The grey/blue tinge is not normal, I believe. Maybe it could be bruising, but the greyness makes me suspect contamination.

If you get an incubating chamber the next set of jars should go smoother (your friend's friend I mean).

As far as the moisture in the jars, my friend's dog says that it's better if the stuff in the jars is too dry instead of too wet. Either way the colonization will be slower but with the dry, there's less chance contams will get started. Grey probably means contamination but maybe not. If they manage to fully colonize and don't smell funny then maybe they are ok.

-snarf

[This message has been edited by snarf (edited June 27, 2000).]