Any ideas on what this is? Infection?

[ultra_cas]

Haven't ever seen anything like this in any of my beers before, but this certainly doesn't look good. I'll ride it out and see what happens, but not too optimistic. My sanitation practices where no different with this batch than any others. Fermentation temp set at 65. Had a healthy yeast starter that took off quick. (maybe the starter had a little something else in there with it...)

 

[flars]

Krausens will not look the same. Within those parameters, your krausen looks normal. The extra brown color on the side is probably some steeping grain particles.
No infection.

 

[kh54s10]

I can't see anything troubling from this picture. It looks like a healthy krausen to me.

If you are concerned with the dark stuff I would say that is just grain/extract and hop debris on top of the foam.

 

[ultra_cas]

Thanks. I'm used to seeing a fairly uniform color. The stark contrast with the dark brown on the side had me wondering.