Sorry, another "is this mould??" thread

[WelshSteW]

Hi,
I'm wondering if you guys can help me. I've got a batch of orange and pineapple wine on the go, and there's some manky looking stuff going on at the bottom of the demijohn.
When I started the batch, it bubbled up through the airlock A LOT, so there was quite a lot of taking the airlock and bung out, cleaning the demijohn up, and putting a new airlock and bung on. It settled down after 24hrs or so, and has been left alone since then.
I had a look at it today, and this is how it looks -

Looks ok, right?

Well, this is what's at the bottom -

Pretty manky looking.

So yeah, I thought mould would show up at the top rather than the bottom? Given that it's settling to the bottom, is it worth trying to syphon it, will the stuff at the top be any good?

 

[pilgrimhudd]

I can't really see what you mean (as in the manky thing) but I do know that mould needs oxygen to survive/grow so unless it was there before you filled it it won't grow on the bottom. Are you sure it's not yeast?

 

[WelshSteW]

It's that dark coloured stuff that's settled at the bottom. I have no idea what it is, but thought it looked a bit dodgy?

 

[MashBag]

It's ok

 

[pilgrimhudd]

I'm pretty sure it's just trub from fermentation to be honest.

 

[WelshSteW]

Ok, cool, thank you

 

[klaus]

It could be Bentonite ... most wine yeast compounds have Bentonite added to aid clarification of the wine. When you rack the wine you will see lots of small black specks, when you rinse out the DJ.
Quote from Young's Wine Yeast Compound ingredients: "A Specially formulated recipe containing Bentonite, Wine Yeast, Yeast Nutrient, Vitamins and Minerals. Used for making high quality wines, speedy fermentation and clearing."

 

[MashBag]

Fresh Pineapple has some very strong compounds, it will rot galvanised steel and will remove your fingerprints. And odd but of discoloured lees is nothing of you are concerned, rack it off into another clean DJ.