This is the top of my carboy of H3 Merlot. Smells and tastes OK. Haven't measured SO2 recently, but I racked and added 1/4 tsp of KMEta during the holidays after MLF was done.
Surface concerns Ive dealt with that this could be: -I’ve had the tartrates float (after a tartaric addition), but they looked like verytiny little specks & snowflakes. - had carboys with lees heavier then typical “fine lees” that would break off and rise to the surface, and the visuals varied. Was cloudy/stringy once. Another time was kinda spotty. -oily surface that if left for extended period formed a “skin”. -and have had full blown mycoderma once. Hard to get a good representation from a pic. Majority of the time I had surface stuff was in high ph wines. But Every occurrence was identified within this checklist -tartaric added after AF -headspace -significant lees remaining -Higher ph
Do you have a tight seal on your (filled) airlock? If your leaking air continuously then you have the perfect environment for Mycoderma which (hard to tell with that pic) but it could be the start of. Spritz the top with sanitizing solution just for safety sake.
I've seen that in my barrels floating to the top when I top off. Looks terrifying at first but then you realize all is well and the wine tastes good.
I know this is not a kit wine thread , but did you add Sorbate? I did a WE Pacific Quartet kit last year that had white floaties that never disappeared but sunk to the bottom of the carboy. All my research to figure out what they were produced no information. It was a mystery until I cleared my Riesling kit. Because it has the FPack I added the Sorbate - same white floaties. I added dry to the wine and mixed in with k-meta.
No sorbate. Dry Merlot from grapes. I stirred it up, spritzed the airspace w/ some KMeta solution and it hasn't returned.
