Is something wrong here?

I'm on my first batch and i've encountered a few issues. i'm making and english pale ale i got from my local HBS. i tasted my hydrometer samples on the 5-7th day of primary fermentation and they were real harsh and somewhat banana-y , but it smelled great. then i stopped taking hydrometer readings and racked it into the secondary, a 5 gallon carboy. i added 1/2 tsp gelatin finings and probably 1 oz. of hops pellets for the dry hop. i haven't tasted it in over a week. but there is a ring of little white dots all around the bottom 3 inches of the carboy where it starts to move in toward the base. they look to be just on the glass, not suspended in the beer

is it normal for fermenting wort to taste harsh?

are these little white dots a normal part of the beer clearing? or am i INFECTED?

Beer that young is going to taste pretty bad. It needs time for some of the harsh hop compounds to mellow out.

I doubt your have an infection in the bottom of your carboy. Most infections present themselves as spots the surface of the wort at the top. Post a pic, but I really think you'll be ok. Just give it plenty of time.

I agree with Displaced. Give it more time and you should be all set. I usually don't taste my brews until about 2-3 months after I make them, at bottling time.

You're probably going to be fine. Leave it alone for a few weeks and check it again. Infections are pretty rare if you've paid attention to sanitation practices.

Harshness is typical of green beer. Bananas can be from too warm fermentation or it can just be greenness. Time will tell.

I'm assuming white dots at the bottom of the glass secondary. If so, that's probably just yeast falling out of suspension.

First, harshness is not uncommon for a lot of beer styles until they are ready to drink. Once the yeast has clean it up and you get some carb in there, it can be kind of nasty.

Second, the white dots on the bottom are normal. RDWHAHB!

I didn't think English Pale Ales were dry-hopped though...

thanks everyone. i guess this is another case of a noob worrying too much. i bottled today and the beer is definately not infected and though there may be a little fusel alcohol in there, the harshness has mellowed out a lot. thanks again.

next time i'll RDWHAHB