Need some opinions, got a fruit fly in my starter

Aright so I have a 0.75 L starter going with wyeast 3787 trappist HG. I'll outline my process just to be thorough, so bear with me.
-I submerged my gallon jug into a bucket of starsan for 5 min
-I opened the lid on my cooled starter wort and poured it into the jug
-covered with foil and aerated by shaking
-pour in yeast and cover again

I came back an hour later to find a singular fruit fly floating in my starter So I fished it out with a sterilized knife immediately (pain in the ass). I checked back an hour later and its going strong with no noticeably off aroma.

My question is, should I pitch it? Since it was only one fly, would the yeast not beat out any bacteria that may have contaminated the starter?

I'd say you will probably be fine. If it starts to look/smell/taste funny, then consider giving it another go.

Their is no reason to use this yeast IMHO, if you swap it now, it's no big deal. If you have an infection, that is a lot of time and money wasted.

Agreed. I just did a cream ale and had a sugar ant in the starter. It seems fine so far...no off smells or flavor yet but truth be told ya never know. What did you decide?

I ended up tossing this starter down the drain. It's not worth the risk IMO

Fruit flies carry acetobacter which can turn alcohol into vinegar. I hate those little fruit flies.

How to keep fruit flies out? Personally I would use it.

I agree that tossing it was the best thing to do. I'd ask it this way: is it better to throw out the materials and time that went into a starter or to risk throwing out the materials and time that went into a full batch?

I look at more like a lesson learned. If you always take the cautious route you will have not have a good idea of what you can get away with. Obviously the yeast are massively dominant over bacteria in the starter. Fruit flies will surely be around for the new starter made so it's not like your even guaranteed success just by starting over.

I would have let it finish, just out of curiosity to see what happened. If the starter finished and the beer from it tasted clean, it might have been just fine. Or, it might have been nasty vinegar bug juice.

But for a few bucks of yeast, no big loss to start over, compared to the risk of a ruined batch.

You could of also tried washing the yeast with chlorine dioxide. Cheap insurance

If its smell, taste fine then it is good giving to another.

Cyclman said:

I would have let it finish, just out of curiosity to see what happened. If the starter finished and the beer from it tasted clean, it might have been just fine. Or, it might have been nasty vinegar bug juice.

But for a few bucks of yeast, no big loss to start over, compared to the risk of a ruined batch.

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Yeah I thought about throwing the yeast in anyways to see if any bugs that got in would actually make a difference. This was for a westvleteren 12 clone though so I didn't want to waste 3 months of patience for a vinegar quad

+1 on tossing it. You can half ass your brewing by pitching a possibly infected starter, or you can strive to make the best beer possible with proper sanitization. You opted for making the best beer possible. Good call.

I'd bet those foam stopper could keep the bugs out.

I recently had the same experience with a starter of 3711 and I decided to pitch the starter anyway. The beer turned out great with no signs of infection. Just wanted to give a positive experience from someone who had gone the opposite route. (I know 5 gallons is a lot to risk on a questionable starter, but sometimes it's intresting to roll the dice and see what becomes of it.)

Ah..I wish I had read this before pitching. Same here, found a fruit fly floating in my starter just as I was about to pitch. Serves me right for putting my stir plate next to the peaches and bananas. It was 11pm on a double batch day, so I probably was in a rush. I plucked the bugger out and dumped in the slurry. Fermation took off in a few hours, so I guess I'll know in 3 weeks if I've got some Goose Island Malt Vinegar or not.

Hopefully the fly wasn't a heavily pregnant female.

I had this problem with a Kolsch a few months ago. I tossed it but learned a lesson. I now just unroll a section of paper towel and rubber band it over the neck of my flasks. I then put some foil loosely over that. The starter can breath, but those little bastids are locked out. I had nothing to pitch other than S-04. I just passed on the brew day.

I would say good job on throwing it out. I agree with those that go for the "best possible end-product" route. It's one thing if this is one of the quick-turnaround styles, but a completely different story if you're long-term aging it. I just can't imagine a Westvinegar 12 tasting very pleasant.