I have a traditional mead in secondary fermentation right now via a plastic better bottle. It's not topped off to the neck but rather just above the... "shoulder" I guess, of the bottle. Anyway there's something almost hairy above the mead, inside the carboy. Here's a picture.



I did have to start fermentation again with a shot of the same honey-water ratio when I transferred because I dangerously undershot the gallon mark and didn't want to age in air. I also added oak chips to age. So there are a few possible points of contamination aside from the bottle itself. I transferred the mead eight days ago, which from what I've read tells me that it's about the time mold would start forming if there was in fact mold in there. But the colour's closer to brown like the (mead-krausen) looked in primary. I also physically moved this bottle into another room to avoid sunlight and there was significant sloshing inside the bottle. What do you guys think? Do I have a contamination? Or is this somehow a normal appearance for when mead dries out?