Basil,

The pond scum you mention is possibly harmless "foam" (for want of a better
description) which always develops during fermentation.
Once the frementation is complete, & you have allowed the brew to settle, I
would not expect to see scum on the top.
If you do have it after settlement has occured, scim it off carefully before
bottling.
Scum of a whitish, almost greasy texture, used to be seen in the old days
when we used open fermenters. I have not seen this for many years & I'm not
exactly sure what it was anyway.
Good luck,
Pete

"Basil Fawlty" <basil.fawlty@hushmail.com> wrote in message
news:pan.2005.11.24.16.35.03.288531@hushmail.com...[color=blue]
> Hi, I'm a novice to home mirco-brew, so naturally I have a question. I've
> bought a Coopers Micro-brew kit, and have my wort in the fermentor as of
> yesterday. I am wondering, in about 5 more days when I'm ready to bottle,
> when it gets down real low, what about that pond scum on the top surface?
> I understand that some of the bottom setiment will get in, no problem, but
> the gunk on the top surface get bottled too? I assUme not. Please advise
> oh great beer mongers of the world! :) Thanks, Basil Fawlty[/color]