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?
Maybe I'm just not seeing it, but it doesn't look 'hairy' to me...
__________________
"We brewers don’t make beer, we just get all the ingredients together and the beer makes itself."
~ Fritz Maytag, President Anchor Brewing
Bottled: AHS Red Stripe Lager clone; AHS American Amber Ale; Apfelwein/Cyser, Coffee Stout In Primary: Nut Brown Ale, Apfelwein On Deck: Anchor Steam clone
Well, it's more like... cotton threads. You see the area that's right/upper-right from the sandy brown? That's the thickest one in the carboy, but similar cotton threads are spread thinly around the ceiling like that.
oh, I thought that was just residue on the inside of the bottle.
__________________
"We brewers don’t make beer, we just get all the ingredients together and the beer makes itself."
~ Fritz Maytag, President Anchor Brewing
Bottled: AHS Red Stripe Lager clone; AHS American Amber Ale; Apfelwein/Cyser, Coffee Stout In Primary: Nut Brown Ale, Apfelwein On Deck: Anchor Steam clone
If it's in contact with the wine or mead, yes. It allows the stuff to oxidize, which is bad for it. Generally you want to fill your carboy up until the surface of the liquid is in the narrow part of the neck; that leaves only a very small surface for air to contact.
Argh I know, I know! I was going to throw more marbles in as soon as I was sure that the extra must/nutrient I added wouldn't start a fermentation that would require all of the surface, but now that I see this fuzz... I don't want to be like, "Mmm, let's get as much mold in here as possible" and drown the stuff! Hell, even if it's not mold, I probably don't want the mead going anywhere near it now, do I?
Contamination?
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