Dog/Cat Hair in Primary

So I brewed a milk stout on Saturday and last night I was admiring the krausen in my carboy and I noticed that there was about a 1"-1.5" long black animal hair in the krausen stuck to the side of the carboy. I don't know if it was in the kettle and got boiled or if it snuck inside as I was racking from the kettle to the primary. I'm more worried about the latter, but everything looks normal so far so I'm not too worried.

I have 2 cats and a dog, the dog has longer black hair and one of the cats is a black DSH. It could be from either the dog or the cat. My house is perpetually covered in pet hair. I sweep and vacuum regularly, but there's no avoiding it.

I'm not going to ask "should I be worried" because I'm trying not to. However, I will ask: has anyone else has ever found a pet hair in their carboy/bucket during or after fermentation? Was there any negative side-effects?

My biggest problem was keeping pet hair out of the primary & bottling buckets while sanitizing. Sanitize it, then find dog/cat hairs sticking to the inside. Swip'em out, resanitize. More hair. Repeat. Didn't hurt anything with ones I found in krausen gunk.

Hair of the Dog Milk Stout... nice.

I have a sneaking suspicion that all of my brews have had dog hair in them... it's in/on everything in our house. We vacuum constantly and it's not really visible until it's on your plate, sticking out of your food, mocking you.

The joys of pets, for sure. I can't imagine what it's going to be like brewing in spring when my Border Collie blows his coat out.

I'm sure you'll be fine.

I have a cat that always seems to show up right during my brewing session. She also likes to sleep on the blankets wrapped around the fermenting buckets.

There's been a hair or two in the fermentors. I've never had any issues, at least none I'm aware of.

We had a male collie (like Lassie) & every spring we had to spend time brushing his fur out. I suspect he liked it though. Kinda like scratchin'?...

unionrdr said:

My biggest problem was keeping pet hair out of the primary & bottling buckets while sanitizing. Sanitize it, then find dog/cat hairs sticking to the inside. Swip'em out, resanitize. More hair. Repeat. Didn't hurt anything with ones I found in krausen gunk.

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Haha yes this a very real struggle.

Thank you all for your responses. Like I said, I wasn't overly worried, I just wanted to know that I wasn't alone here

I showed it to SWMBO and she says "Can you just open it up and reach in and grab it?" I chuckled.

My Starsan spray bottle stopped spraying one day. Took the nozzle apart, dark gunk was in there. Used a tooth pick to start cleaning, it was cat hair.
I now take my shirt off, or fleece jacket, and put on a short sleeve denim shirt that is kept in the brew room, when I'm working.
Still allow the cats in, they take the chair to watch. I figure the hair was falling from my clothes. Never found hair in the fermentors or bottles though.

Our black cat liked to lay on top of the boxed bottles of beer, like the Egyptian Jackal god anubis. Guarding the beer seemed to be his thing. Guess he didn't realize he was more like Selket?

While I've never found any, I just kind of assume that with four cats, there's going to be some cat hair in my beer no matter what steps I take to prevent it.

Even with very careful cleaning and sanitation, I've never made a beer that didn't end up with at least a little cat hair in it. So while I have no basis to compare to cat hair free I can say that all my beers have turned out fine

My brewing partner used to make an IPA called "Cat Butt Fuzz" because of all the cat hair that always got on stuff. It was a pretty good beer though, I wouldn't sweat it too much

I'd be surprised if I've made a beer that did NOT have at least one cat hair in it.

My cat: "Oh, hey, you're brewing today and you're wearing a sweatshirt that doesn't have cat hair all over it. Let me fix that for you..."

I read the headline of this thread out loud.

My husband, sitting next to me having coffee, snorted and said, "Come to our house!"

Not that my brewery is dirty, but I have a dog and a cat. The dog is a big yellow lab- and he sheds all year 'round, both coats. (Labs have two coats, an undercoat and the outer). It's long and blonde, and I have enough dog hair daily around my house to make another dog.

I have a Maine coon cat. She also has two coats, and is yellow/orange. She also sheds all year long.

I can't wear black, ever.

I bet there has been dog hair in my beer, on more than one or two occasions. Luckily, I brew in buckets so I can't see inside.

I didn't notice any in the beers you sent me. They must've been busy with other things atm?

Awesome..glad to know that others have the same issue with no bad results. I've gotten it in clean buckets before, but this is the first I've noticed in my carboy while beer is fermenting inside. I'll try and take a photo of it after work just for fun.

Just cat hair would be fine .. just dog hair would be fine. A mix of dog and cat hair in the same fermenter ... you're probably gonna die. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

soccerdad said:

Just cat hair would be fine .. just dog hair would be fine. A mix of dog and cat hair in the same fermenter ... you're probably gonna die. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

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Well damn. Anyone have any idea where I can send this stuff for disposal?

My cat likes to guard my primaries as well. I suspect it may be the subtle warmth. Cute, but cat hair everywhere. Knock on wood, but no issues thus far.

4 samoyeds, big white fluffy double coated dogs.
1 akita, big black white brown double coated dog.
2 young cats, diluted tortoise shell.

I'm sure there is hair in my beer, but I have gotten so used to it, I don't see it anymore.

I do lock them out of the rooms with gates (no doors) when I am brewing though. They all sit and watch me through the whole process.

When bottling though, I had to do a bit of "GO AWAY!" as they kept wanting to come over the gate and lick up what hit the floor.

Tempted to bath them in star san. (kidding of course)

225#'s of dogs and 175# of it long haired and double-coated. All my food and beer has some percentage of dog hair and dander in it.

Heres the culprit

View attachment 1422397314774.jpg

View attachment 1422397326634.jpg

Turn the carboy so you can't see it. Problem solved

mcbar said:

Turn the carboy so you can't see it. Problem solved

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I agree.

Everything I own has dog hair in it. We vacuum EVERY day without fail and keep a very clean house but none the less the dog hair is unavoidable.

If anybody has an import german shepherd you know what Im talking about.

Now you all have me worried over the fact that I have not actually noticed any cat hair in my beer, despite living in a small apartment with a very large double-coated shorthair cat whose hair forms drifts if I don't sweep once a week. Maybe I'm not paying close enough attention to my brewing! Ohh noo!

looks more like a pube to me...you're good

My Norwegian Forest cat generally avoids the kitchen where I do the brewing until it's feeding time. I tend to get super-paranoid about sanitation and shoo him away from the equipment and he's now gotten the hint. My clothes are not that fortunate though...

Do you think cat hair would aid in head retention? It is extra protein, after all.

If anything you've got a good source for some interesting brew names!