Another infection question

I just opened up my fermentation chamber and it was full of mold. It is a 5 cu. ft chest freezer and I had a 5 gallon glass carboy full of stout. I also had a few bottled beers that I was storing in there. There was lots of black spots all over the glass bottles and carboy. There was also a lot of spots on the metal surface - especially the hump. I moved this stout to secondary about 2 weeks ago and put some bourbon soaked wood staves (medium american oak) to age with it. I also poured in the bourbon that I soaked the wood in (about 1 cup). I tied the staves up with string so I could yank them out when the time comes to bottle/keg. The string was looped around the neck of the carboy with one of those new (to me) silicone bung in the top. There was mold on the string. I look through the glass and I see a few particles of things floating near the top. It is hard to see past the dark beer but it also appears that there is something on the edge of the wood.

Is there any way of testing to see if I am screwed on this one? I have put a bunch of work in to this batch and was planning on bottling it in a few weeks. What does mold taste like? I'm afraid I might think I'm tasting mold when I'm just tasting a very young stout. The OG on this was 1.062 for what it matters.

Any ideas would be very helpful.

I've had a fementation chamber grow mold. Little bleach and some scrubbing cleared it up. Also I've had a floatie or two. I scooped them out and drank the beer. No problems. It tasted great. We called it the moldy brew.

I turned down the temp to 35* to cold crash for a week. I am going to bottle this and see how it goes. We will see in a month or so. I was hOpimg to bulk age this for a while longer but that seems like it would be inviting trouble.

No need to worry, mold will not grow in beer. As long as large pieces don't fall into the beer (duh!), you won't have any problems.

What about the wood in the beer? I have the bourbon soaked oak in the wood and that is the thing that looks a bit off. It seems that there is some stuff in the end I'd the wood.

I have done wood in beer before. Didn't have any issues. I wouldn't worry about it. If there are any issues... Just brew again.

Mold wont grow in beer?What is that fluffy colorful stuff in the bottom of unwashed bottles?

I bottled this yesterday and I think it is fine. The stuff I could barely see was trub that had settled on the edge of the wood strips. It did have few floaties in the samples I took, but it tasted ok. I cold crashed it for four days before bottling.

lylo - Mold can grow on beer residues, but not in beer. That is why it is so critical to rinse bottles properly shortly after pouring. All those nasty bacteria/fungi will build their populations on the residues since they have access to oxygen.