What is this in my beer?

[jarvas99]

Dry hopped it 8 days ago using 2 mesh bags. This is the first time I have used bags to dry hop. I did sanitize both for over 20 minutes before adding hops and dropping into secondary. Today I went to see how things were going and noticed one of the bags opened and the hops were floating around but with a strange cottony look to them. I have attached some pics but is pretty hard to capture via smartphone. Does any one know what these could be?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

looks like yeast and protein haze, your beer wasn't ready to be drink yet

 

[jarvas99]

These are photos of it in the secondary. I was planning on bottling this week at some point.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

cold crash it for at least 3 days at 34 and you'll be fine, pull off the top to carbonate

 

[jeffpn]

Looks like photos from the Hubble telescope.

 

[jarvas99]

Really don't have the equipment to cold crash it.
Have any of you experienced this before and why do you think it happened?
Is there something else I can do or should I just go with my plan to taste and if ok bottle on Thursday?

 

[jmcnamara]

if it smells and tastes ok, then i'd say you're fine.

generally, if your first reaction to a smell / taste isn't "ohmygod get it away from me, im gonna barf", it's probably ok

 

[Mark D Pirate]

Could add gelatin for a few days before racking off to bottling bucket .
Biggest downside is it makes trub fluffy .
So you all still rack to secondary ? we mostly gave that away here

 

[jmcnamara]

Some do. I generally do, but I also can't cold crash and don't use other finings.
Seems to work for me and haven't made a bad batch because of it

I'm sure you'll hear opinions go the other way too

 

[Nosybear]

Looks kind of like yeast flocs to me - clumps of yeast that float up to the surface. If there's anything ropy or slimy in there, you have an infection; otherwise, rack beneath the gunk and see what you got. There's nothing that will hurt you that will live in beer. It might taste terrible but it won't hurt you.

 

[Mark D Pirate]

Some do. I generally do, but I also can't cold crash and don't use other finings.
Seems to work for me and haven't made a bad batch because of it

I'm sure you'll hear opinions go the other way too

heard opinions are like cars , we've all had a few and driven a few others before !
i've never used a carboy , only racked off to secondary twice after reading " how to brew " then got lazy and then left in primary until bottling day (day 14)
my process has changed too much to decide if it was any better but at least i now have 2 FV going almost all the time and beer is tasting better than ever !
have since moved to AG so that might be cause rather than effect , might try an exbeeriment to satisfy myself

 

[J A]

Regarding the gunk...if it's yeast rafts (probably is) it will eventually settle. The trapped CO2 that's keeping it afloat will eventually be expelled as the hunk breaks down a little. Sometimes a slight movement of the carboy will dislodge the stuff near the top and let it drop without disturbing the layer at the bottom. Cold-crashing helps by absorbing the CO2 into suspension and helping everything drop and pack at the bottom. Even if you don't crash, though, it'll eventually settle.
As for rackinig to secondary, I've found that with some yeasts it's completely unnecessary but with others, it helps a lot. Generally ale yeasts, especially the English strains, drop so fast and hard they'll clear up completely pretty soon after FG is reached. German Kolsch ale yeast benefits from secondary and most of the lager yeasts that I've tried definitely need secondary and cold-crash or (extended lagering, of course) really helps a lot too.

 

[i drink to forget]

I'm sorry to say, but you have aliens. Probably ancient aliens.
There's nothing to do now but submit to their superior intellect and strange strange demands.