J Brew
New Member
I wrote in a couple of days ago asking about secondary fermetation of my second ever batch of beer, a honey pale ale with a few more hops than the recipe called for, as my own personal touch. This is my first time using a secondary fermeter and while racking the brew into the second carboy, some of the sludge from the bottom rose to the surface. When I first started syphoning to the second carboy, I was unable to see the surface of the wort due to sediment stuck to the inside of the carboy. My problem is that I read on this site that if there was any kind of contamination to the wort, the mold that would eventually form would float on the surface. Because I was unable to see the surface, I can't tell if what I saw floating on the surface was mold or not. This is only my second brew, and I am not quite sure what the fermenting wort should smell like. The "stuff" floating on the surface gave me a little scare so I was just wondering what smells I should look out for that might indicate contamination. Thanks.