So There Was an Ant in My Starter?

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KoedBrew

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That's right, I went to pitch my yeast from the starter I made and there was an ant in the starter.
I have another Wyeast smack pack of the same yeast, would you?
1. use the ant starter ( I dumped the ant out)
2. make a new starter and pitch in the morning
or
3. Just pitch Wyeast in a 1.060 Lager (least favorite idea)

Thoughts?
 
#1 I wouldn't waste a starter for an ant. Ants are eaten frequently in many societies. Chocolate covered ants...

I fished a very large fly out of my boil kettle and never thought twice about it.
 
First things first....squeeze out all the yeast in his little dead ant belly. Then discard ant and pitch.
 
I recall reading somewhere that ants are actually quite clean and have very little surface bacteria. I think I would let the starter settle, pour off the liquid, and pour on some new starter liquid to get the thing going again.
 
I use aluminum foil to cover it and it was pretty tight...
I really don't know how it happened, I had it in my basement and there usually aren't many ants down there?
 
First things first....squeeze out all the yeast in his little dead ant belly. Then discard ant and pitch.


This. Be sure and play a little Ant Music while you stir in the yeast..

[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPjfD8ulnpw[/ame]
 
THis is Adam Ant today... seriously

article-1192974-0557AEE6000005DC-678_468x351.jpg
 
kh54s10 said:
#1 I wouldn't waste a starter for an ant. Ants are eaten frequently in many societies. Chocolate covered ants...

I fished a very large fly out of my boil kettle and never thought twice about it.

Last batch I brewed while it was in the kettle coming up to boil I noticed a very dead earwig floating in the sight glass. I used my air compressor to blow him back into the kettle and scooped him out. Beer tasted just fine.

I'd decant and use the starter like normal, I doubt a ant will do anything to it.
 
Adjust recipe to include the gravity the ant causes, pitch yeast and rename to Ant Porter and call it all good
 
I actually used a starter that had an ant in a starter before. Or was in your the entire boil so I figured it was at least sanitized haha beer turned our great still
 
KoedBrew, did your batch turn out OK? i awoke this morning to an ant in my starter. it wasn't there 7 hours ago when i went to bed, and the starter is done now so it crawled in during the last hours of the starter.

i know that fruitflies are bad news as they are covered in bacteria (notably acetobacter). just checking in to see what your experience was with an ant. normally i wouldn't worry about it since the starter now contains alcohol, unfortunately aceto lives ON alcohol. thanks!
 
So the batch turned out fine...
As far as I can tell there are no Ant side effects...
Maybe a little crunchy but no off flavors ;-)
 
I had a couple starters get fruit flies in them back in the day. Now I rubber band a sanitized coffee filter to my starter vessel. It keeps out the insects and still allows for gas exchange.
 
Don't dump it, brew an Ant Ale.

i'm a little sensitive about potential contamination issues as i've recently lost several batches to an infection. i think i've found the culprit (air stone) so this next batch is my test run to see if i'm back on track. and now this damn ant shows up! if, heaven forbid, i end up with an infection again i won't know if it was caused by the ant or by whatever the previous cause was.

hopefully the beer gods will smile upon me tomorrow and the above dilemma won't be played out.

thanks for your insights, folks.
 
i'm a little sensitive about potential contamination issues as i've recently lost several batches to an infection. i think i've found the culprit (air stone) so this next batch is my test run to see if i'm back on track. and now this damn ant shows up! if, heaven forbid, i end up with an infection again i won't know if it was caused by the ant or by whatever the previous cause was.

hopefully the beer gods will smile upon me tomorrow and the above dilemma won't be played out.

thanks for your insights, folks.

Tell me more about this air stone? I just got one and used it for the 2nd time. I noticed it was stained with wort, even though I rinsed it and sanitized it before and after use. How do you prevent this with all those tiny holes?
 
Tell me more about this air stone? I just got one and used it for the 2nd time. I noticed it was stained with wort, even though I rinsed it and sanitized it before and after use. How do you prevent this with all those tiny holes?
the deal with an air stone is that you need to boil it for 10-15 minutes in some water to properly sanitize it. wort/beer gets in the little pores and sanitizer can't get it all out... so at the end of your brew day you're putting away a dirty stone.

i'll know in 2-3 weeks if i was right or not. fingers crossed!
 
These stones need to come with instructions . . . mine came as a full aerator set-up and I didn't see anything about how to use the stone!

Oh well. . . I doubt one batch a week after first use will cause a problem. Next time I know!
 
I got my stone used and never boiled it. Never had an infection. I just soak in starsan before use, then when im ready to use it i fill up the tubing with starsan and run it through the stone. I do the same thing after using it. No problems doing it this way.
 
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