Tapping Pond Scum?

you might like using a specific gravity meter. This will tell you when the beer is ready to bottle as it won't change over say three days. Stuff will ferment longer than it appears to. As for the scum, just be careful with the bottling hose? Usually the krausen will disappear as fermentation progresses but a blowoff hose helps get rid of it some.

Basil,

The pond scum you mention is possibly harmless "foam" (for want of a better description) which always develops during fermentation. Once the frementation is complete, & you have allowed the brew to settle, I would not expect to see scum on the top. If you do have it after settlement has occured, scim it off carefully before bottling. Scum of a whitish, almost greasy texture, used to be seen in the old days when we used open fermenters. I have not seen this for many years & I'm not exactly sure what it was anyway. Good luck, Pete

Basil:

I've only brewed top fermented ales twice, but they both settled out to the bottom of the fermenter when fermentation was complete.

You really should wait for two weeks at least before bottling or you risk over carbonation of the beer because the sugars in the wort not being completely worked out adding to the carbonation sugar and making for too much head when you pour the beer.

Hope I am not leading you astray,

W.N.(Bill) McCaw