. No bag.

If I used a bag, I would weigh it down with something non-reactive so it totally sinks out of sight. Having the bag hanging in the headspace just seems asking for trouble...

Cheers!