I just bottled my first batch of beer the other night. A simple pale ale. The beer smelled fine, and besides being warm and flat tasted o.k. too. The trub, however, had a very foul smell. Is that normal, or is that an obvious indicator of infection?

Mine usually smells like the beer that was racked from it.

I am going to assume that since this is your first batch of beer that you are just not familiar with what the yeast and sediment at the bottom of a fermenter smells like. If the beer tastes good and smells good, then it is probably OK...

Take a good whiff of that cake and remember it, that way when you get to your next batch you can compare them in your head...

The few batches I have brewed were like that too, funky smelling leftovers. unless its really nasty and since you said it tastes ok I wouldn't worry about it.
But when it comes time to taste you beer heres a link of common off flavors to tell if it was infected
http://www.carolinabrewmasters.com/examstudy/Offflavors.htm

Wait 2 weeks, crack a cold one and taste. Let us know, we'll all cross our fingers. If it tasted good flat and warm it should be O.K.

Good Point Jf, to be honest, and after reading this thread I don't think I ever smelled my ycakes, I do save them for the next brews. I do taste and smell the beer during bottling. Learn something new, guess I'll smell the cakes from now on. good point.

Why/ how do you save the cakes? what do you use them for? what do you keep them in?

I pour them into PET bottles and label them, stick them in the fridge for the next brew. Works great.
Saves cost on purchasing Yeast.

They are yeast cakes, it's a good way to save and propagate yeast. Use them to ferment your next several batches. Search "yeast ranching" on this site for more information.

I just pour the cake into a sanitized mason jar and throw it in the fridge until I need it...

I do what JBH does.

when i rack to secondary or bottling bucket the trub usually smells like rotten eggs (same with the wine we made) but i think this is normal, please correct me if i am wrong, but there hasn't been any off flavors in any of my beers (knock on wood) yet.

label them ... I found a 2L PET bottle with a lot of yeast in it ... I don't know what kind though ... ya, label them.

Yup, I've set a 2 liter bottle aside with the intentions of marking it later. It ended up down the drain.

You just lifted my spirits bob. Now I'm going to celebrate and lift a few spirits myself.

Its probably fine, like all these guys said, I am pretty sensitive to smell to due a motorcycle wreck 20 years ago that left me w/ a touch of dain bramage, and I also think the cakes have a "funk" to them almost everytime, its just yeast, you'll be fine pal.
Darth

"dain bramage"

crap. what? wait.

hehe, Syntax errors occur more frequently now, I'm always saying stuff like the tree ran up the squirrell.