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This is my first brew and it happened to be a partial mash. I made to the first fermentation ok and it is going like crazy (love the Wyeast packs). My fermentation lock however went from clear to now filled with sediment and a cloudy beer liquid. Is this normal or do I have too much pressure build up in the fermenter? Also, when I rack to my second fermenter is it ok for the beer to splash and aereate or not? Am I right in thinking it will be ok because the first fermentation cycle is over and the alcohol would kill anything new to the beer?

no, its not ok to splash, you do not want to aerate the beer going from the primary to secondary fermenter. if you do this it will stale and skunk the beer. you want to have a nice smooth transfer with no air involved. if you purge the secondary of air that will also help

BrewMeister said:

This is my first brew and it happened to be a partial mash. I made to the first fermentation ok and it is going like crazy (love the Wyeast packs). My fermentation lock however went from clear to now filled with sediment and a cloudy beer liquid. Is this normal or do I have too much pressure build up in the fermenter? Also, when I rack to my second fermenter is it ok for the beer to splash and aereate or not? Am I right in thinking it will be ok because the first fermentation cycle is over and the alcohol would kill anything new to the beer?

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It is normal for the air lock to get gunked up if you have a small head space in your primary. Next time try using a blow-off tube instead of a air lock for the first 24 hours of fermentation. This will allow all of the foam to expell through the blow off hose.

DO NOT let it aerate, NO splashing. Keep the siphon tubeon the bottom of the secondary or at least under the surface of the beer that is being racked to the secondary. Aeration will disolve Oxygen into the green beer and impart off flavors decribed by many as cardboardy, you should be worried about sanatation at all times but contamination is not the problem with aeration of green beer. This oxygen oxidises some of the flavor components and makes the beer taste like crap.

Thanks for the help!!

Also I would remove and clean the airlock and sanitize it again. As long as it is still fermenting nothing should get in your fermenter as the co2 produced will blanket your wort. Your airlock may plug up with gunk causing it to build up pressure inside your fermenter and then you'll have a mess on your hands when she blows like Mt. St. Helens.