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Me again with another question. So there's not been much activity from my brew lately (no bubbling, only 3rd day in the fermenter). I opened up to take the gravity and temperature (1022, 21C), so it hasn't finished fermenting yet. The picture below shows my beer (it's supposed to be a pale ale). Is it infected? It doesn't smell bad.
Looks OK to me. What you're seeing is a combination of CO2 coming out of solution, hop trub, and coagulated proteins. Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew.
One more thing. I am a fan of not opening the lid more often than necessary. I don't take temperature and if I take gravity it is only at the very beginning and end. Keep in mind that every time you open it up is a chance for contamination. Most contamination will be benign which is why these little things so rarely cause problems, but once in a while you will get unlucky.
