Is this a normal looking fermentation?

[Gaartok]

My first home brew. An all-grain, Magic Hat #9 clone.
I made a yeast starter the day before out of a new Wyeast smack-pack, after letting the pack warm to room temperature.

I was careful about sanitation, and I expected a lot of yeasties to form a layer at the top of the fermentation, but I wasn't expecting anything like this. It looks way denser than expected at the top, and the bottom 4.5 gallons looks thick as well.

Most of that had occurred by around 6 hours after pitching the yeast.

Is this normal looking? I searched Google Images for fermentation pictures and saw nothing like this.

 

[iluvmysh]

looks good to me!

 

[johngaltsmotor]

That seems like an acceptable picture. (Most) ale yeasts are top fermenting so they form a head on the surface during high krausen. Then as they die off they sink, hence the bottom looking cloudy. Are they rising and falling in there also? Typically it is pretty vigorously churning in active primary.
After about a week the top will have a very thin layer of yeast and the cloudy region will be limited to much closer to the bottom as primary winds down. Depending on the yeast variety some form very tight sludge (like your picture), almost like dough, while others make bubbles that rise several inches above the beer like the head on the first pint of a newly tapped keg.

 

[Gaartok]

Thanks.

I should probably not let the wife see it now, or she'll never want to drink a beer again!