They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here's my latest batch, a rye IPA fermenting in Craft A Brew's Catalyst. (From Google Drive, so not visible here - have to click on the link)
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPigBWKYUFA6Ne8W6zhjl3DhmeI19sdS6Nctzq-When I first checked on it this AM, those bubbles in the center were one large white bubble that popped when I inserted my sanitized baster to draw the sample. That freaked me out - but I typically used white plastic buckets and I never looked at the beer in the bottling bucket, so I don't know if this is something I would have seen had I looked. Tested 2X in 3 days & fermentation seems complete, steady at 1.090. Temperature of beer is 72.5ยบ, which seems to be a couple degrees warmer than the room, generally - sampling around with a digital laser thermometer. (For the curious, this is in the basement where it is largely dark save for laundry, etc.)
The taste test: is fairly bitter but tastes like beer. It's been a half-hour and the bitterness from a few sips still lingers. Can't detect any off odors. This doesn't look as awful as the infection pix I see online. So I can't tell if this is an infection issue or just a solid bitterness. So: bottle, or pitch? Thoughts?
PS: Being the first time I ever actually watched fermentation during the process, everything has looked normal to this point. Seven days initial fermentation, 9 days of dry hops (mesh bag), 9 more days maturation. Star San sanitation throughout.