Ever lose a batch to Bees?

Never had that kind of problem with bees--then again, I've only brewed once and the whole time my buddy was telling me to watch out for the moths-- but this thread is just calling for a Wicker Man joke.

 

I drown hornets pretty often. It's never caused any problems.

 

Pitching lots of vigorous yeast will overcome most small negatives. I would be nervous if fruit flies were swarming my kettle but that hasn't happened (yet).

 

The robust porter in Brewing Classic Styles is called Black Widow because JZ kept ending up with spiders somewhere in the process. If it turns out wrong, its a raw honey porter.

 

What's the opposite of a beer NOT being hop forward? Hop reared? Hop backward? Anyway, I think with a beer like a porter or a stout, or with any solo bittering addition I wouldn't be afraid to bring the beer back up to a boil for a few minutes and start the chill over. I think you were on the right track there. You won't gain a lot of IBUs and you won't have to worry about infection. Feel free to leave the bees in there. A honey porter sounds pretty sexy!

 

Yellowjackets and hornets are two reasons* I almost never brew outside. I've had to fish them out of my wort before, although I don't think it ever happened in the cooling phase. I'd not be overly concerned about the beer and infection though. I'm more concerned about getting stung.

*Other reasons I prefer to be indoors include wind off Lake Superior sapping heat from my burner, cold winters, and many conveniences of being inside, such as easier access to food, drink, bathrooms, various kitchen utensils that double as homebrew equipment, and a good source of cold water for cooling.

 

They are all over my backyard this time of year... Fuckers.

They love to get in the house and hang out in the fermentation room. I just ignore it. I know they can wreck a beer, but what can you do about it sometimes. The ones that bother me are the bigger flies in the backyard that I'm pretty sure were just sunning themselves on the dog shit in the back corner of the yard, and came over to catch a whiff of the good stuff I was makin'.

 

I feel your pain... my wife owns a boarding kennel and does grooming in the same basement where I package my beer. There's always lots of dirty animal hair floating around. In addition, I keg/bottle/rack one room away from a bank of litterboxes for our cats (I love cats but wish thay had somewhere else to shit). In spite of this I manage to put out mostly clean beer; I have a fair amount of competition ribbons to confirm this. My theory is that the shit-loving microbes don't want my beer and/or good yeast pitches and being anal about the things I can control overcome the background filth. I have seen photos of European breweries that make super clean lagers with an apparently very casual attitude toward sanitation. Of course the brewhouse has been saturated with yeast for 300 years, leaving no room for anything else to get a foothold.

At least you don't have cluster flies down south. Don't ask; you don't want to know.

 

Thanks for making me feel better.. No really.. If beer can overcome shit like that, then it's truly the Hercules that I want to think it is. Atleast it make me feel like Hercules when I drink it.

 

Litterbox Lambic... coming soon to a competition near you. I may never do a HT clone... for one thing John Kimmich lives a few minutes down the road and might want to taste it. Not sure I can handle that. I've watched way too much daytime TV this week due to being home with bronchitis, including several hours of Gordon Ramsay. I can totally see 'John Kimmich's Brewery Nightmares" coming at us some day; he's perfect for the part (really a very nice guy though, in case he's reading this).

 

I keep one of those electrified tennis rackets handy when I brew outside. Watching those hornets fry is very satisfying.

 

We had one of those lanterns you plug in, and zap the bugs at night when you want to be out in the summer.. My wife took it away from me, because I couldn't stop playing with it..

I think there's a reason she told me we aren't ready for children..

 

bees tend to be fairly benign. they get all juiced up on the sweet wort and don't bother anything. i've never had any problems with bees, no fermentation problems or anything. bee parts are in alot of foods from what i can tell.

hornets and wasps are different. those bastards will eat meat including your face if given the chance. if i see any they get swatted with a tennis racket. i figure they have just returned from some road carcass.

 

I brewed a recipe from homebrewtalk called Bee Cave Brewery Pale Ale. When transferring to the keg a dead bee was in the bottom of the fermenter. Beer turned out great and the bee must have had one hell of a party.