WTF is this in my bottles?

[STL]

Okay I've never had this happen before. Take a look at the attached pics and let me know if you have seen this before. Homegrown blackberries (that were still partially frozen) were put in after the boil and kept at 150 degrees for like 15 minutes, but I've done that many times before. I did accidentally leave the bittering (cascade pellet) hops in for the first stage of fermentation. They were removed for the second stage, but the beer never cleared -- even after two weeks in the secondary. So figured it was never going to clear so I bottled. So it appears the beer did finally clear, but I've got huge blobs at the bottom of the bottles that aren't really settling like I'm used to. I did use (one 12.5 ounce "bear" of) clove honey as primer -- which was a first for me. I also forgot to boil it first. All that said, the beer tastes fine -- except for being a little too hoppy/bitter for me. Others love the flavor so I'm thinking the blobs are not due to any wild yeast strains from the unboiled honey. I did shake up one bottle and let it settle and the sediment was more uniformly at the bottom of the bottle, but it was still there and floaty. I'm use to some of that in homebrew but not near so much (and with it more "stuck" on the bottom). Any know what is going on with this brew of mine?

[markaberrant]

Looks like pectin to me.

[STL]

I guess it could be, but I wonder why it chose to settle in to blobs this time? I've used my homegrown blackberries many times in brewing, and it usually just produces some cloudiness in the beer and/or a thicker (in viscosity) sediment. But that sediment is more compact and stuck to the bottom of the bottles -- unlike this floaty stuff. I will say that this batch of beer is exceptionally clear (except for the floaty blobs on bottom of course).

[Dangerous Beans]

Did you boil the berries for longer this time?
Wouldn't pectin content vary form harvest to harvest? So maybe these berries are really high in pectin, and thus a boil that didn't set the beer in the past will with these.
I think the solution is to just serve it in glasses, that way people can see the clarity but the blobs stay hidden.

[beerking]

What yeast did you use? Have you used it before? From what I can see, it could be a yeast strain that is not very flocculant. Could also be a combination of that with pectin.

[markaberrant]

I had the same thing happen when I made a pomegranate cyser. Quite delicious, but you need to pour awful damn careful!

[STL]

I didn't really even boil them, and they were in for less time than usual. I did press the liquid out of them (through a strainer) this time, but I have done that a couple times before too. I used a dry packet of Muntons Active Brewing Yeast -- not sure if that's a first or not. The only things I can really think of that differ from past batches are the leaving in of the hops for the primary fermentation or the use of honey for the priming. If it's not one of those two things then it must be the combination of something. At any rate, it sounds like it is just harmless pectin -- albeit rather unsightly.

[markaberrant]

I never boil, and I ended up with pectin in that batch. I saw it in the carboy, and wasn't really sure what it was at the time, but I figured it would settle out. Adding pectic enzyme to the carboy should break it down if it happens again. You are right, it doesn't affect anything, but unfortunately, I won't serve it to guests or enter it in competitions... despite it tasting really good.

[STL]

Thanks for all the inputs...

[barleyburps]

that is some pretty serious settlement. the only blackberry beer I've done went into a keg, so I couldn't see what the end results looked like other than the cloudiness in my beer.

I say if it tastes good. . . .it is good. . .